...the last day in Iran i stayed at Akbar's Tourist Guest House, it got quite a bit famous for bikers. Akbar is the best preparation that you can get to go into Pakistan. I was not looking forward to do Baluchistan on my own, rumors say it's a dangerous part of the world (kidnappings,travel-warnings from all embassies, taliban...) and i did not know how this escorting stuff works. Do i have to get one on my own... ?
Akbar's advice: go as far as you can without an escort, there is no danger.

That's what i did, i had an very early start and nearly made it to the border without any escort, only the last 10km i got one, which was excellent as the friendly army guy did all the border documents for me, i just had to drive him from building to building (he didn't have his own transport).

Passport stamped, Carnet stamped, goodbye beautiful Iran!

Pakistan (53 days)

Entering pakistan with my second passport (i was a bit anxious that they would not find any other visas/iranian exit stamp on that passport) was no problem at all. people welcomed me very friendly and the customs inspector's interest was only to serve me tea and everything else i would need.
Someone told me i need an escort and after about 30min waiting a small motorbike arrived. They followed me to the next checkpoint 10km away, i had to fill my data into some very old books (very interesting, you can see who else crossed these checkpoints) and off we were again, wait, WE is not correct, when the escort started their motorbike, benzine was squirting all over it. No other transport around, so they sent me off alone. First i was unsure if it would be a good idea to do that road that everybody talks about being dangerous without an escort, but after a few km i realized that it's all just desert, no traffic, checkpoints every 40km, nothing to worry about.
Other checkpoints always asked me "where is your guide", after giving a shrug, they let me continue. I reached Dalbandin, the first bigger town in Pakistan, in the evening. It's been a 700km day and i was happy that i did not have to stay at one of the checkpoints or Zahedan (many other travelers had to, because they got slowed down so much by the escorts).
Some police guy who was hanging around at the hotel handed over the very first i had since i left turkey. cheers!
Police and the guy from the Hotel were not too happy that i arrived without escort, so they organized one for the next morning. Another early start at 6am i found these guys in the parking lot smoking *something*:



The road from Dalbandin to Quetta was very bad, you have to be careful with sand-dunes on the road, potholes and SPEED BREAKERS! I expected a lot when driving 80 through the desert, but not a speed breaker! it was completely unmarked, i would even say invisible :confused1:
Well, it was there because 50m further was a train track crossing the road. But i couldn't see that track either. So i learned that even a 240kg transalp can fly

Escorts were friendly but annoying, as they changed every 20km and you always had to do a picture with them.


The End of the day we arrived near Quetta, security got more serious, tank-like vehicles and pickups with 6+ fully armed guards each were escorting an iranian bus and me into quetta. We couldn't take the normal way, as there was a shooting on that road. A teacher and one of his students got shot an hour before. After we made it into Quetta i was suddenly free to go. I eventually made it to hotel bloomstar were i stayed the next 4 days. (i had to get a NOC for the next leg. Some paper that basically tells other police stations to plan my arrival and take care for my security).
I enjoyed the days in Quetta, people were friendly, food was good. there was just that blast 500m further from were i was walking that reminded me of the stories of Quetta being dangerous. I just saw a lot of pickups coming my way with blood-covered people on their trunks. First i thought this must have been a big accident, but as it turned out, someone (they have so many conflicts over there that they don't even know which group did that) fired a rocket into the bazaar, killing at least 2 and injuring several others.
Things like that seem to happen on a daily basis over there, sad, but don't be afraid if you plan to go there, this violence is not aimed against foreigners, just stay away from crowded places and you should be fine.



The days after Quetta were the hardest for me, on the first day the escorts made me drive 13hours (nowhere secure to stay they said...), most of the time over 46 degress. i run out of water that day, got dehydrated and had to drink the water from the checkpoints, which was just some ?rainwater? in dirty clay jugs. on the same day i got explosive diarrhoea, could not keep any food or water longer than 10minutes, my fingers were dotted with bubbles from the heat and i was overall feeling terrible. In Multan even my transalp got problems with the heat, 52 degrees in non-flowing traffic was too much. I also had a short visit from the ISI, asking why i would stay in THIS hotel. After i told them *notverypolitelyasiwasfeelingsobadandhatesecretser vice* that they should ask their friends from the police/army... ...they left *puh*. It's all a longer story, but i eventually made it to Lahore (took me 5 days), where the escorts finally stopped and i could cure my body.








Till here my Pakistan experience was interesting, adventurous, but definitely not nice.
After feeling better i got in contact with Omar and the other members of the Pakistani Biker Club and Pakistan should reveal as my favorite country on this trip.

Sorry for the long texts, next post will be less text, more pictures. KKH!

China (3 days)
Kyrgyzstan (7 days)
Kazhachstan (8 days)
Russia (6 days)
Mongolia (15 days)
Russia (11 days)

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