INDIA TO PAKISTAN

All our regular readers are expressing concern at the length of time I have remained silent. Well, here are the excuses. The day we left Bikaner, I was actually feeling fairly crook, and it was stinking hot. Thought it was the heat stress, dehydration etc. I was very lethargic, & felt slightly dizzy. We headed north towards Amritsar, had an overnight stop at a very forgettable place called Bathinda, where it was stinking hot, then to Amritsar, where it was still stinking hot. I just crashed out for two days, trying to recover. We had a look at the golden temple, the holiest place in all Sikhdom. I might as well have been looking at the seventh largest ball of string in the world, for all I cared at that stage. We also went to the border closing ceremony at Wagah, where the Indian & Paki armies do the silly walks, and taunt each other, while the crowds yell their heads off. It was a boiling hot yawn for me, but as long as they keep doing that & not shooting each other, I guess its OK. You may have gathered by now that I did not enjoy India, but we were both concerned that Pakistan would be even worse, so it was with some trepidation that we approached the same border post the next day.

After clearing the Indian side, where to their credit they actually checked the engine & VIN numbers against the Carnets believe it or not, we got to the Pakistani side. Surprise number 1, the immigration & customs building was brand new & squeaky clean, airport quality. Surprise number 2, the officials were friendly & efficient, & they checked the bikes against the carnet as well. Away we went, & while the first few kilometers were fairly grotty, the road wasn't bad. Lahore is quite close to the border, & we were there in no time. Surprise number 3, the traffic all drives on the left, stops at traffic lights, & obeys instructions from the traffic police. Surprise number 4. The streets were wide, & lined with trees, & it all looked fairly pleasant. We made it to the Holiday Inn, where the first thing I did was to arrange to see a doctor, because I was still feeling lousy. I got some magic tablets & improved almost immediately. All things considered, the outlook was improving!

Some things we did pick up on were that there is a sense of underlying tension in Lahore, with security measures being highly visible. The Holiday Inn had the usual external security measures, uniformed armed guards, etc, but there was also an airport type metal detector inside the front doors. One morning we noticed they were using mirrors to check underneath cars going into the underground car park. As this was where the bikes were parked, good thing I say!

Near the main Government buildings there were cops in full riot gear, dressed up like baseball catchers. This does get you thinking. And being a muslim country, the call to prayer booms out over the city six times a day, so you can't miss that either. When we left the Holiday Inn for Islamabad, the general manager had arranged to see us off out the front, with an official photographer, the whole bit! And we got a gift pack containing a Tshirt & cap. Although we could see no reason for this treatment, other than the fact that they may have thought we were deranged, we appreciated the gesture. We were starting to like Pakistan.

The mosque in Lahore. Typical Mughal architecture, & the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

The 300km ride up to Islamabad was uneventful, other than we discovered that servos sell all sorts of stuff, just like home. Lunch was back on the agenda!! In India, they sell petrol, that's it. Not even engine oil, let alone a cold drink. We also noted there are servos that sell CNG only (thats compressed natural gas), the cars on the road appear to be mostly new, or at least in good nick, unlike India, where anything with wheels is out on the road. There are also quite a few fast food outlets with the usual suspects having an obvious presence. Here they don't worship cows, they eat them. Bewdy!!

Islamabad itself on first sight is vaguely reminiscent of Canberra. Its a planned city, set out on a grid system, & has wide tree lined avenues, & generally looks neat (if you don't look too hard), & there are no heaps of garbage everywhere, like you know where. OK thats all I'll say on that subject. While we waited for our Iranian Visas to be issued, we had a few days to kill, so we hired a car & driver & headed on up the Karakoram Highway (KKH). It was great to be able to relax & enjoy the views without the stress of staying alive, although we had to hustle a bit. We had a 15 hour day to start with.

We went up as far as the Batura Glacier , about 800km from Islamabad, and the scenery was sublime. WARNING: TECHNICAL CONTENT. For a Civil Engineer, there is a great deal of interest in the construction of the highway, only completed in 1978, and it is also interesting to observe large scale geology in action. The mountain ranges are still being formed by tectonic plates bashing into each other, you have glaciers dumping moraine into the valleys, (the debris is hundreds of meters deep in places) & then the rivers carving it up. And this is also the earthquake capital of the world. At one point you can see all three of the main ranges, the Himalayas, the Karakorums, and the Hindu Kush, and two of the main rivers, the Gilgit & the mighty Indus. The point is marked by a monument.They are in the process of building a hydro electric scheme on the Indus, which will change the country permanently, so see it yourself soon. In this vast natural landscape, one feels about as significant as a pebble!! Please enjoy the following photos taken along the KKH.

Terraced plots, with ox drawn plough.

Typical shots of the road. Note, no guard rails.

Typical glacial moraine

Sediment eroded by the river

The Cathedral Peaks near Passu

Public transport on the KKH....hang on.

The peak of Mt Rakaposhi, taken from our hotel balcony.

On the way up, we were stopped at a village by an angry looking mob who had blocked the road, and set fire to a pile of tyres. A bit of a worry, I thought. The driver made some inquiries, & it turned out this mob was protesting about the lack of mobile phone coverage in the region! We waited about 45 minutes, then it was all over, & we went on our way. I also reckon I saw Osama bin Whatsit about three hundred times while we were up there. He looked a lot like this guy.

But if ObL really is hiding out in this region, they are never going to find him, let alone mount any sort of successful military operation. There is a long history of unsuccessful military ventures in this part of the world, & its easy to see why. The logistics are a nightmare. Historically, and even now, the inhabitants mind their own business, & fiercely defend their own turf. In many of the valleys, they don't even particularly want to be part of Pakistan, but they'll take the phone towers. In fact, as this is part of the old Silk Route, there is a strong sense of action based on mutual benefit. In other words, we will trade with you if you have something we want, otherwise bugger off.

Our next move is to head west to Quetta, & then to the Iranian border. It will take us a week to get to Iran, and this section may well be the toughest part of the whole trip. We will be in Iran for two weeks. So, don't worry, butI may not be able to blog again for another 3 weeks. Till then.

STOP PRESS: At 1 pm this afternoon, Monday 2 July, Chris & I had just left a cafe over the road from our lodgings, when we heard a seriously loud explosion, followed by a heavy plume of smoke, & not too far away either. Jesus H Christ, do you reckon that might have been a bomb?? It was indeed, in fact a car bomb outside the Danish Embassy, & it was only about 1.5 km away! I'd like to go now, thanks.