Hi guys,
take chanche to thanks all of you gave me some precious info in the past to set up this successful overland journey from Milan to India.
We made it: it was me on a Harley Davidson Roadking '98 and Arrigo on a brand new BMW f850GS.
17 days travel:
ferry from Italy to Turkey,
TURKEY (Cesme, Konya, Malatya, Dogubaizit),
IRAN (Zanjan, Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Bam, Mirjaveh),
PAKISTAN (Taftan, Quetta, Zhob, somewhere near DeraIsmailKhan, Lahore), INDIA (Amritsar, Pipli, Delhi).
State of roads: Turkey and Iran=excellent, Pakistan = excellent from taftan to Dalbandin, then a nightmare until Multan/Dera Ismail Khan (all mountain part in Paki, is almost terrible). Good again in the Hindo valley, but terribly busy: nightmare again. INDIA= total nightmare either as tarmac and especially for killer traffic.
Only enduro motorbike may do it: my harley is a particular case...
Escorts:
IRAN: from BAM to paki border: escorts on cars will make lose you lotta time. they keep your passports.
Pakistan: taftan - quetta: old soldiers with Kalasnikov will ride with you on the bikes until Nouski. Then on, police cars/pickup will follow you.
Road from Quetta to Zhob - DeraIsmail Khan, and road from Quetta to Multan: only check points (but will stop you all the time, making you loss plenty of time).
From Multan to east, no more escort nor check points.
Nortwestern Province Frontier (Zhob-DeraIsmail Khan): AVOID THIS ROAD. Police will stop you 200km after Zhob, danger of Talibans. Be careful. We convinced police to let us go just because one of our motorcycle (the BMW!!!) was dead and loaded on a pick-up driven by a paki people. We crossed tribal zone very fast (!!!) avoiding any stop....
People/police:
all very very kind and helpful (we slept at paki houses some times, police help us with battery and mechanical problems). Kind athmosphere everywhere. No danger feeling never but the Zhob Dera Ism Khan stretch.
Borders
Turkey-Iran: keep facilitator (suggested). 2 hours +half. Small tip to the man
Iran-Paki: beware, it closes at 14:00 PM !!! Not more than 2 hours.
Paki-India: opens 9.30. Almost desert but took 3 hours due to black out in paki zone (guess it!!).
Motorbike Shipping Agent in Delhi
We used the famous lalli Singh (
lalli singh.com).
He seems really professional, but he will need two days of your time to prepare docs and take measures for cases and so on. Yopu have to be present. A nightmare...
We will tell you when bikes will arrive home....
Open to answer to all questions
bye
roberto parodi