Big difference between the north and south of Iran - from lush, green fields and hills to barren desert landscapes. This was our first taste of truly hot weather as it hit 42c at lunchtime in the Baluchistan Desert (little did we know that would be cool compared to what it would do in Pakistan).
We spent the night at the border crossing as the soldiers were a little confused by 30 brits turning up in a truck aiming to cross the desert! however, the next day we were slowly processed out of Iran and even more slowly into Pakistan. Despite the heat we were still able to have an England v Pakistan footie game in the car park - all I can say is that Pakistan should stick to playing cricket!
Once across the border we thought it would be a straight run but the Pakistan Authorities had a different view - we had to wait 2 hours for our armed guard before driving at the speed of sound across the most barren place we've ever seen - no life anywhere, no water and no vegetation. We stopped in Dalbandin overnight as it was too dangerous to travel in darkness. Dalbandin is quite easily the arsehole of the world - it makes even Sunderland look good! Seriously, it was awful; mosquitoes everywhere, filthy beyond belief, horrible people and the hotel - well Aushwitz would have more of a cheery atmosphere! We were only there one night and every single one of us woke up covered in bites.
Quetta, by comparison was quite pleasant. Ok, it's in the 3rd world with open sewers and a huge problem with Afghan refugees but beer was available, the hotel grounds were delightful and the people by and large were really nice. Wandering around one of the bazaars we had Ali Khan introduce himself to us with the immortal line "Welcome to Pakistan, we're not all terrorists you know!" this was a sentiment we were to get used to over the next few weeks. Shopping for local clothes (salwar kameez) and turbans was the order of the day, eventually settling on an attractive beige number from an Afghani tailor, Nick's turban when unfolded goes for 6 metres! he'll get it made into shirts in India. Apart from one old guy denouncing us as infidels who should not be in a muslim country, everyone else was cool and very interested in us and were concerned for our safety giving out useful nuggets such as "don't stand still - you will become a target" or "don't go out on your own, you will be kidnapped" .
Moving on from Quetta, we had 18hr drive days up to Peshawar - out of the frying pan and into the fire you may think. Again, quite a difference to what we're used to as it was a very busy, dirty city with a large refugee population. however, it meant we got to drive up the Khyber pass to Afghanistan but were prevented from going to Kabul as our Pakistan visa's were for single entry only - one for the future though. Darra Adam Khel was also on offer up here, if you haven't heard the name, you'll know the place as it's where every business in the town is dedicated to either drugs or guns! you can walk down the street with a huge doobie in your mouth and fire virtually any gun in production today. could be good for a stag party, except there are no women and no booze!
after a few days in Peshawar, we pushed on up the Karakoram Highway, allegedly the 8th wonder of the modern world. This was an incredible road, carved out of the sheer rockface and extends from Islamabad to China at heights of up to 5000m. it follows the Indus river valley and then into the Hunza valley where we stopped to go trekking. Waking up at the side of a crystal clear lake with snow-capped peaks everywhere you look is an amazing experience. we walked to the Passu glacier, traversed wild rivers on wooden suspension bridges and generally had a ball. The local firewater certainly keeps the chills off, as does the bottle of single malt Nick kept in his backpack (for emergencies, obviously!). Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for ever so we hit the road again heading for Islamabad and Lahore before crossing into India.
In the mountains, it was pleasantly cool at around 30c, once we got down onto the plain it was a different story. We reached Islamabad in the middle of a heatwave - 51c on the first day! Luckily, Nick had arranged for a dozen of us to go for drinks with the Deputy High Commissioner - what a relief, everyone was British, there was John Smiths and Brown Ale all for about a pound a drink, fish and chips for dinner and a pub quiz made this our highlight of Pakistan.
Lahore was no cooler and the only thing to do was head to the Pearl Continental for cool drinks and the coldest air-con in the country. Not a great deal to report from here as we did very little due to the temperature being 50c!
Next stop India......
We spent the night at the border crossing as the soldiers were a little confused by 30 brits turning up in a truck aiming to cross the desert! however, the next day we were slowly processed out of Iran and even more slowly into Pakistan. Despite the heat we were still able to have an England v Pakistan footie game in the car park - all I can say is that Pakistan should stick to playing cricket!
Once across the border we thought it would be a straight run but the Pakistan Authorities had a different view - we had to wait 2 hours for our armed guard before driving at the speed of sound across the most barren place we've ever seen - no life anywhere, no water and no vegetation. We stopped in Dalbandin overnight as it was too dangerous to travel in darkness. Dalbandin is quite easily the arsehole of the world - it makes even Sunderland look good! Seriously, it was awful; mosquitoes everywhere, filthy beyond belief, horrible people and the hotel - well Aushwitz would have more of a cheery atmosphere! We were only there one night and every single one of us woke up covered in bites.
Quetta, by comparison was quite pleasant. Ok, it's in the 3rd world with open sewers and a huge problem with Afghan refugees but beer was available, the hotel grounds were delightful and the people by and large were really nice. Wandering around one of the bazaars we had Ali Khan introduce himself to us with the immortal line "Welcome to Pakistan, we're not all terrorists you know!" this was a sentiment we were to get used to over the next few weeks. Shopping for local clothes (salwar kameez) and turbans was the order of the day, eventually settling on an attractive beige number from an Afghani tailor, Nick's turban when unfolded goes for 6 metres! he'll get it made into shirts in India. Apart from one old guy denouncing us as infidels who should not be in a muslim country, everyone else was cool and very interested in us and were concerned for our safety giving out useful nuggets such as "don't stand still - you will become a target" or "don't go out on your own, you will be kidnapped" .
Moving on from Quetta, we had 18hr drive days up to Peshawar - out of the frying pan and into the fire you may think. Again, quite a difference to what we're used to as it was a very busy, dirty city with a large refugee population. however, it meant we got to drive up the Khyber pass to Afghanistan but were prevented from going to Kabul as our Pakistan visa's were for single entry only - one for the future though. Darra Adam Khel was also on offer up here, if you haven't heard the name, you'll know the place as it's where every business in the town is dedicated to either drugs or guns! you can walk down the street with a huge doobie in your mouth and fire virtually any gun in production today. could be good for a stag party, except there are no women and no booze!
after a few days in Peshawar, we pushed on up the Karakoram Highway, allegedly the 8th wonder of the modern world. This was an incredible road, carved out of the sheer rockface and extends from Islamabad to China at heights of up to 5000m. it follows the Indus river valley and then into the Hunza valley where we stopped to go trekking. Waking up at the side of a crystal clear lake with snow-capped peaks everywhere you look is an amazing experience. we walked to the Passu glacier, traversed wild rivers on wooden suspension bridges and generally had a ball. The local firewater certainly keeps the chills off, as does the bottle of single malt Nick kept in his backpack (for emergencies, obviously!). Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for ever so we hit the road again heading for Islamabad and Lahore before crossing into India.
In the mountains, it was pleasantly cool at around 30c, once we got down onto the plain it was a different story. We reached Islamabad in the middle of a heatwave - 51c on the first day! Luckily, Nick had arranged for a dozen of us to go for drinks with the Deputy High Commissioner - what a relief, everyone was British, there was John Smiths and Brown Ale all for about a pound a drink, fish and chips for dinner and a pub quiz made this our highlight of Pakistan.
Lahore was no cooler and the only thing to do was head to the Pearl Continental for cool drinks and the coldest air-con in the country. Not a great deal to report from here as we did very little due to the temperature being 50c!
Next stop India......
