Iran/Pakistan
Posted by Karen on June 16th 2006
Written on the 2006 London to Sydney expedition
So far…
Well ‘The Gauntlet’ has been run! Northern Iran posed absolutely no problems at all, in fact the closest we came to anything remotely dodgy was when they decided to stop us at the ‘last’ checkpoint and insist that we couldn’t possibly go any further with out a police escort (this would be in the last hour before the border – never mind the 2 day drive it took to get there)! We were then made to wait around for them to get organised enough to sort a guard out for us, which put us so far behind we ended up driving all bloody night! All was well though and we ended up camping at the border – complete with our very own armed guards!
The next morning it was into Pakistan and through the Balochistan desert (complete with two independent land rovers who seemed to have taken shelter behind us…) As good as Iran was, it is still an alcohol free zone and we were fully covered in 40 plus degree heat – So it wasn’t ‘THAT’ good! We’re out of there!
Our first night in Pakistan was spent at an hotel en-route where we had our first taste of ‘bucket showers’ and then into Quetta where we had our first ‘drink’ in weeks, which coincided with the kick off to the World Cup. Now in Islamabad for a few days (which funny enough also coincided with the World Cup…)!!!
We have now entered the world of meat and chickens hanging up outside un- refrigerated and it’s a bit of a struggle to find food (well ‘our’ type of food), to cook. A lot have also had the first real case of being sick (which is never nice at the best of times let alone when your travelling in these conditions) but it’s all part of it and pretty unavoidable in these parts.
The locals have once again been wonderfully welcoming and very friendly, and the scenery more than makes up for any discomfort.
After Islamabad we are off to the Karakoram Highway and then into India (We are going to give Peshawar a miss due to the current situation there).
Most phones seem to be working here and everything is going well.
Until next time…
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