IRAN

Greetings, Friends, One & All. We made it from Quetta to the border, & are currently in Shiraz (oh, if only that was the literal truth, I could drink a swimming pool full of it!!). The road from Quetta to the border was, contrary to expectations, quite good. The problem it seems is just who to listen to when you start asking about road conditions. However, it was very hot & dry, and the hotels we stayed in in Dalbandin & Taftan, on the Paki side of the border, were just vile. At Taftan we stayed at the PTDC guest house. The taps just trickled, the shower didnt work, the toilets didn't flush (someone else found that out before me!), & there was no airconditioning. This at the end of a long hot ride, two days in a row wears you down. The quote we got was 600 rupees for the room, but by next morning, the price had changed to 600 each. We knew the slimy little toad who claims to be the manager was getting into us, but figured there was not much we could do, considering our location. We met a Dutch couple a few days later, who said the same thing happened to them. Any way, next morning we fronted up at the border, only to be told we had a long wait. Finally, we made it through, but we were too buggered to go much further. This time, we had to have an army escort all the way to Zahedan, the nearest town of any size, & also from there to Bam. The section from Zahedan to Bam was a test of endurance, We could have done it in about 4 hours on our own, but with the escort, it took 8, because they stopped every few miles to change it. Invariably we had to wait, & there was no shade. This is the most barren, desolate part of the earth I have ever seen. Rocks & sand, & boiling hot wind, nothing else. It must be like the surface of Mercury!! The escort got my attention when they rocked up with a heavy calibre machine gun in the back of the Hilux, & the driver said " go, ....& dont stop".

Anyway we finally got to Bam, & to the legendary Akbars Guest House. Mr Akbar is truly one of nature's gentlemen, a man you could not possibly dislike. He is doing it tough after the big earthquake which destroyed most of Bam a few years ago, killing 26,000 people in the process, but is still open for business. One of the problems we had first up was getting petrol. You have to have a prepaid card, but we couldnt find anyone who spoke enough English to get it sorted for us. Next minute , we are in Mr Akbars car, we collected a VIP on the way, & we are in the Governor's office!! Talk about contacts! We ended up with some official fuel vouchers, but once we left this region, we found people willing to sell fuel for cash.

So, the section of road from Fort Munro to Quetta remains the worst of the trip, it is now behind us, security issues should be a thing of the past & we are in a more pleasant part of the country, & from here it should all be a steady improvement. I am hoping the few days rest we are having here will recharge the batteries. Iran is a surprise packet. We are clearly in the Middle East, & have left the Indian Subcontinent. People (males) are fairly westernised in terms of dress, the roads are excellent. You can buy Coke & 7UP, you can, obviously, use the web. The food is also quite different, but more of that later.