Jammu and Kashmir - safety etc
 

We're intending on setting off to get to a highest possible altitude on a bike but in order to do that we need to traverse the passes around the city of Leh in the Jammu and Kashmir region...we wanted to do this in July of this year but wonder on how safe/unsafe it may be as I've read and heard (among other things from Pakistani mini cab drivers etc) that its very dangerous for a couple of white guys to go there unescorted...escort may be given in Pakistan but very little in that region etc...

Any thoughts or opinions on this?

So no opinions/info/advice guys?

Damn. I am trying to find out how safe it now is to travel oveand to India myself. I will keep an eye on this...

Riding overland from Europe to India, I believe you will need to cross the Wagah/Attari border (between Lahore and Amritsar), as that´s the only one, that is open to foreigners. And that is way south from Leh, so security in those Himalayan regions should only be your concern, if you decide to go there.

There are some relatively unsafe areas in southeastern Iran, and in western and north-western Pakistan, and you cannot avoid them all, if you want to ride all the way... but on the other hand, you are not even allowed to enter the really problematic ones, and many travellers have done the route to/from India, and very few report any security-related issues. Mind you, travelling always involves a certain amount of risk, it cannot be totally removed. And another thing, that´s worth mentioning: the normal, local people are often really wonderful, and genuinely friendly in both countries, and they have nothing to do with international politics (of which the average article on the media is all about these days!) It really was a huge experience to get to see that with your own eyes.

Would I ride that way again? Probably right now I would say yes. But the situations change all the time, so I would watch the news, travel advisories, and this and other travel-related forums closely before making a final decision.

Thanks Pecha. I will and do check the above but find this site provides realistic first hand info from people such as yourself. Government seems to err on the side of safety.
Can I paste this on my specific 'traveling overland to India' thread

It´s worth noting, that I did Europe to India at the end of 2007. Many things might have changed during this time, so you can probably get more up-to-date info from other travellers, who have been there more recently.

What still seems to be the same, is the fact that many are concerned about the safety situation, particularly in Iran and in Pakistan. Getting visas to these countries has also become much harder for some passport holders.

For me it was surprising, that the countries and areas, that I was mostly concerned about, turned out to be quite easy (and safe – the exception being, that I would not describe traffic in Iran or Pakistan as very "safe"!!).... but then India was very tough on a bike. Terrible traffic congestion, very slow roads, and in bad condition, and driving standards are something you´ll need to see before you can believe it! They were building many new roads there, but I´m afraid that even if they´re ready, there won´t be much free space on them, because their road infrastructure clearly is behind their pace of growth.

But we also went quite fast through Iran and Pakistan without much sightseeing, and then stayed 7 weeks in India, so naturally our experience was different in India. (Oh, and don´t be fooled to think that 7 weeks is a lot of time for entire India, it´s about the size of Western Europe, and travelling is much slower!)

Hey Pecha, i have been trying to get some info about this area for some time, i am in the middle of planning a similar trip of yours.. europe to india. would you mind pm'ing me either alink to thread about your trip or maybe the route you took?

Europe to India
 

Hi, for routes, may I suggest you have a look at the thread linked below (forget the title, which is a bit misleading, and scroll down to Colebatch´s post (#11), where he´s made some corrections with the blue lines – he knows those northern routes much better than I do!

(...but anyway, from eastern Turkey to southern India, counting out a few small detours, we took pretty much that route, which is drawn there. For Pakistan, I believe that is still the way to go, if you ride from Iran to India. The rest of the countries have more options, and that map naturally does not have them all):

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...pian-sea-55471

(BTW, the sea routes drawn on the map, with the picture of the ship, refer to freighting the bike on a cargo ship, so they do not mean ferries – for example, currently there are NO ferries to India from anywhere on the Persian Gulf! And the picture of the airplane means airfreight; the maps were for a magazine article, and it was explained there on the text, maybe not so evident on the maps themselves.)


And I do have a ´blog´ (well, sort of!) but unfortunately after Iran, and before South India, there is a part of the text, that is still in Finnish. I first made it fully in Finnish, then later on converted it to English, but for some strange reason, that part was left there – I will fix it some time, just lacking a bit of free time to do it! Oh yeah, and there should be more detailed maps of our routes in there, too. Another thing, that it´s still lacking, is our travels in Australia, and in fact I´m almost ready to put them there, it´s just the free time bit, that´s holding me back once again...... :rofl:

Just keep in mind, that it´s not very recent info any more. And if I can help you in any other way, please just let me know!

The "blog" is here:
MOTO1 - Matkalla

Sorry for the delay great links and info Pecha thanks very much...looks like I'm setting off around mid June aiming to get there mid July to come back mid August...its turning out to a record attempt but we'll see how that goes :)