Pakistan is a real place. In 1982, when I was living the European style "gap-year" lifestyle. (Okay, it was more than a year.) I traveled overland through Pakistan. I saw child brides, betrothed at the age of 10 to much older men, and families made up of so many wives. I met kindhearted people who set this naive traveler straight on what to wear when I left the hotel, I met suited diplomats while lurking about the air-conditioned lobby of the big hotel where westerners did business. I punched a teenage boy who grabbed me and accepted an apology - in impeccable English - from his teacher.

I even went to a bachelor party where the dancers wore their faces and hair uncovered, you could see their wrists! Shocking! I saw shipwrecks on the beach and red stone mosques and giant monuments to dictators past. It's not a spot on the map, it's a real place. So I took a deep breath with this morning's new and flipped through my mental photographs of Pakistan, a crossroads, a mess, really, a place that can't seem to find peace.

Here's a list bloggers from Pakistan reporting on current events.

• Metroblogging Karachi
• Metroblogging Islamabad
• All Things Pakistan
• Carnage in Rawalpindi

And here are some traveler's posts - not news, but stories about what Pakistan is like for visitors.

• Pakistan: Culture Shock
• World Hum
• Mumbai Girl

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View.