We crossed a few weeks ago. No trouble with the bribes thing, in fact the Pakistan border was very helpful but very crude. Everything is paper and books, no computers except one in the visa office. We were issued a police escort in Taftan who let us go about 30 miles up. We did 70 miles and then it was getting dark. We were stopped at a town checkpoint and the police were called. They invited us to stay at the station, cleared out the main office and let us sleep there. They brought us tea, chatted and were nothing but friendly. After that we had escorts all the way to Quetta. Once in Quetta we seemed to be allowed to walk around freely and had no trouble. We got left alone for a while afterwards and made about 100 miles but when we stopped for pictures someone tried to steal our gear and said they had guns. They didn't, they were just idiots but it did leave us in a bad mood.
We Had no more trouble, the ecorts were all very friendly and we always felt like they were just good guys doing their jobs. We asked a lot of them why we needed escorts and none could explain. They all tell you that it's perfectly safe but you still need to be protected. We were told in Sukkor that we weren't allowed out of the hotel but I heard the police take your passports but nobody did that to us. It is a bit frustrating but simply, the country is dangerous. It has a population of 180 million and there are 20 million AK47 assault rifles. On top of that there are millions of other kinds of weapons. The government considers pistols to be harmless so the police aren't even issued them. we were allowed to hold guns for pictures, my mate knew nothing about them but when I checked he had been given an AK47 with a full magazine and a live round in the chamber. If he pulled the trigger it would have fired. Guns are so normal there they just treat them like they're nothing special. Wait till you cross into India. You're suddenly in far more danger and things will change radically.
Also, don't drink the water, even tea and coffee and be very careful about the food. Expect stomach problems, every single person we met on the road had many issues there.
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