I really enjoyed Pakistan. The scenery was amazing and the people were by far the friendliest that we have experienced so far. The decorated trucks were fantastic and the truck drivers were really proud of their decorations. It was amazing that the average speed of these trucks was only around 20kmh. They loaded them to the hilt but drove accordingly. It was dissapointing to have to have the escort all the time but they were really nice blokes (with a couple of exceptions).Pakistan

Crossing from the Iran side to the Taftan or Pakistan side was a eye opener and a sign of things to come. The line up was thick with local Pakistanis who had crossed to Iran for some reason. We were given favourable treatment and everyone was pushed aside for us to go to the front of the line. No chance to object or anything, it was just important to get us through somehow. Then the obstacle course to organise the carnet for the bike. It took a couple of hours and riding over what must have been an old battlefield ( coz it had some bloody big random holes scattered everywhere and was a mess) to find the customs area.

It wasnt quite as run down and falling down as the hall to deal with passport control but it was close. The books that had the carnet information entered were covered in dust, and it seemed to take so long to enter the information its not a wonder. The marked difference was the attitude they actually seemed to care for our welfare.
Taftan was an amazing little border town. It was like a scene from Mad Max. Houses were all mud huts as well as petrol stations from the dark ages. There were litterally hundreds of people lining the sides of the road, standing next to a 44 gallon drum of petrol, with smaller cans to dispense the fuel into for pouring into cars/motorbikes. Some were smoking whilst dispensing the fuel and some were just kids of 10 – 15 yo.

We had been informed that we would have to have an escort until we got to Quetta. This was something we were not looking forward to after our experience with the Iranian police.
The difference in Pakistan was initially quite startling. The guys charged with escorting us were called the Levies. They were really nice. Not too heavy duty with the protection bit, pretty relaxed about everything really. I dont think they did much, so they were probably glad to have us around to relieve the boredom. At times our armed gaurd was riding along on a motorbike in front of us and he didnt look around for the hour or so we were with him (no mirrors on motorbikes here).
At each stop they offered us a drink of water or tea, most wanted us to take a picture of them with us, they all seemed like quite warm and caring blokes.

The desert along the road was what I have always imagined a desert to be like. Not like our Nullaboor or the Simpson but a grey sandy desert with small stony sections here and there. In some sections there was sand blown across the road, this made riding a little difficult at times but generally the road was in good condition. The towns along the way were also quite different to what we had seen before. Basically they were towns with all houses made from mud. Not what we had expected in Pakistan. It was amazing that armies used to cross this desert to conquer some new land.
The weather was generally kind, the wind was behind us most of the time, but there was a bit of a dust storm on occasions and the temperature did hit 48 degrees on a couple of occasions.

Our first "big town" in Pakistan wasDalbandin. We stayed at the hotel there which was pretty good considering its location. But Dalbandin was a bit of a culture shock +++++, it was a sign of things to come in Pakistan. After a hard day in the saddle this was the first time the bike fell over on trip. Just parked it in a soft spot in the hotel carpark and it fell over when Bron was trying to get some stuff out. As always it is when most people are watching and when we are most tired.

After Dalbandin the road deteriorated. They are doing roadworks to improve it so within the next year or so it should be a good road all the way. The 300kms from Dalbandin into Quetta took all the next day. Travelling with escorts takes forever because of the constant change-overs and the slow speed. (they like to sit on between 60-80kmh)
When we got into Quetta the police asked us where we would like to stay and we just said " a nice hotel". Well did we get nice or what. They took us to Serena hotel 3 star ($150 aus)(would be classed as 5 star in Aus) This was a real oasis for us after the relative deprivations of the past few weeks. It was so nice to arrive in this lovely hotel, be treated like royalty and stay for a couple of days to rest and relax. The security to get into the hotel was like the process that Maxwell smart goes through to get into control. All sorts of security at the gate to prevent terrorist stikes. I think they mean business here. (there was a suicide bombing here a week after we left)
The next day it took all morning to get permission from Home and tribal department to travel to other side of Pakistan. They prescribed the route we could take and advised all relavant agencys. They said that we may need an escort for some of the rest of our journey in Pakistan due to unrest in some areas. We tried to discuss with them that we would prefer not to have an escort but they wouldnt hear any of it. They informed us that there would be an escort waiting to take us out of town in the morning. $%^&*Y(HUILYKV

The escort must have been running late or were we early? We slipped out of the hotel and went to get some fuel. But unbenown to us it was a strike day in this part of Pakistan and no service stations were open. As we sat there at the 3rd closed servo wondering what to do a policeman came up to us and offered to show us where we could get fuel then show us which way out of town. This is what the Pakistan police and people are like, they go out of their way to help you. Such a shame about the terrorists.

When we got to the edge of town he waved us by and of we went. ( he hadnt heard about the escaped Aussies obviously). We rode on along quite a good road and were keeping our eye out for the one right turn we would need to take us along the road to Loralia(our next stop). Somehow we missed the turn ( we were shown it later and no wonder we missed it) and ended up at a police checkpoint near the Afghanistan border. They were a little concerned about 2 Aussies being there so called for a backup car to come and steer us in the right direction. Whilst we were at the checkpoint a pretty typical scene of road lunacy took place. With about 20 cops and us watching, a car overtook a bus that was overtaking a truck. This was all ok except the truck had slowed because there was an enormous speed hump to go over, the bus had slowed because it would loose the 10 people and all the cargo on its roof if it didnt slow down but the car didnt slow at all and it would have been doing 80-100kmh and it actually flew through the air for about 20 metres (they make toyota corollas tough here) and landed and just kept going at the same speed as it was with boot now open and and dust coming from it everywhere. The interesting thing was the reaction of the police to all of this. Basically one of them said something and everyone (including me) just had a hearty laugh. No taking down number plate, no car chase.

The police again showed us the right road and we continued to cruise along through some beautiful mountain scenery through the area where the earthquake hit last year. The damage to the area was clearly visable in areas but the lovely mountains and crappy road with wash outs took the major part of our attention. Again we ran into police who pointed us in the direction of Loralai. On the outskirts of Loralai a Pakistani Pom named Jillie came along and took us to hotel, he arranged for us to come to his place for dinner then helped us with some purchases. Then we found a better hotel and were in the middle of changing hotels when the local police intervened and made us go to station and the deterioration of relations started. It was ok initially, I thought that they were offering to look after the bike at their compound for the night. But after some discussions we realised that their intention was for us to stay at the station for the night. No explanation was offered and no english speaker was available for the next couple of hours. ( a police station not far from Loralai was blown up by a suicide bomber 2 weeks after we left)
Well Bron fired up, and I let my opinion be known, but no-one understood each other, so I asked to speak to the commander, he eventually came 2 hours later and he was quite nice but didnt seem to understand that what he was doing wasnt something that was aceptable to Bron and I. The conditions at the police camp were not really wonderful. I didnt use the toilet but Bron reported back that the squat toilet had obviously been used by a number of people who did not understand that you had to flush and clean up after yourself. The situation was far worse for Bron than for me. I would have been ok with things if I was alone but Bron had a number of things to cope with. We finished up putting our tent up inside a room in the barracks. This seemed ok but( in the morning we found someone else asleep in the room and 2 blokes getting changed into their uniform to work for the day).

We left Loralai under escort but after the 2nd escort reached the end of his area we were waved on.(I think that is what he was saying). We had a really pleasant day without hassles or escort. We arrived at Zhob in the early afternoon and decided to stay. To continue much further would take us into the flood zone where accomodation would be difficult if not imposible to find. On the edge of Zhob we were stopped by police who then called police intelligence who came out to greet us. We made it known to him that our experience had not been great at our previous stop and we prefered not to be hassled. He was really nice and helpful and lead us to a nice hotel in the centre of town. He said the town was safe and we would be fine to wander around.

After wandering around for a few hours (we had a crowd following us around) another police intelligence officer pulled us aside and told us that we must go back to the hotel "right now" as we were at risk. He organised the local police to stand guard and when they knocked on the door of our room at 10.30pm they got a bloody mouthful. Then they knocked on the door again at 7am to asked what time we wanted our escort. I am not sure if they quite understood what I said but I think the tone of my voice gave them some idea. We told them we wanted our escort at 10am but we were ready at 9.30 (coz they woke us up early) so we rang them and when they were not there after 20mins of waiting we just rode out of town and had another day relatively free of escort until we reached the river where the floods had gone through.

Up until then we had seen some of the best scenery of the trip so far. The rivers and gorges along the way were wonderful. We were lucky to be able to get through some parts as bridges and fords had been washed away but with the high traffic load this route experiences the government had done a little work to re-open the road. Some places the trucks were lined up for a few kilometres waiting to get through a boggy bit, or waiting for a truck that had become bogged to the axles to be moved. Because we are small enough to squeeze through, we were able to get past these blockages with relative ease and make good progress. ( it waS tough riding at times though)

When we reached the flooded area the escorts started again.(havnt these police got better things to do?) We had to keep on riding to get out of the flood damaged area which involved going through some more damaged river crossings and riding through some long tough sandy areas.
To get out of the zone meant riding for 2 hours through the dark (with police escort, sirens blaring)
This was probably the worst riding experience I have had so far. With horse and cart, cattle, trucks, tractors, cars and people on the road, even though we had an escort it was horrible.
At one stage even the commando's were escorting us.
We reached Faisalabad at 930 pm 12 hours of some tough riding but we were at another Serena hotel and the day finished with a lovely pepper steak. Oh how fortunate are we.

We stayed at Faisalbad for 2 nights and had a lovely rest.Well earned I think. We went into town had a look, not to impressed with the town so just relaxed. The police turned up to find out what time we would be leaving the next day and Bron flew at them. ( I actually felt sorry for the police at this point) After Bron had finished I had a gentle discussion with the police and told him our issues. We felt that the police time was being wsted escorting us. He told me that unfortunately the politicians had told the police that all foreigners must be escorted throughout the country due to the bad publicity whenever one gets kidnapped or killed. I started to understand from that point that the police and Pakistan were damned if they did and damned if they didnt. Its a tough position to be in for them and for Pakistan. The media get into a frenzy whenever a foreigner gets hurt in Pakistan but there are numerous Pakistani's hurt or killed every week. I found all this tough because they were making my life worth more than a locals but due to the media attention to the Pakistani government my life is worth more. Horrible. If only all the resource hours that are put into escorting tourists everywhere could be put into chasing terrorists and or creating a better Pakistan.

The escort was ready the next day and the run into Lahore was easy. We had finally come to terms with having an escort all the time. (it did come in handy coz we didnt get lost once whenever we had an escort and they kept the mob away when we stopped for lunch)

Lahore was nice enough but after the beautiful scenery of the river and gorges area it was hard to enjoy city life and noise again. Our first visit to one of Shah Jahan's fort was here in Lahore and it was wonderful, his forts are amazing and a must see in Pakistan and India.
The next day we were escorted out of Lahore and to the border of India.

I really enjoyed Pakistan. The scenery was amazing and the people were by far the friendliest that we have experienced so far. The decorated trucks were fantastic and the truck drivers were really proud of their decorations.

It was amazing that the average speed of these trucks was only around 20kmh. They loaded them to the hilt but drove accordingly. It was dissapointing to have to have the escort all the time but they were really nice blokes (with a couple of exceptions). The women we saw all had burkas on and the children were poorer and grubbier than anywhere else we have been. There were more beggars on the street and the place was pretty run down in comparison to everywhere else. The conditions, the hygeine in some towns, in some places was really bad. It is certainly somewhere I would go back to given a different situation where we had the freedom to move freely.