We are currently in Islamabad waiting for our Indian visas.
We crossed from Turkmenistan into Iran with no problems. From Bam in Iran we had a military escort all the way to the border. Crossed into Pakistan at Taftan (the only border crossing open for foreigners on Dec 15th) from the border we had to take the route that they Pakistani military and customs officers told us we would be taking and the only route currently open to us. This was Taftan - Quetta - Sukkur - Multan - Lahore. This was done with a military/police escort 24/7. Nice guys though.
Some hotels would not take us. We have a list and GPS refs of those that did this will be available on our website.2ridetheworld.com
After Lahore we were left on our own for the first time and then travelled to Islamabad once again on our own :-)
We were advised that if we wanted to go further north or west then once again we would be escorted and currently no travel is allowed to Peshwar...not that we want to go there at the moment! In the last few days there have been many attacks and suicide bombers.
However, despite all of this we are so keen to one day come back and travel Pakistan when the situation within the country has improved.
Currently our FCO advise is against travel to PAK but we were able to obtain a letter of recommendation from the British embassy in Tehran without any problems at all and the visa process at the Pak embassy in Tehran took all of 2 working days! Maybe we were just lucky.
Unless the situation gets a lot worse I would say try to travel Pakistan but just be prepared to be told exactly where you can and cannot go..expect to have your travel times and speeds dictated to you by whomever is escorting you at the time. Just relax and accept it - they are doing you a big favour and just trying to keep you alive and out of trouble....I am sure they all have better things to do than to babysit us travelllers!
whatever you do do - enjoy the people of PAK - they are great.
if you need something to read our journal of this part of our journey including GPS refs, photos etc will be up and online in the next couple of weeks.

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Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com