Iran/Pakistan Hotel GPS
 

Hello all,

any body have any GPS Coordinates for some nice cheap bike friendly hotels or guest houses in Iran or Pakistan please. We have no fixed route yet but will be heading towards Tabriz/Tehran/Esfahan/Shiraz/Yazd/Bam/Zahedan.
Then Taftan to Quetta/up to Peshawar/Chitral/Gilgit then back down to Islamabad/Lahore/Wagah then into India.

Many thanks

Angie

Hi Angie, you have got us bringing back memories. We did this trip in the early 90's on a '78 R65. No such thing as GPS coordinates back then. Good old maps,contact coated.Can't find the trip notes since moving . but could lead you along the path still.At leads in Pakistan from Taftan to Quetta you have the super hwy. It was still being built back then . So we had to traverse through the desert tracks. stopping overnight in a small village where we fuelled up with a hand cranked bowser.
Your place ,Andover, I use to work close to there as well, At Colling Bourne Dusis (sp). I worked for Exodus Expeditions, they are now out of overland travel.

No doubt many things have changed loved the history, fasinating moasics in Iran .I had to rebuild the gearbox in Esfahan ,extend transit visas,lovely people . Getting Metho for the trangia was a hassle as they thought that with our translation they thought we wanted to drink it.
All the best with your travel plans and the trip itself .don't over plan as things and places will pop up that you will want to enjoy. Fuel was really never a drama , for the ole R65 and getting it like wise. only used the 5 lt container across the Baulcistan desert.
Enjoy
Steve and Therese

Angie - got just the thing for you, my dear! PM me and I will send you what I have, assuming you can use Magellan info.

Steve - the 'super highway' from Taftan to Quetta is STILL being built - in fact, they seem to have given up on it!

I posted a few Iran recommendations here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...172#post288447

Cheers

Suggestions for Pakistan trip
 

Your plan looks fabulous Angie but please consider two suggestions,
1. Avoid going to Peshawar.
2. Forget about going to Chitral via Peshawar, Malakand, Dir, Lawari Pass. You should take the longer but safer route of Gilgit, Shandhoor Pass, Chitral instead.

You can take your preferred route later, after the law and order situation stabilisis.
Regards

I confirm. Peshawar, and the road to go there, are not the safest places in the world. It's possible, but then militaries are going to be a real pain.
Quetta is the afghan talibans' headquarters. Though it should be no problem, remain cautious.
Balochistan is dodgy. No talibans there, but bandits. You might be imposed a military escort (which does not make things any safer). In any case: be ready to hit the gaz, don't stop in any case.
Take care and enjoy!

Thank you for your kind help, Steve - ilesmark - Boarder - Omie and Vencek.

We were wondering which route to Chitral but you have convinced us to go Via the Shandoor pass.

We welcome all advice so thank you again.
We want to camp as much as possible when safe to do so, it would be nice to have a few hotels to aim for as a treat.

Angie

Angie,
You're not going to get to Peshawar, they ain't going to let you through. If you ditch the bike and jump on a bus it may be possible.
"hotels as a treat"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's going to cost you about £5 a night for lodgings.
There's a good guest house on London Road,Dalbandin,in fact the only one, road or guest house ;-)(freezin cold beer as well).
Quetta is a great intro to Pak, you will get caught by security forces before you get there, tell them your looking for the Bloom Star Hotel, you can camp in the grounds for not a lot of PRs. In October 2009 we where free to check out the city and spent 3 day enjoying our time there but on a return visit in March 2010 new security regs were in place and foreigners were not aloud out unescorted.
HTH
Pete

Pakistan to Iran
 

Hi Angie and friends;

I've just crossed the Pakistan to Iran leg and just arrived in Kerman, so this news is up to date.

Sukkur to Quetta in in trouble, good roads but they will insist in giving you an escort, sometimes this happens sometimes not, if not you get a "go on and they will meet you " . The floods in Sibi haven't helped the volotile situation, I passed 2 days after they subsided.

Quetta is basically under siege. You get a double top-gunny escort from 30km into town and straight to your hotel ( say Bloom Star ), then lsiten to gunfire most of the night. Same escort out of town to the Lak Pass tunnel then you're bundled with others until everyone gives up and stops for lunch.

From here I had a vehicle escort for about 50km then missed them somehow for the next 100km. I reached Padag and from there they gave me an armed pillion.
The road is very Poor in this stretch to 30km from Daubandin. I overnighted in the Police compound ( can't speak more highly of the fellows there ) and same arrangement of pillion-security all the way to Taftan.
Road was good BUT desert winds strong and sand drifts across the road made riding interesting, even the train was stopped by them.

Similar wind-issues in Iran and you will have an escort, both countries have check-points every 20 orso kilometers so no chance of "being missed" for long.

My advice is plan for this to take longer than you think, your speed average will be low as you will have to wait each time for your escort, make sure you have sleeping gear and basic foods.

Do the trip though as it's worth it for the great scenery and the people.

Only when you arrive in Quetta can you find out if you can continue, the note I saw at the Hotel was that A.. Security was an option but not preffered and B.. alternate route is Sukkur / Multan loop.

Regards the GPS info, also look at Simon and Lisa's blog on "2 ride the World" and I can forward some too, send a PM if needed.

Cheers and hope this helps !

Frank and the Pig.

Thanks Frank, hope all goes well for you.

Bloody hell guys, pakistan has gone to the pac. lately ,miltary escorts. not heard of in our trip. though things change from day to day. we arranged a travel permit from Quetta to Zhob,Bannu to Peshawar.That was a fantastic few days.Most likley totally out of bounds now.got a flat tyre and as usual not a person in sight till you stop. Then they came out of the scrub.Got Therese to make the sweetest chai in the trangia while I went about repairing the rear tyre. The locals where so impressed how the R65 balance and the chai. once the tube was fixed and replaced it was time to pump up the tyre with the std bmw hand pump. this also shocked the locals and they all wanted a go pumping up the tyre . we made lots of fun out of it and in the end the tyre was up my arms wheren't stuffed ,all the local guys ,oh ya with machine guns shoulders shook hands bidded us safe travels and got on a mini bus that had come along.We found them very friendly, thats all of Pakistan.
We continued on for a few more hours and had to ford a river. The water was clear but running swiftly so I couldn't see the bottom .it wasn't real deep but I hit a large rock which spat me over.Therse had decided to use the stepping rocks and walked.Catching the tank bag as it floated to her.I killed the motor quickly.The bike was on its side nearly completely submerged. We got it out . Thinking this will be interesting to get her going again. pulled the plugs turned the engine over spat some water out of the barrels. plugs back in still no go. There was a local truck parked up by the river .The driver got out and indicated pointing to the front tyre then pointing to the sky saying Alah,Alah. he gave us a hand lifting the front of the bike up and water poured out of the exhausts. Hit the starter again and the bike burbled back into life , thank god,no thank Alah. we there back on the road within an hour from being on the other side of the river .
I'm sure you guys will have memories that will last for years.
Gee got to find the diary and get it all on the computer before its all gone out of the head

steve

Gps
 

thanks Bergrider for the mention...our GPS file is here for download.
2ridetheworld.com : diary
the diary of this part of our trip starting in iran starts here:
2ridetheworld.com : diary

you will have a military escort in iran from Bam to the Pak border and then the majority of the way through Pak. You must have heard of the recent monsoon problems in Pak - this is a hard area to ride without all of the current problems.
keep up to date with the current situation and be prepared for your trip through Pak to be curtailed for your own safety. Simon and I for the majority of the time did however really enjoy Pak and its people and would one day love to go back.- which is more than we can say for our time in India.

Hi Lisa,
Nice to hear from you and knowing that all is going well. I wish you had spared more time for Pakistan. Glad to know you plan to revisit Pakistan, the best kept secret.
Pay my regards to Simon.
Omar (Met during dinner in Lahore)

Thanks Lisa,

We are praying for better times in Pakistan by next year - who knows?

Angie

Using other peoples tracks can be a really good thing. But look at them closely using your GPS's software, like Garmins MapSource or Delormes Topo7.

You may need to edit them somewhat to make it work for you. While the hotel is shown for the end of the day, their track could have you zig-zagging all around trying to locate it, just as they did.

Lisa, Simon.....You guys are awesome!

daryl