|
Iran - Pakistan - India: Aug/Sep/Oct 09
Hi,
My partner and I are leaving UK end of June and heading East into Poland and Ukraine before travelling to Turkey and then into Iran and through Pakistan to India. This leg of the journey looks like it's best done in company and rather than just replying to others, I thought I might post my own thread. I'm a bit new to this game! We're driving a converted 4WD Iveco camper which does about 60 mph tops! We're not in any rush and don't even have a Pakistan visa - was going to get it in Iran. If you think you may be around at that time, we'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading and happy travelling. Jo and Mark |
Hi Again,
Already spoken during my thread but thought I'ld say that some company would also be welcome during this part of the trip too. I've just applied for my Iranian visa and was also hoping to get my Pakistani visa in Tehran at somepoint in late August/ early September. The option to avoid Pakistan is also available by shipping straight to India from southern Iran, providing I can get a visa there and civil war doesn't erupt! Duncan |
Hi,
Were leaving 15 Aug. Got our Iran visa and will be hot footing it down to London to get our Pakistan visas in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully crossing Iran in or around mid Sept. Looks like we may catch you up ? We'll keep an eye out. Pete & Caf |
I got my Iran visa this week and are leaving from Sweden to Thailand by the end of the week and counting on entering Pakistan sometimes second half of September, so if you guys are still around I am interested to join with you on the way to Quetta.
Freddy |
Update
Dear All,
Jo and I are currently in Istanbul - will be heading into Iran around 20 September - gaining Pakistan visa in Tehran and then leaving Iran by 9 October - visa expires then. Don't know whether these dates suite anyone - but would be cool to hear how you're all doing. Mark |
Hi,
I'm currently in Erzurum, Eastern Turkey awaiting the results of my second attempt at an Iranian Visa. Am goin to Kars and Ani for a couple of days to waste time rather than hanging around in the city. Your dates may tie up nicely with mine. What is your plan for travelling across Turkey? I can strongly reccomend Cappadocia and Mt Nemrut. Duncan |
Quote:
|
Update from Jo and Mark
Dear All,
We're currently on the South Agean Coast, not far from Izmir. We are waiting for a spare wheel and tyre from Iveco and have no idea how long this will take. If the man in Izmir can't sort it out in the next few days, then Istanbul have ordered one from Italy and will send it to us anywhere in Turkey. Will keep you posted on our movements. Our route, once we leave here is to go to Kas and follow the med coast until we head up to Cappadocia. From there we'll head East to see the big heads and Gaziantep and then up towards the border. Some postings from the old adventurer on the SE Asia forum on the hub are very interesting reading - the one on Taftan to Dalbandin. Maybe see you guys somewhere - until then, happy and safe travels jo and Mark |
hi there!!!
hope your travels have been fun so far. we are also traveling from iran to pakistan to india, and were looking for people to travel with. we were thinking the begining of october. let us know if you still are in iran ... cheers, sareh and jorge |
Hı all
currently ın Turkey on the ıran border wıll enter Iran next couplke of days need to get Pakıstan vısa ın tehran not sure how long we wıll stay ın ıran before pakıstan keep ın touch Mark and Jo you msn on on 07980586822 |
Hi
We are in Turkey right now, crossing into Iran on the 4th, have not got a Pakistani visa, so will be trying to get it in Tehran. Does anybody know how long it takes from the border to Tehran Michael and Susanne |
pakistan visa
Hi guys,
Well we are going tomorrow morning to try and get the visa, will let you know how it goes and how long it takes. then we will spend a couple of weeks in iran before heading over. We are crossing by car, are you guys traveling by bike? or car? or cycling? Hope to see you soon Sareh |
Hi Sareh
Please let us know how it goes. We are also travveling by car. But only planning on crossing around the end of October. We are planning to apply for a transit visa for Pakistan. What are you trying to get?? Did you get a letter of recommendation from your own embassy?? Hope to see you Susanne |
update and reply
Hı,
I thınk ıt takes around 3 days to get to terhan. We,re crossıng border tomorrow ınto Iran and headıng to tabrız for vısa extaensıon then Tehran for Pakıstan vısa. Hopefully see some of you guys. Happy travels Jo and Mark (marky116) |
Hi guys,
We are in Esfahan at the moment and going to do about another week or so in Iran before crossing into Pakistan. If you go into the tourist office in Tabriz, right above the start of the main bazar the guy up there is very helpful and will help with your extension, you can only extend if you have between 2 and 5 days remaining on your current visa ! HTH Pete |
pakistan visa
Hi Susanne
well we went yesterday. you have to hand in your stuff between 9 an 10:30 am. it gets really busy and they dot accept anything after 10:30 so try get there by 9. you need a letter from your embassy in ENGLISH. and you need 3 photos , they will give you 2 forms to fill out and then you need to write a letter saying why you want to go to pakistan and why you didnt apply for a visa from your own country. also put your name your fathers name and date of birth and what city and country you are from. also you need a copy of your passport from the first page with all your details and also any page that has a visa from your travels up to now ... then from 11am the same day they will ask you to stay for an "interview" it only takes 5 minutes and he asks why you are going and stuff like this ... they gave us a phone number so we have to call them this afternoon they will tell us if we get one or not and if we do we have to go tomorrow and get the visa . it costs 37,000 tomans ... there were at least 5 others there traveling by car or bike aswell, i think we have a good chance of getting the visa. we asked for a transit visa which is for a fortnight but in the interview the guy said he can try for one month. we just want to pass through to india ... we will see this afternoon. hope we all the the visas an travel soon!! sareh |
Hi Sarah
Thanks for the information. Keep us posted and let us know if you got the visa. We will be trying when we reach Tehran. right now we are in Elazing in Turkey. Heading further east tomorrow. Susanne |
Hi Sareh
One more question. What reason did you give for not applying from your home country and please explain to us what the embassy have to write to in the recommodation letter. Thanks and good luck Susanne |
Hi
One last question to everyone, any good recommendations for hotels in Iran after the border from Turkey and in Tehran. How long did it take to cross the border?? Any problems with customs? Susanne |
On the Turkey side there will be a guide making out he is passport control, tell him to do one. Go through the doors on the left and straight across the concourse to the opposite side, go straight through some large gates outside on the right leading into an enclosure, turn right again around the corner of the building and halfway along there is a hatch at the back of the building but no signs, this is customs, hand them passports to get exit visa stamped and then head back to passport control. Everything went well for us on the Iran side, make sure you do lots of smiling, it really helped, touts again are a real pain in the arse, just tell then your ok and after about half hour they get fed up. You will need copies of passport when you hand in your carnet, guy in the foyer has a copier.
Total from arriving a Turkey control to leaving Iran control was 3 1/2 hours. Oh yeah, when you leave passport control you go down the hill to another barrier, they will not let you though until you have insurance, that's opposite, $20. Pete |
okay so they said to call tomorrow at 11am when i called today !!
for our reasons we wrote, that i didnt know i was going to go to pakistan by land and my friend wrote coz he left his country one year ago. in the letter from your embassy, they know what to write, just tell them you need this letter and the important thing is that it should be in english. my embassy (australian) charged 25000 tomans and they said that they verify that my passport is a true copy and not a fake passport. and my friends embassy (spanish) said he had to write a letter telling them why he wanted to go and that it was his responsibility should anything happen, and the embassy letter wrote that he is a citizen of spain and that they think its a good opportunity for him to go to pakistan ... and it was free its all bullshit, so each embassy will write whatever they like ... we ll be in touch sareh |
Hi Pete
Thanks a lot for the presice description of crossing the border. where did you change money, can you change just after you have crossed the border?? we are very exiced about the idea of going to Iran Susanne |
There is a Bank Meli in the transport office halfway down the hill after the border but before the barrier, round the back.
|
Crossing Pakistan border
Hey guys
Were currently in Tehran waiting on our Indian visa's and a re-issue or our Carnet. Probably be around here for the next 5/6 days. Were planning on crossing over to Pakistan around the 14th or 15th Oct not exactly sure as plans are changing day by day. If anyone is interested in crossing the border around the same time it would be good to hear from you...safety in numbers and all that. We bought an Iranian sim today so we can be contacted on the number below. We heard sms doesnt work all the time so your probably better to call. Take it easy Liam and Luke 00989381656409 |
hi guys, ive got your number and ill be in touch.
hope to see yous soon! s |
Update from Jo and Mark
Dear All,
Sounds like everyone's moving forward on borders and visas. We crossed the border 7 days ago and had a dream crossing of 45mins. We are currently in Tehran and are due to pick up our Pakistani Visa tomorrow morning. They have said they will give us three months. All being well, we'll head to Esfahan via Kashan and apply for visa extension for Iran there. The rest of the journey should include Shiraz, possibly Persian Gulf coast, Yazd, Kerman, Bam etc. I imagine we'll be crossing to Pakistan in approx 14 days. Should let you know that we're in 4 wheels and can do around 80kph max. Let's keep in touch. Jo and Mark Jo and Mark Overland |
hi all !
okay we are now having problems with the indian visa, they say that its dangerous to cross by land through pakistan so maybe they wont give it. though when i said we are a few people with a few cars, they said that i should call in 2 days and talk to them and they may consider this ... anyways ill let you know what happens sareh jorge and pato (new friend) |
We also are trying to get our Indian visa in Tehran. We made our application last wednesday and told to come back today the 5th. So we went to the embassy today and then we were told to come back again in two days. Nobody said anything about it being too dangerous to cross or anything really...
Fingers crossed I suppose we will get the visa |
Update Jo and Mark
Dear All,
Hope all visa issues have been resolved for you. We managed to get a Pakistani Visa in Tehran. We are now in Shiraz and off to Persepolis tomorrow and then to Yazd and Kerman. We hope to be in Kerman around the 15/16/17 Oct and maybe do a day or so seeing the Kaluts. We have heard that there is a good guesthouse with a courtyard for overlanders in Kerman called the Omid Inn. It is on Shahid Qarani St. We will travel from there to Bam and then Zahedan. I imagine this means we could be crossing the border around 21-23 October. None of these dates are set in stone, they're estimates. Any good to anyone? We'll pick up in Yazd again in a couple of days time. See Ya? Jo and Mark |
Hi there,
we got our indian visa too ! 6 month, mutiple entry, so we are leaving tehran in 2 days for esfehan shiraz yazd and then to zahedan, so i think we will be there by the 23rd ... hopefully we can cross over together still ! and liam and luke thanks for the info on the visa. sareh |
Hi Guys,
A bit of information from experience... A couple of friends scouted out the Omid Inn a couple of weeks ago for potential to stay there. Although there is a courtyard, the hotel is apparently not too nice (it smelt of wee). Instead we went to the Akhavan hotel which also has secure parking behind for bikes and will let camper vans stay there too. It is a tad more expensive than the Omid but it depends on what you are willing to put up with; you get what you pay for - at the Akhavan you can haggle if there are a couple of you. You will need police escorts all the way from Bam to the border which closes at 2pm Iranian side - Pakistan is 2 hours ahead still I think. Try not to give your passports to the escorts, they wont give them back and will delay you longer than necessary. Keep pestering them and they get fed up. We just keep repeating where we're going to to any question asked and they eventually will think you're stupid and give up and let you go Yn Shallah. Camping is possible at the border, we camped on the doorsteps of the hotel for free who wanted $30 for 3 of us and refused to accept $20 for beds. On the Pakistani side we were really lucky and had no escorts from the border all the way to Quetta. Do this in 2 days, its much more enjoyable. There is a hotel in Dalbandin for 300Rps a night. There are no petrol stations between Taftan and Quetta. Fill up in Iran on the cheap. Black market petrol is available in Dalbandin. About 20km after Dalbandin there are some salt flats on your right hand side, great fun to mess about on for an hour (if you have no escorts!) If you do, play around anyway. From Quetta you're supposed to go south to Sukkur then up to Multan and Lahore, we went straight across to Lorelay with escorts, then across to Multan, but the road is shockingly bad for about 60-70km after Lorelay - A friend snapped his White Power rear shock in half on a bump! Apparently you are supposed to have permits to do this but we just made a dash for it anyway. In Lorelay we stopped at the most unsecure police compound in the world. Everybody seems to live in there and people just climbed over the walls to say hello. Seriously annoying after a long days ride. It took us 16 hours to get from Lorelay to Multan, the police wouldnt let us stop anywhere and we had an armed division guarding our bikes all night. We had escorts all the way to Lahore but they were much more organised for this stretch and it is all good road. Good Luck! Duncan - Currently in Lahore. |
in istanbul
hez guys been great reading zour reports about whats installed for me ahead sounds like a bit of a pain but should all work out in the end
im in istanbul now should have iran visa tomorrow morning then im headin down the med side of turkey and back up over the next week then onto iran where i have to get pak and i believe indian visa there as well so that could take a bit more time then on wards pretty fast to india if anzbodz else out there is looking at doing the same let me no and will meet up for a ride and a chat about routes ect.. oh and im 24 on an old 250rs cheers john |
Quote:
We passed over to Pakistan yesterday. We had no escort until we passed through a checkpoint outside Zahedan. Think we got lucky as we didnt have to wait long at checkpoints to pick up new escorts. We drove from Zahedan to Quetta in 16 hours which I think is fairly good considering how bad the roads are for a car. Definately the hardest day so far. Had a guard in the car most of the day but in the evening we were followed by 4x4 police jeeps...dont be afraid to just drive off on these escort (espically when there driving at 20 mph), there is another one waiting for you just up the road and there just happy to see you out of there area. Take it easy....you will need to on these roads |
Quote:
Andy |
Update from Jo and Mark
We're currently in Bam and are heading to Zahedan tomorrow. Will be crossing on 23rd. With one other vehicle. Haven't heard from anyone else, assuming you're sorted?
Jo |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:56. |