Pakistan - Getting Out

You will need an exit visa to leave the country. Although you may adhere to the paper chain faithfully, expect to get a quizzical look if the immigration official notes certain "irregularities" and requires additional funds to let you catch your plane out. If you are carrying anything that can be interpreted as being an antiquity, you are in trouble again. You'll need an export permit for rugs, and don't think for a moment that the nifty pen-gun you bought in Darra Adam Khel is not going to be spotted and confiscated. If you're bringing some smoking green back with you, expect it to be discovered by sniffer dogs at Karachi and Lahore airports. Please note that although hashish and heroin are as easy to buy in Peshawar as Snickers bars in Pacoima, there is much money to be made (5,000 rupees last we checked) turning frugal hippies in to police. The na•ve stoners will then have to pay up to US$5,000 to the concerned but financially adept police to save their skin. Remember, you will need to keep your exchange receipts to change your grubby rupees into more stable currencies. Most people take care of exchanging their money in the bazaar (watch out for bogus US$100 bills printed in Syria, Iran and Lebanon before 1989). Remember to keep enough for your taxi, something to eat at the airport, 200 rupees for your departure tax. Everything else can be paid for in dollars. Some banks only cash traveler's checks and do not take foreign cash.