Asaf Khan's Tomb

The Emperor Shah Jahan built this tomb for his father-in-law Asaf Khan. Asaf Khan was the father of Taj Mahal (Shah Jahan's wife, for whom he built the Taj Mahal). Asaf Khan's tomb was raided by the British, unlike Jahangir's, which was guarded more heavily because he had been emperor.







































There was a hole in the side of one of the walls, and the guide told us that there were secret passages inside. So... naturally, we went exploring:

Jahangir's Tomb

Jahangir's Tomb was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his father, the Emperor Jahangir Khan.

Fort Lahore and Badshahi Mosque

The pictures below show Fort Lahore and the Badshahi Mosque. Both of these structures were built in the 1500's by the Mughal Empire (1528-1849); through the years, different Mughal King added immense amount of detail and beauty to these defining buildings that have greatly contributed to Pakistani culture.


This is the front entrance to Fort Lahore, one can notice that the gate is quite large, this was because elephants were housed inside

The picture is showing the enormous amount of detail the that went into the Fort.

This is the view of the Badshahi Mosque from Fort Lahore.


Great detail went into the creation of the entrance to the Badshahi Mosque.

This is the actual Mosque, which can hold over 100,000 people during Friday prayers.

These are Madrassas, which are classrooms where children received a free education that taught Islamic values and teachings.

The 28th

On the 28th, we were invited out to eat with Usman's family to help celebrate his brother's one year wedding anniversary with his wife. The restaurant was a cultural experience, with each corner of the serving area filled with a different Pakistani region or culture's specialty; the hot, fire bright room filled with steam and smelled of a mixture of Pakistan's finest cuisine. The Northwest Frontier Province had a corner all to its own where a spicy chicken was served, along with naan – flat bread that has become my favorite south Asian food. Usman's eldest brother and father insisted that we try everything we could, which by the night's end meant fried quail, goat hooves, and home-made Pakistani ice-cream and rice-pudding. The dining room contrasted with the bright, steamy serving area with a cool, tinted space with two levels and a live two-man band. The atmosphere was lively, open, and formal all at once, and it was packed to full capacity.

What we found most amazing about this atmosphere was that just a few hours earlier sectarian violence had struck two Ahmadi mosques with supposed Sunni extremists opening ‘indiscriminate firing’ during the religious minority’s Friday prayer, killing over 80 people. When we first heard the news while watching a cricket game in a park that afternoon, I thought that our trip would be drastically altered. In the US, a failed attempt with no injuries or deaths in Times Square had caused a media frenzy, so I could only imagine what this would do in Pakistan. Yet, the city didn’t skip a beat. On one hand it speaks to the resiliency of Pakistan, but as Usman responded, it also is disheartening that Pakistanis have become somewhat desensitized to this type of violence.

Though the attack seems not to be motivated by the western intervention, the method in which it was done and the high number of casualties links it with the Pakistani Taliban. This underscores a primary message that we have received through our time here: Pakistan has just as much of a stake, if not more, in ridding its country of terrorists.