Jaunted

Sohaib's TwitPic of a main road, pretty empty because of roadblocks

If you zoom in on Google Maps, you can get almost near enough to taking a virtual walk around town. Aside from the Arabic names on almost everything and the lack of big-box retail stores, Abbottabad could be a town in California. Tourists love it for its mountain views, attractions (a swinging bridge and cricket stadium!), cooler temperatures when the rest of the country is sizzling, and its location on the Karakoram Highway, which follows the ancient path of the Silk Road. Many, many schools and colleges are located here, as is the Pakistan Military Academy.

Here's yet another view of sunny daily life in Abbottabad. It doesn't seem that bad at all, which comes as a huge surprise since most everyone imagined Osama hiding out in some dirty cave without facilities, or maybe a hole in the ground like Saddam Hussein. But no—here he was enjoying his walled house in a tourist city within walking distance of coffee houses and great restaurants also enjoyed by the town's student, affluent and tourist populations.

Now we're left wondering whether or not Abbottabad's tourism will turn to include the site of Osama's compound. The town actually sounds like a pretty great Spring Break alternative right now; a postcard from Abbottabad this month would be highly collectible, after all...

[Photo: TwitPic/@ReallyVirtual]