I was exploring Karachi, wandering the streets, eating some coconut, when a local guy pulled up on his motorbike along side me to chat. He told me his name is Muhammad Ali, like the legendary boxer and that he too is a fighter.
Muhammed was kind enough to offer to show me around the area and some of the places that he frequents, so I accepted his offer and jumped on the back of his bike.
We stopped at the club where he plays snooker, which was just around the corner from where he picked me up. It looks like snooker is a popular sport in Pakistan.
We then stopped off at the street book market that I had passed earlier. The vendors were selling books that looked new for just 200 PKR which is just over a dollar. According to Muhammad the booked are either new or second hand but not counterfeits.
It looked like most of the books had come from the UK as there were price stickers listed in GBP. My guess is the books were probably surplus stock from the UK.
The market has a huge selection of book at it seems like at least half of them were in English so it wasn't difficult for me to find something good there.
After a successful book hunt we stopped off at a fruit juice stand where we ordered date milkshakes. Dates are a very popular fruit in Islamic countries. They are intensely sweet and the perfect food to consume when you need a quick burst of energy.
Refreshed and full of energy, we headed to the local sports complex where Muhammed trains for MMA. There was a hockey stadium with under 21's training. Their coach is a very famous and well respected hockey player called Hanif Khan who is an Olympic gold medalist and played for Pakistan during their hokey glory days when they were the best team in the world.
One of the Pakistan national hockey players came over to chat and I learned a lot about this sport and its popularity in Pakistan.
Even though I had dropped by unannounced and was just casually checking out their hockey field, they took time out of their training to talk with me and even presented me with some souvenir gifts - a hockey stick, ball and t-shirt. Incredible hospitality.
We then visited the MMA gym. It's called 3rd Generation Mixed Martial Arts. The students who are training there are the third generation of Pakistani MMA fighters.
There was no class running when I visited but a student and striking coach were there who told me all about MMA in Pakistan and even taught me some moves.
0:00 Karachi Local Guy
3:54 Snooker Club
5:44 Book Market
10:25 Date Milkshake
13:48 Hockey Ground
28:15 MMA Gym
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