about Pakistan

[JEP]

Wrote this email on request to Kemal, and decided to post it here, as someone else might find it helpful (did the Route Quetta-Sukkur-Multan-Peshawar):
In Quetta I stayed in the Muslim Hotel, following lp- Guide, is okay for the
price but not in the cold season as heater costs extra and more than doubles
the price. Paid 70Rs (60Rs=1Euro) per night. Nice city, nice atmosphere,
very colorful everything, but nothing special to see. Take a daytrip to Ziarat if possible, beautiful landscape, if you dont go this route to DG Khan anyway. Aftr Quetta, south over Bolan Pass is not
very special, bust soon after some great parts of road along the river, beautiful. After that gets boring again from Sibi on. Mainly desert, but had lots of fog in this
season, perhaps better when its clear. The roads are the worst i ever drove,
nearly everywhere, the traffic hell. Be careful. Even the big higways have parts without asphalt, potholes, dirt and sand on them, mud in the towns, bridges with big
holes(!) in them etc. And, very important: Dont go the big road to Jacobabad,
about 100km before Jac. they restore the road, and lead the traffic into the
desert, without any prepared track, so trucks, cars, carts, everything goes
where he wants through the sand in a big cloud ob dust, in every direction, and
that for about 50 km. Took me one day for these 50km, incuding smashing the
bike once , damaging one of my panniers. Horrible. Avoid that.
Mohenjodaro I missed, as i dont have a proper guidebook, but Uch Sharif is
worth a visit, Multan too, beautiful old city and very spiritual atmosphere in
the shrines. Met some local in Uch who who i stayed with visiting Multan
from there, so no hotel recommendation.
Peshawar stayed in Shan Hotel (lp), okay for the price (100Rs single), but
if u want to meet other travellers, go to tourist inn, more expensive and far
from the beautiful inner city though. Visited Khyber pass (great, as i met
some local who organises private tours and can take u to the border and the
tribal parts of smugglers bazaar, with guns, alcohol and hashish in the shop
windows), going there alone not so amazing, as u are not allowed to get
close to the afghan border or the tribal areas. Nice city, too, for the
atmosphere.
Recommend dressing pakistani-style, if and where possible, avoids a lot of people-gatherings and shouting to you in the
streets (always friendly), although some atmospheric invitations to tea by many
shop owners in the bazaar, too.
From PEshawar north to the mountains cold now, but bearable and for the non-touristy and really beautiful places have to go quite a way, but worth it, i think.
Thats it, not many hotel recommendation, stayed mainly with locals, and som
very cheapies in small villages, that i dont remember. But people are very
friendly and hospitable, made very good experiences. And they love to talk to
foreigners.
Fuel everywhere and good quality, but dont use the one guys sellig from
barrels along the street, its cheaper (iranian), but sometimes mixed with
anything, heard some bad stories. Stick to petrol pumps, no problem. About 32Rs/l at
the moment.
But graet country, enjoy it!
Jens
Read Karakorum-Highway-Posts in this Forum too!

[vincent danna]

hello,
i ve been in pak for more than 3 months
drove one month, rest 2 months after my accident on the kkh
came from iran, so drove taftan then dalbandin, quetta, loralai, dg khan, di khan, bannu, kohat, islamabd, kkh until top, lahore by car

it s safe, people make the difference between people and their governement
very curious, clever (they know a lot about what s going on), hospitable
some tribal areas, in baluchistan, nwfp, you need NOC (No objection Certificate)
roads, fuel : no prob
places to stay, eat : same

they drive a bit crazy
you need Carnet de Passage en Douanes

karachi may be a bit unsafe, as kashmir, some tribal areas also

more details on my website
"sur la route"
"informations pratiques pour les autres voyageurs"

happy trails

[Ade]

Vincent: "you need a Carnet" is fairly clear, but ...

I am in India with an Enfield (bought secondhand): is there any way I can get the necessary permits to cross the Pak, Iran and Turkey borders?

[vincent danna]

hello

there s always a possibility in those countrie but "it s a game, i m not sure" as we say.
i can tell you this :
iran, pakistan : carnet compulsory

i had to extend my carnet when i was in pakistan, they are very nice
the adress of automobile club of pakistan
155, chenab block
allama iqbal town
lahore 54570
tel : 9242- 784 11 54
fax : 9242- 744 5320
email : aapkint@hotmail.com

they may help you

good luck

[iris_trui]

Hello Vincent and the others,

one correction: for Iran a Carnet is not compulsary. We met Italians on their way back (right at the border Bazargan-Dogubayazit)
and they had --without any problem-- bought a temporary import permit for their bike. Some 100 euros if I remember well.
Pakistan is indeed totally impossible without a Carnet.

Trui

P.S.: hope to meet you some day Vincent ! It seems we have 1. a common surgeon in PAK, 2. common friends whom you met in Mongolia, Luc and Catherine , and 3. just waved goodbye to Alec last Thursday here in Gent.


------------------
Iris and Trui
2 belgian women, often travelling on motorbikes (now on DR650SE's)
2nd overland from home to Northern India and back, April-October 2002

[JEP]

One more correction:
Although I didnt try it out, it seems to be possible to cross even Pakistan without carnet. I met some Germans in India travelling with a VW Bus and they made it up to the indian border without, had to pay some baksheesh at the border, but it worked. Didnt make much sense though, as they had to get a permit for entering India anyway, seems impossible at least there. But depends much on the guys sitting at the border, I guess, u have to be lucky..
Have fun
Jens

[paulak22]

Dear Iris_Trui,
Would it be possible for you to send me the contact details (email address) of Dr Aly Khokhar in Islamabad please. I'm planning to go to Pakistan and Aly is an old collegue and friend of mine with whom I have lost touch with since he returned to Pakistan from the UK over 10 years ago. I would very much like to meet up with him in Pakistan
I'm looking forward to getting help from you on this issue.
Kind regards and best wishes,
Ash