Finally, a fun export from Karachi
The eye-catching minibuses that ply the road of Karachi are fascinating to outsiders, and it seems one smitten businessman decided to order a couple for his resort:
These two traditional minibuses were exported on the special request of Chairman of Orascam Hotels Samih Swairis. The company also deals in telecom, brewery and real estate development projects in Egypt and the Middle East and is also holding major stakes in Mobilink Pakistan.
Swairis had come to Pakistan with tourism minister of Oman Dr Rajiha Abdul Ameer Ali on an official visit in February 2007 to explore the opportunities for tourism promotion in Gwadar and coastal belt of Pakistan.
During his stay in Karachi, Sawiris was enthralled by the beautiful colours of the minibuses plying on the city roads and requested to arrange few for his resort in Elgouna. (The News.)
good stuff. beware the maulanas on this website who will now boycott karachi buses for fear that their preferred mode of transportation has also been chosen by a fella who owns a brewery!!! heck, what am i thinking, these days the maulanas are the ones in power, driving around in new mercs and bmw’s…no buses needed anymore :)
good stuff. beware the maulanas on this website who will now boycott karachi buses for fear that their preferred mode of transportation has also been chosen by a fella who owns a brewery!!!
Excellant stuff. does any one have any pic of those buses?? Sure, these must be the piece of art
beware the maulanas on this website who will now boycott karachi buses for fear that their preferred mode of transportation has also been chosen by a fella who owns a brewery!!!
O Myee Gawd!!! That fella who owns a brewery also owns the largest cellular in Pakistan “May-be-Link”
when buses send their smoke out, it would be interesting to see their response :D
So cheap of u @ELIDOG. I read earlier in the shool that good students have simple living and hight thinking but i guess u have
wat ever living BUT cheap thinking
I think they are going to serve beers to the tourists when they ride our busses! :D Only a drunk person can enjoy our uncomfortable busses!:S
It is not for the first time that Paki bus and truck art has been at display out of the country. During the Commonwealth Games of 2006, held in Melbourne, Australia acquired the services of 12 Paki artisans to decorate one of the city trams a la Paki minibuses. The glittery and colourful tram was a great success with tourists visiting the city during the gala.
apologies for being a party pooper but samih sawiris has very little to do with mobilink. mobilink is a 100% owned subsidiary of orascom telecom which is controlled by naguib sawiris. samih sawiris is the brother of naguib and plays no role in orascom telecom. little bit of fact checking could have prevented the news from printing what is a factually incorrect report. its also dangerous for people to use pak press as a factual source on financial, corporate or economic news. most reporters are completely nalaiqh or completely dishonest i.e. they will twist facts to promote a political agenda.
as far as naguib sawiris is concerned, he absolutely loves pak because his very small investment, made at a time when pak was an absolute pariah for foriegn investors, has helped to make him a billionaire. samih sawiris is looking to follow his brother’s strategy by potentially investing in tourism sector which for obvious reasons is seen as a risky and unprofitable industry. however if samih sawiris, is half as successful as his brother, samih will put pak on the tourism world map. we can only hope.
IN Sydney (mazda minibus) in a W11 theme is plying since 2005, check out you tube for the clips.,
Karachi’s minibuses and Pakistan’s trucks are very chichori/chichoray looking. Shows how gaudy/flashi/chichora the people are, or at least those who own these vehicles. I hope someone takes all of these mini buses out of KArachi…yeah sure, take them to Egypt or Oman or wherever.
Whatever the case, every visitor to Pakistan is enthralled by the buses, the trucks and the rickshaws here not to talk about the food at BBQ tonight.
My American cousin loves rickshaws so much that she is dying to get in them, if only her mother and her luck allows it. Last time, she got car and a driver to move around; she was banned from Rickshaws.
As for our trucks are concerned, few years back a German national packed one truck and exported to his country for display!
That’s great.
Another example, a muslim country taking advantage of a funny and interesting pakistani creation. Something they (pakistanis)could nt do themselves.
(open their own tourist resorts to acquire foriegn exchange).
Now they (buyers) would run these buses on super unleaded gas (higher grade patrol) and fit with exhaust gas mufflers (controls pollution).
Who cares what they drink in it.Its their poison.
These colorful minibuses had made their way into west as far back as 1997. The Glasgow (Scotland) Transport museum had one on display then. I saw a couple of Brit-asian girls doing the painting on these. It was a real surprise for me. And then I heard about the W-11 minibus on display in Sydney in 2006. These colorful killing machines are well-liked by the west for some reason. Maybe the west likes what pleases them without really understanding what hazard these things pose for the local people. Probably their liking criteria extends to out politicians too!!!!!
minibuses and buses like 4m/8a are so weired, i have visited Lahore and was impressed by their local city transport. specialy Daewoo intercity,many others and double deckers.
btw. a gentle man cant travel in these mini buses sometime when they are fully loaded!