And the morning and the morning were the first day

We took a flight Friday morning out of Boston that didn't land for at least a couple of months. No actually, we saw only one sunrise, which broke over the Caspian Sea as we passed north of Iran.

I'd describe the sunset in poetic detail, but the jerk next to me shuttered the window at that point.

We landed to find an extremely friendly driver who shuttled us all around Islamabad, helped us exchange our money, get cell phones, and shop for shalwar kameez, the traditional Pakistani outfit. I am told that traffic in Islamabad is nothing compared to what we'll find in Karachi, but I was still pretty impressed.

Bicyclers rode against traffic, and not always just on the side of the highway. There is a lot of construction going on along Islamabad's main artery, and lots and lots of pedestrians walking with suicidal abandon between the hurtling mopeds, tiny vans and brightly-colored buses (you've got to see these; I hope to get some photos today). Auto drivers don't pay much attention to lanes or street signs and mopeds are even worse. I pointed out a moped that was being ridden by four people at once, but this did not impress our driver, who told me to wait till I saw one with five or six or seven people perched on it.

Many of the soldiers and private security forces sported automatic weapons, but for the most part seemed pretty laid back, lounging in the shade and talking. Our guest house seems pretty secure. We are in a fairly quiet residential area, walled off and set back from the road by a good-sized courtyard. Armed security is pretty visible, and patrols the grounds around the clock.

Having not slept in a couple of days, we were thinking of calling it a night when we ran into some folks from ABC news who took us along to the opening of a private nightclub downtown. It was somewhat disconcerting to see the Italian restaurant that was bombed a few months back just around the corner, but the evening was pretty low-key. But I have to say, going clubbing was not exactly how I had expected to spend my first evening in Pakistan.