Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Tires in Pakistan?

You can use this website to convert my gps coordinates

http://www.calculatorcat.com/latitude_longitude.phtml

Or just google convert coordinates

Let me share some expriences of our adventure in Pakistan with you.

We crossed into Pakistan at the beginning of October, through Waggah border. The border at both sides was quite straightforward. India took about one our, Pakistan maximum half of it. Pakistan was a bit weird though, we were rushed in by the custom officer, and were told to hurry up. We first made it through immigration, which was the simplest ever and then went to the custom for the carnet. There was a guy there who we assumed was the custom officer. He took our carnets, put a stamp on it and changed our leftover Indian rupies to Pakistani (We did not get a very good rate, I recommend you check the rate before you change).
Then he said please wait. A few minutes later the actual custom officer walked in. He did not really know what to do, but the tout helped him through step by step. It was all quite funny, especially the completely bend thru desk he was working on. The tout challenged us, asked us how much time we spend in India border, and give himself thumbs up about how much faster Pakistan was. But we had to admid he was right. Pakistan was easy.
We walked out the building, and some other officer tried to rush us again, hurry hurry, go go!

We drove into Lahore at rush hour and drove to Lahore Backpackers on Mall Road. Coordinates:
Lat: 31.561831 Lon: 74.318665

The Lahore guesthouse was nice. (rated best backpackers in Pakistan, but I can tell you there is only one :)) Sajdar is a nice guy, he arranged a simcard for me and put us in touch with a guy who could maybe provide tires for us. How have to stay and use your common sense though. Don’t be foolish. We met another guy who went with him to a festival and he suddenly asked him for money. The guy gave it to him (quite a large sum) and immediately regretted this. Anyway, I wish not to put people in bad daylights, he got his money back the next morning. Just be aware. We went to the sufi night which was cool. I’m from Amsterdam and had not seen so many men smoking so much hash before.

We drove to Islamabad in a short day. Road is pretty okay. We stayed at Embassy Lodge which is located near the Rawal lake, but we would not recommend staying here, since it is expensive, the shower cold, the internet a hassle and its far away from everything. Secure parking though.
Lat: 33.684544 Lon: 73.104935

The next day we drove to Besham via Abbottbad. The road is crap, busy and the scene is not nice. Rather try and go via Murree to Chilas. We took that road back, and it is a gem.
Besham we stayed at Continental Hotel which was fine. Besham is a bit of a dodgy place, but we had one of our most hospitable experience in Pakistan there so far!
Besham to Gilgit. Stayed in Madina Hotel 2.
I think this are the coordinates but I’m not sure
Lat: 35.920647 Lon: 74.329117

Very nice guesthouse, nice host. Nice place.
From Gilgit to Passu. The road from Chilas onwards to the Chinese border is (oct 2014) in almost immaculate condition. Only broken up by the Attabad lake. The Chinese are working hard to bypass this with a tunnel. Till than you have to cross the lake by little canoes. We did not have much faith and were worried that the bikes would soon be at the bottom of the lake, but these guys are transporting everything on these little boats and are very experienced. My 200+ kgs Moto Guzzi was taken out of the haul of the boat by some seesway method and it worked brilliantly. Count for 500 to 1000 rp per bike.

We stayed in Passu in a guesthouse which was nice but expensive, but there was not much choice. Allthough camping would be a very good option in other times of the year.
Lat: 35.920647 Lon: 74.329117

We drove to the Khunjerab Pass. The road and the scenery is amazing. On the pass itself there is not much. Not even a sign saying “khunjerab pass” or “welcome to China”. I got more sick every hundred meter we climed because of the altitude and had to stop one time to empty my stomach on the side of the road. I felt crap but it was worth it.
We drove back to Passu, and went to Gilgit the next day. We stopped in Karimabad, where there is a nice fort. Also nice restaurant, called Eagles Nest, and you can also sleep there. Recommended big time. Very nice place. We only had lunch there.

From GIlgit to Naran. We went via Chilas, where you have to ask permission to cross the Babusar Pass to Naran. We drove into Chilas and saw people selling gun holsters in the streets. Kids would point at us making pistols with there hands. There was certainly some tension going on there, and I was glad that I did not had to stay there. The permission was a joke but we got it. We drove up the Babusar Pass/top and the road is perfect en the scene spectacular. The road almost vertically goes upward and you reach the 4000 odd meters quite fast. From the top, where we were overloaded with questions from Pakistan tourist that wanted to take pictures with us, we drove to a place some 10 k’s before Naran.
The accommodation was good and the food aswell. There is a little truckshop nearby where you can get some chai.
Lat: 34.929420 Lon: 73.778236

The next day we drove to Naran, which was not really the nice place I had imagined but there was accommodation no problem.
We then wanted to go via Murree to Islamabad, but we did not get permission from the local police chef because it was to close with the Indian border. So we had to backtrack some k’s and go though Abbottabad, where the US killed Bin Laden some years ago. My bike broke down just there but I managed to fix it alongside the road. At some point guided by a soldier with a AKA47. We made it to Islamabad at dark, but ive we would have left earlier and did not have a break down, its doable. We heard that coming from Islamabad it is no problem to go via Murree to Naran. Don’t know why they make a problem when entering from the otherside.
In Islamabad we stayed in Butt Lodge in G9/1.
Lat: 33.684147 Lon: 73.033997

Good place in the middle of a sort of open garage. We stayed here for almost two weeks because of problems with our Iranian visa (my advice, PAY the 50% extra fee and get it the next working day. We handed in our papers on Tuesday and had to wait until Tuesday the following week before we all had our visas back, because it takes three working days and the embassy is shut of Friday, Sat and Sunday. The guy at the Iranian embassy is a complete *(#(@) and not helpful and not keeping to his promises (first he had promised we would get our visas on Thursday, but we called Thursday and he simply said: sorry, the information I gave you was wrong. You can collect Monday. Bye!). In the end, as just said, we got it the following Tuesday.
Fee: 7000 rp for Dutch citizen and 14000 rp (double!) for kiwi and ozzi citizen? Bring 3 THREE passport photo’s and be sure to fill out the application form which you can download from the website (which is most of the times not reachable!!!!) The bank where you have to pay the fee is in the diplomatic enclave next to Gloria Jeans Coffee where they serve proper coffee :)

Anyway. G9/1 is the place to be if you need to do any work on your bike. I got stuff welded, changed our tires, and got new friction material glued to our old brakepads for cheap. Also I found some seals at a local bike shop for my Guzzi which are even hard to find in Europe! Amazing place really.
We made contact with the MAP (motorbike asscociation Pakistan) and killed some time with them. They took us around the block and we had brekkie and snacks with them. Really nice guys! (the also sorted our tires, see other thread).

So far, Pakistan had been really great. I was quite worried about safety but except for Chillas, where there as a scent of .... I felt very safe all the time... and Pakistani's have been very nice people.

Now we are heading towards the Iranian border.