Its been good reading this thread, but Im keen on knowing if anyone has been through pakistan, iran and neighboring countries...cheers

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http://colesyboy.tripod.com

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http://www.trailsunexpected.com

...by that I mean has anyone been through these countries RECENTLY.

My big problem is that my girlfriend in Danish.....now that the Danish embassy has split Pakistan, it aint looking too hot as a country to travel through to get to India.

Imagine that your embassy had quit a country and that you were told that its pretty damn inhospitable towards your country folk.

Can you see the dilema I'm in.

It's all poo

Brian

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http://colesyboy.tripod.com

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http://www.trailsunexpected.com

16 killed in nigeria yesterday: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4728616.stm

This is northern nigeria (maiduguri) which is on our (and many others I presume) route down south.

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

colesy,

marry her here and get her a UK passport

We were in Pakistan for 2 months late last year. And we are Americans, so Pakistanis were supposed to have hated us for a while now...at least that was what the media said. But we had a wonderful time!

When we crossed into Pakistan from China, the first thing the head customs guy told me was the story about his son who was deported from the USA while going to university after 9-11. He had bad things to say about the American government. I thought this was not a good start to our trip, but five minutes later the same guy and I were having good conversation and he told me that I would have a great time in Pakistan....as an American I would be welcomed like anyone else. And what he said was true.

We had some of the best hospitality in Peshawar, supposedly very "anti-American". And we told everyone that we were American. Of course we told people that we disagreed with the actions of our government too. This didn't stop the people from buying us tea and food and inviting us to a wedding.

Pakistanis are great people but remember that BOTH sides of this cartoon issue (Islamic AND the West) are using this issue for their own selfish political gain.

Be respectful of their culture and they will respect yours. Most of the world is smart enough to separate people from governments.

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Dave
www.mototrekker.com

[This message has been edited by davidmc (edited 21 February 2006).]

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Dave McMillan
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/mcmillan/

Cool

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http://colesyboy.tripod.com

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http://www.trailsunexpected.com

Hi all
I was reading this thread for long, hasitating wether to put some words or not. and i can write a book on how to take care in places peopel hate me only for being an israeli when one is a victem to somebodyelses stupidety and ignorence.
from my experience (as ignatieff and cozcan said here) when you meet the people on the street you will find 99% of them are great hosts, frendly and fair.
Seems my dream of getting a norwigian passport only to be able to go through iran and pakistan hase collapsed

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Dare!
My ride from Dead horse to Ushuaia 2009 is at
www.harpatka.com
It's in hebrew but lots of pics and some translation

Yoni

Well Yoni - you could always get a Swedish one...

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

Well Indu, now I'm thinking of Marshall Islands passport, no one knows were it is and they have no mess with the rest of the world...

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Dare!
My ride from Dead horse to Ushuaia 2009 is at
www.harpatka.com
It's in hebrew but lots of pics and some translation

Yoni

Well, the Marshall Islands MIGHT be considered too much US territory, even though they got their independence in 1986...

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

Well it looks pretty bad out there for the forseeable future for all Danes, so it looks like we'll be flying the bike from Turkey to India.....no real alternative at the moment. I would fancy riding through a country where my embassy had scarpered and advised all remaining countrymen to do the same.

Poo, more money to throw on the fire all through no fault of ours.

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http://colesyboy.tripod.com

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http://www.trailsunexpected.com

After reading this board several times, my wife and I have decided to ride thru Syria rather than to ferry from Turkey to Cypress to Israel so we can get to Jordan, Petra and Egypt. FYI, we are in our mid 60s and will be riding a BMW modified Chinese Chang Jiang sidecar rig.

It seems to me that with all the positive things mentioned about the Syrian people and the fact that we will tend to avoid big cities, that our chances for an enjoyable ride far out weighs the possibility of a serious confrontation with crazy fundamentalists or angry mobs.

This decision was supported by a French scholar who lived and worked in Syria for several years. Essentially she told me that the border crossings are terrible and crazy but the people more than make up for it.

After all, this is adventure riding and its about the people we will meet and interact with, more than the cities we will visit and drive thru.

Both my wife and I are comfortable with our decision. Should be there in mid November.



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Soon to be on the road,

Jack & Janet

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On the road,

Jack & Janet

colesyboy!! I am from Pakistan and if you travel to Pakistan either through KKH or simply from any airport, I guarantee you safety. No one is going to say anything to your girlfriend if she is Danish. She is not the one who printed those cartoons. Trust me you won't have any trouble in pakistan except weather condition and adjustment with local food.

Riz,

I suspect you are right, but imagine if you have your girlfriend on your bike, travelling through a land with no embassy for your girlfriend IF problems occur....ok, now imaging trying to convince your girlfriends family that its a good idea.....I feel I'm fighting an uphill battle.

Thanks for the support & the email, it still gives me food for thought.

Brian

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http://colesyboy.tripod.com

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http://www.trailsunexpected.com

Last year, in spring, my girlfriend and I rode through Turkey, Syria and Jordan.

We both lost our hearts in Syria and felt cut short in time when we had to head back north...

We have not felt or seen anything alike extremisme or what so ever. On the contrary, it is the first moslim coutry I saw sexy women walking hand in hand with fully covered other women. It seem they can respect each others level of religion they wich to live with. Hmmm, seems we have something to learn from them....
My girlfriend had never a problem walking around with short sleeves, talking to men & women,...

We left our bikes with gear standing while we would walk around. Even left the keys on it most of the time... Never came across any problem.

We felt much unsafer in Jordan and saw way more religous 'exremisme' there then in Syria.

I just hope the people of syria can hang on to there spirits, since foreign goverments and organisations are trying to turn around the political forces in the country. I have to admit, it is not the democracy we think is so heavenly. But I never experienced more solidarity under people then over there.


Once you have taken the time to really travel around the country you start to see and believe how we are told lies for political reasons.


Go there, be yourself, show respect for the people and above all enjoy there hospitality and the great food.


The military are without doubt deployed in the country, but are very nice folks to drink a cup of thee with aside the road.