Accommodating your Pakistani security?
 

Hey gang,

We've been hooning around Pakistan for the last 3 months and have had a wonderful time. Traveled from Lahore up around Hunza and Chitral just before the winter set in and have experienced our fair share of security checkpoints and escorts as I'm sure many of you have. Quick question:

Have you ever been asked to purchase a hotel room for some of Pakistan's finest? Did you oblige?

We've had this happen twice now, once was after we got nailed by a snowstorm on Lowari Pass and some sweetheart coppers managed to jam both of our CT110s in the back of their ute and get us down the other side of the mountain. The hotel owner that they took us to asked if we would pay 50% of the bill for the police to stay in a hotel room. We were surprised but they'd been such gems (and were soaking wet and half frozen) that we were quite happy to do that for them.

Now we are most of the way to Sukkur heading for Iran. We pulled into a rather rural hotel in Zahirpir and met an awesome hotel owner who declared that he would give us a room and meals for free if we would give him the honour of staying with him, but he'd just call the local police chief to make sure it was ok. Chiefy shows up and is unusually staunch and upset that he didn't know we were coming and proceded to list all the violations we'd made by not checking into every police station we passed along the way. We usually just ride until the cops pull us over and do their thing and we weren't really expecting an escort before we arrived in Sukkur. Chiefy warms up to us after a 2 hour interrogation concerning the meaning of life and declares that we are now safe and there'll be a couple of officers arriving shortly to watch over us (you know the drill). Later on, the owner has left and 4 police arrive and sheepishly come and tell us that we need to pay for a room for them. It isn't the end of the world for us given that our room is apparently free, but we have no idea how much the rooms even cost and are feeling a tad disgruntled that there seem to be these awkward/annoying issues in the most benign places in Pakistan. We understand there are security issues in Pakistan but can't help that feeling that having a team of geriatric small-town police officers leaving their guns laying around the place while they take selfies is possibly not going to dramatically improve our security.

We've played a bit dumb on this occasion and are hoping we can settle any potential bills with the charming owner in the morning. We don't blame the poor coppers, they're just doing their thing. Any of you guys been in this situation? Is it to be expected in Balochistan where things are possibly a bit more dicey?

Hey, just entered india after a whole month in Pakistan. Never happened to me that way. Usually they say the room for police is free (or included in your price). However we were forced to take hotel rooms from time to time, when we wanted to camp but the police wanted a warmer place to stay.

In balochistan its fine. We came from Taftan to Quetta.
In Taftan we slept at the Levies headquarters and than in a shitty hotel in a town in between. It was cheap, but we did not have to pay for police. The responsible police officer in the region of that hotel ("security in charge" he will continuously say that) asked for a gift. He wants money and got pissed when I gave him a picture. Did NOT pay him in the end and it was fine.

However the Bloomstar hotel in Quetta is a Ripoff now. I think they charged us 4000 for a double room and we got discounts to 3600 but therefore we did not get breakfast.


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Haha yeah your words are feeling very familiar. Bloomstar charged us the same and kept trying to sell us 500pkr cans of beer, when the local cops were happy to pick you up some for less than half that price. Bloomstar is keeping the rates for locals low but I feel they know they have the monopoly and can overcharge foreigners.
We're in Dalbandin now (between Quetta and Taftan) and have just met "Security in Charge". It's my birthday tomorrow so I'll be the one pushing for gifts.

Since my last post we've been asked to pay for a security guards meal and also had to fill the tank on one of our escort's CG125s.

Pretty much business as usual for pakistan. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Let me suggest bikers to stay in touch with MAP when in Pakistan.

Glad you enjoyed your stay in the world's best kept secret.


Cheers