Iran/Pakistan Hotel GPS

[twowheels03]

Hello all,

any body have any GPS Coordinates for some nice cheap bike friendly hotels or guest houses in Iran or Pakistan please. We have no fixed route yet but will be heading towards Tabriz/Tehran/Esfahan/Shiraz/Yazd/Bam/Zahedan.
Then Taftan to Quetta/up to Peshawar/Chitral/Gilgit then back down to Islamabad/Lahore/Wagah then into India.

Many thanks

Angie

[Steve Treloar]

Hi Angie, you have got us bringing back memories. We did this trip in the early 90's on a '78 R65. No such thing as GPS coordinates back then. Good old maps,contact coated.Can't find the trip notes since moving . but could lead you along the path still.At leads in Pakistan from Taftan to Quetta you have the super hwy. It was still being built back then . So we had to traverse through the desert tracks. stopping overnight in a small village where we fuelled up with a hand cranked bowser.
Your place ,Andover, I use to work close to there as well, At Colling Bourne Dusis (sp). I worked for Exodus Expeditions, they are now out of overland travel.

No doubt many things have changed loved the history, fasinating moasics in Iran .I had to rebuild the gearbox in Esfahan ,extend transit visas,lovely people . Getting Metho for the trangia was a hassle as they thought that with our translation they thought we wanted to drink it.
All the best with your travel plans and the trip itself .don't over plan as things and places will pop up that you will want to enjoy. Fuel was really never a drama , for the ole R65 and getting it like wise. only used the 5 lt container across the Baulcistan desert.
Enjoy
Steve and Therese

[ilesmark]

Angie - got just the thing for you, my dear! PM me and I will send you what I have, assuming you can use Magellan info.

Steve - the 'super highway' from Taftan to Quetta is STILL being built - in fact, they seem to have given up on it!

[boarder]

I posted a few Iran recommendations here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...172#post288447

Cheers

[Omie]

Originally Posted by twowheels03

Hello all,

any body have any GPS Coordinates for some nice cheap bike friendly hotels or guest houses in Iran or Pakistan please. We have no fixed route yet but will be heading towards Tabriz/Tehran/Esfahan/Shiraz/Yazd/Bam/Zahedan.
Then Taftan to Quetta/up to Peshawar/Chitral/Gilgit then back down to Islamabad/Lahore/Wagah then into India.

Many thanks

Angie

Your plan looks fabulous Angie but please consider two suggestions,
1. Avoid going to Peshawar.
2. Forget about going to Chitral via Peshawar, Malakand, Dir, Lawari Pass. You should take the longer but safer route of Gilgit, Shandhoor Pass, Chitral instead.

You can take your preferred route later, after the law and order situation stabilisis.
Regards

[vincek100]

I confirm. Peshawar, and the road to go there, are not the safest places in the world. It's possible, but then militaries are going to be a real pain.
Quetta is the afghan talibans' headquarters. Though it should be no problem, remain cautious.
Balochistan is dodgy. No talibans there, but bandits. You might be imposed a military escort (which does not make things any safer). In any case: be ready to hit the gaz, don't stop in any case.
Take care and enjoy!

[twowheels03]

Thank you for your kind help, Steve - ilesmark - Boarder - Omie and Vencek.

We were wondering which route to Chitral but you have convinced us to go Via the Shandoor pass.

We welcome all advice so thank you again.
We want to camp as much as possible when safe to do so, it would be nice to have a few hotels to aim for as a treat.

Angie

[mcgiggle]

Angie,
You're not going to get to Peshawar, they ain't going to let you through. If you ditch the bike and jump on a bus it may be possible.
"hotels as a treat"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's going to cost you about £5 a night for lodgings.
There's a good guest house on London Road,Dalbandin,in fact the only one, road or guest house ;-)(freezin cold as well).
Quetta is a great intro to Pak, you will get caught by security forces before you get there, tell them your looking for the Bloom Star Hotel, you can camp in the grounds for not a lot of PRs. In October 2009 we where free to check out the city and spent 3 day enjoying our time there but on a return visit in March 2010 new security regs were in place and foreigners were not aloud out unescorted.
HTH
Pete

[Bergrider]

Hi Angie and friends;

I've just crossed the Pakistan to Iran leg and just arrived in Kerman, so this news is up to date.

Sukkur to Quetta in in trouble, good roads but they will insist in giving you an escort, sometimes this happens sometimes not, if not you get a "go on and they will meet you " . The floods in Sibi haven't helped the volotile situation, I passed 2 days after they subsided.

Quetta is basically under siege. You get a double top-gunny escort from 30km into town and straight to your hotel ( say Bloom Star ), then lsiten to gunfire most of the night. Same escort out of town to the Lak Pass tunnel then you're bundled with others until everyone gives up and stops for lunch.

From here I had a vehicle escort for about 50km then missed them somehow for the next 100km. I reached Padag and from there they gave me an armed pillion.
The road is very Poor in this stretch to 30km from Daubandin. I overnighted in the Police compound ( can't speak more highly of the fellows there ) and same arrangement of pillion-security all the way to Taftan.
Road was good BUT desert winds strong and sand drifts across the road made riding interesting, even the train was stopped by them.

Similar wind-issues in Iran and you will have an escort, both countries have check-points every 20 orso kilometers so no chance of "being missed" for long.

My advice is plan for this to take longer than you think, your speed average will be low as you will have to wait each time for your escort, make sure you have sleeping gear and basic foods.

Do the trip though as it's worth it for the great scenery and the people.

Only when you arrive in Quetta can you find out if you can continue, the note I saw at the Hotel was that A.. Security was an option but not preffered and B.. alternate route is Sukkur / Multan loop.

Regards the GPS info, also look at Simon and Lisa's blog on "2 ride the World" and I can forward some too, send a PM if needed.

Cheers and hope this helps !

Frank and the Pig.