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Crossing Pakistan, my experience, Nov 2013

Crossing Pakistan by Motorcycle

A good place to start is Akbahr Tourist Guesthouse in Bam. (~10$, negotiate it). He speaks well English and is very friendly. Coordinates: 29.09037, 58.36262.

I saw in the registration books, that around 30 People crossing Pakistan in a month. If you wait in Bam a couple of days, I’m sure you will find other traveller for crossing.

Bam to Mir Javeh
About 460 km on good roads (up to 120 km/h possible). Leave Bam early, so you have the chance to cross the border at the same day. The last 40km on Iran side is with an escort (you don’t have to pay the escort), but the escort will keep you passport and return it after the border process. The escort will show you a hotel in Mir Javeh if necessary. The Iran police provide you an officer who guides you through the border. Time for border processing on Iran side is around 2 hours. On Pakistan side you need also around 2 hours. The Pakistan police (Levis Force) will not let you go after 14:00 and you have to stay at the police station. The police will bring you food or guide you to the marked. There is also no need to pay money to the police, but they try to get some from you. Stay in a hotel is also possible (~15$, simple rooms, no shower, no parking).
Change money is in the border area possible.

Taftan to Quetta
First I will explain how the police work. The Police is responsible for you safety and will get a lot of trouble if something happen with you. The easiest way for the police are to bring you as soon as possible out from their responsible area. They don’t care about where is the best place to stay, they want to get rid of you just as soon as possible. So you have to plan by yourself and insist if necessary.
The whole way from Taftan to Quetta you’ll be escorted. Escort changes are most of time quick and also the registration process at the checkpoints. You are faster if you know you passport and visa number from memory (if you don’t know, write whatever you want. Nobody will check it).
Accommodations are in Dalbandin and Nushki possible, but not outside of these cities.
Distance: ~660 km on most good and ~20 km very shitty roads. Total 18 Registrations and escort changes! To do it in one day is not possible.

Quetta
To stay in Quetta Bloom Star Hotel is ok (~10$, with shower and parking). Be careful if eat or drink beer in the hotel. It’s very expensive. You have to pay all ordered beers even if you drink it or not. There are a couple of small restaurants around the hotel. The hotel owner tell you it’s not allowed to leave the hotel after 18:00 (I know him primarily as a businessman of money making).
To leave the city a NOC (No Objection Certificate) is needed. The hotel owner will call you an escort who know the way to the Ministry. The NOC is exposed for the next day and you have to stay one day more. You don’t have to pay for the NOC. Finally no one checked the NOC. If someone know is it really necessary, please let me know. Time you need is around 3-4 hours to get it.

Quetta – Sukkur – Multan – Lahore
You'll be escorted to the border of Baluchistan, but after you are still not free. It’s not allowed to stay in all hotels. The police feel still responsible and will bring you in a ‘safe’ and expensive hotel. But you can say to the police, you don’t have as much money and he have to look for a cheap hotel, and they do!

Please feel free to ask me for more detailed information’s: bigdream@infinteroad.ch

Good luck, Chris

Quetta to Zahidan

Hello all

I plan to travel from Quetta to Zahidan by road next year.

Can anyone advise if there are any garages or breakdown services available on the Iranian side of the border on the way to Zahidan?

Any information/help/advice will be appreciated.

Many thanks

Dinshaw

Quote:

Originally Posted by Die Lange (Post 214846)

We've done it now about a week ago. They picked us up at the hotel in Bam. Before we've left BAm the escort allready changed 4 times. And then again to Zahedan the same thing. Was not so bad after all. Actually almost never allowed us to stop. The first policecar was stopping while the one that took over was taking off. Some parts they 'lost' us and they did not seem to mind. It went so fast that we decided not to stop in Zahedan but cross the border the same day. Arriving in Taftan at sunset we did not wanted to drive at night so slept in the 'hotel' next to the customs office (could not find an other). That was bad!!!! Taftan - Quetta, about the same experiences as Toukakoukan. Although we've had some escorts once in a while.
We found the road from Quetta to Multan much worse. It's about 600km from which there is a part 65 km unpaved (among more). Then as we saw that we would not going to make it before sunset and wanted to stay at Dera Ghazi Khan the police told us that we were not allowed to. At a certain point after that they gave us an police escort, which was oke considering it made driving in the dark much easier. In Multan we wanted to leave without an escort, but they stood waiting for us outside the hotel. So we've had an escort for a great part of the way from Multan to Lahore again. Although we rather rode without it, it did had it advantages and the policeofficers were very friendly.
Hope this is of some use.
Regards,
Marcel

Ps heading to Amritsar tomorrow (nov 11th), anybody around here somewhere?

Hi Die Lange & Chris

Very interesting posts. Thanks for the input. I had posted a question earlier and now I have two more questions please (if anyone else too from this Forum can answer)-
1. Is Diesel sold in Iran? From the Pakistan borders onwards?
2. On the Iranian side, how did you organize the police escorts in Iran? I saw Chris' post on this issue, but does it happen automatically or did you actually request someone on the Iranian side?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Dinshaw

it happens automatically. At one point you run into a checkpoint, or the border, and then they take your passports and give you a escort. Pakistan is good, Iranian side is mostly very slow and the police are not very welcoming (on the pakistan side you drink tea every hour, in Iran never).

Diesel I dont know. I would assume so, because there are driving lots of trucks down that road, so I reckon they will run on diesel right...

Breakdown services are everywhere, just wait :)

Here we have a flat tire. We could not get the tire back onto the rim fast enough so the policemen did it for us, he did it in a sec :)

Movies, travelstorie and a day-by-day diary from our trip from NL to Nepal including Iran, Pakistan:

www.lifeisjoy.nl/GoingEast.php

Travel Life is joy - Roadtrip Holland to Nepal on BMW motrobikes