Wrote this email on request to Kemal, and decided to post it here, as someone else might find it helpful (did the Route Quetta-Sukkur-Multan-Peshawar):
In Quetta I stayed in the Muslim Hotel, following lp- Guide, is okay for the
price but not in the cold season as heater costs extra and more than doubles
the price. Paid 70Rs (60Rs=1Euro) per night. Nice city, nice atmosphere,
very colorful everything, but nothing special to see. Take a daytrip to Ziarat if possible, beautiful landscape, if you dont go this route to DG Khan anyway. Aftr Quetta, south over Bolan Pass is not
very special, bust soon after some great parts of road along the river, beautiful. After that gets boring again from Sibi on. Mainly desert, but had lots of fog in this
season, perhaps better when its clear. The roads are the worst i ever drove,
nearly everywhere, the traffic hell. Be careful. Even the big higways have parts without asphalt, potholes, dirt and sand on them, mud in the towns, bridges with big
holes(!) in them etc. And, very important: Dont go the big road to Jacobabad,
about 100km before Jac. they restore the road, and lead the traffic into the
desert, without any prepared track, so trucks, cars, carts, everything goes
where he wants through the sand in a big cloud ob dust, in every direction, and
that for about 50 km. Took me one day for these 50km, incuding smashing the
bike once , damaging one of my panniers. Horrible. Avoid that.
Mohenjodaro I missed, as i dont have a proper guidebook, but Uch Sharif is
worth a visit, Multan too, beautiful old city and very spiritual atmosphere in
the shrines. Met some local in Uch who who i stayed with visiting Multan
from there, so no hotel recommendation.
Peshawar stayed in Shan Hotel (lp), okay for the price (100Rs single), but
if u want to meet other travellers, go to tourist inn, more expensive and far
from the beautiful inner city though. Visited Khyber pass (great, as i met
some local who organises private tours and can take u to the border and the
tribal parts of smugglers bazaar, with guns, alcohol and hashish in the shop
windows), going there alone not so amazing, as u are not allowed to get
close to the afghan border or the tribal areas. Nice city, too, for the
atmosphere.
Recommend dressing pakistani-style, if and where possible, avoids a lot of people-gatherings and shouting to you in the
streets (always friendly), although some atmospheric invitations to tea by many
shop owners in the bazaar, too.
From PEshawar north to the mountains cold now, but bearable and for the non-touristy and really beautiful places have to go quite a way, but worth it, i think.
Thats it, not many hotel recommendation, stayed mainly with locals, and som
very cheapies in small villages, that i dont remember. But people are very
friendly and hospitable, made very good experiences. And they love to talk to
foreigners.
Fuel everywhere and good quality, but dont use the one guys sellig from
barrels along the street, its cheaper (iranian), but sometimes mixed with
anything, heard some bad stories. Stick to petrol pumps, no problem. About 32Rs/l at
the moment.
But graet country, enjoy it!
Jens
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