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Sunday, 4 August 2002 We are currently in Mcleod Ganj, northern India. We have now been on the road 91 days and covered 11 541 miles (18 467 kms). Our last 2 days in Pakistan were quite warm and humid as we headed south to Lahore before crossing over the controversial Wagah border that is currently closed to local people. We tried to use the new US $ 1 bn motorway but as motorbikes are banned (but remember that these are 125cc), the police were not interested in letting us on. We had read that other motorcycle travellers had used this fantastic, 6-lane highway but we were unfortunate to run into the highway police at the entrance. We should have made it from Islamabad to Lahore within 3 hours; instead we had a 100-mile detour back to the old road and so only reached Lahore at 5pm. We were going to try and get across the border that afternoon but as the border closes at 4pm we had no choice but to spend the night in Lahore. We found it to be quite an interesting city and we had dinner at the top Kabana Hotel, a well-known chain throughout Pakistan. On route from Lahore to the border
it was quite hectic with animals, people, taxis, bicycles, tuc tucs and
other road users almost blocking the road at times. It was not without
event as a cycle rickshaw rode side on into Damian, removing a few spokes
from the rickshaws It took us 4 hours to cross the border into India; strange as we were 3 of only 5 people crossing at the time! The officials on both the Pakistan and India side really took their time though everything was done in usual military style. India: Our entry into India was without any hassle and the road from Wahgah to Amritsar is lined with lush green farmlands for the first few kilometres. Amritsar is very populated and so it took us a while to find a suitable hotel to house the bikes. We were eventually led, by a friendly cycle rickshaw rider, to a hotel with a courtyard, not far from the Golden Temple. Once we had settled in we visited the Golden Temple, a Budda shrine built in 16th century that occupies a large area in the centre of the old town. The highlight in the centre is the Hari Mandir, a gold-plated, 2-storey marble temple. The inside of this huge enclosure houses the Pool of Nectar, the size of 2 Olympic swimming pools, where the Sikh pilgrims religiously bathe themselves. We followed the busy procession through to the Hari Mandir and were amazed to see how much money was being put into the tithe box. These people are not wealthy by any means but the notes could not be put into the box quick enough! The following day we headed up north toward the Himalaya region leaving Punjab and entering Himachal Pradesh province. The monsoons must have hit this region while we were trying to navigate our way north; the road was hardly visible at times, covered in a foot of water! We had been hearing of the drought that Western India had been suffering but this was surely the day the droughts ended! The rivers were flowing strongly but they didn't pose us too many problems. There were times that their overflow covered the potholes but we managed to survive. We rode up to Pathankot before turning east to Dharamsala and further up the climb to Mcleod Ganj. As well as having a strong Tibetan culture, Mcleod Ganj is the official home of the Dalai Lama. There are many maroon-robed monks around and it certainly doesn't feel like we are in India! It is also a favourite area among travellers, many seem to have been left here since the 60's! A real hippie paradise! We have met a few interesting people and among them a Swiss couple travelling around the world on a Triumph Tiger, Marcel and Flavia Wolf (http://www.tiger-club.ch/weltreise) They have been on the road for 14 months now and covered our route including Scandinavia and the Eastern block. They are following a similar route to us down to Australia but will spend a lot more time than us in each country. After that they will be doing South and North America before considering what to do after that. Their entire trip should last around 4 years, our little adventure seems nothing in comparison! If you wish to contact them you can email them on: m-f.wolf@gmx.net We have had a few days here to soak up the laid back Tibetan atmosphere but we'll probably head on our way tomorrow to a similar area north of here, Manali. Itinerary of the last few days: Thursday, 1 August Friday, 2 August Saturday, 3 August Sunday 4 and Monday 5 August, no travelling. Wednesday, 31 July 2002 We are currently in Islamabad, Pakistan. We have now been on the road 85 days and covered 11 047 miles (17 675 kms). We are back in Islamabad after spending a total of 9 days around the Karakoram Highway (KKH) area. Northern Pakistan is a tourists dream come true. Hiking, white water rafting, mountain biking, polo, crystal clear lakes, snowcapped mountains all around, etc. It's such a pity we didn't see any tourists on our route, as there are clearly no problems here. Many people have stayed away from this beautiful region because of the "problems" close to this area (Afghanistan and Kashmir) but we were only greeted with smiles and hospitality We continued our trek from Chitral (last update) eastward towards Gilgit over the Shandur pass (3800m) but as the road quality deteriorated, we slowed. It was a full days ride from 5am till 6pm and we only managed to get to Phandar, 130 miles from Gilgit. The first 50 miles was good tar road but after that it was gravel, rock, sand, dust and more gravel! It took its toll on us as we got our first puncture (Gary) and Damian removing a pannier after contacting a rock, bringing him down. The rocky bed offers 2 tracks made by the jeeps, the left tight against the rockface with little room for the left pannier and the right track sometimes a few centimetres away from a 50m sheer drop to the river below. The aluminium Touratech (www.touratech.de) panniers are made for this type of terrain and after some panel beating, no shortage of rocks about to use, we continued on. After a good nights rest in a simple guesthouse in Phandur, we continued the rocky, dusty trek to Gilgit. The roads in these areas are in constant repair. There were many areas where the road has had to be reconstructed over a different route due to the landslides. The roads are quite busy with local farmers using their tractors, cows and goats dotted along the route and local jeeps ferrying people about. So it's not just the road quality that you have to pay attention to: you come round a corner, concentrating 110 % to keep you front wheel in the rocky rut, and the road comes to an end, or there's a cow in your path, or a tractor, or a Caterpillar reconstructing the road. It's these things that demand your attention in order for you to stay upright! Oh and then don't forget it's a 50m-drop down a cliff to the river… Anyhow we survived this "wee" challenge and reached Gilgit in one piece. The bikes didn't seem to bat an eyelid at the conditions (covered in dust, chains making all sorts of strange noises, being run at redline temperatures for most of the 2 days); they came through with flying colours, again! The last 40 miles before Gilgit is good tar so we enjoyed being back on the black stuff again! At Gilgit we joined the official Karakoram Highway (KKH) for the first time. Heading north for the Chinese border we didn't seem to come across many petrol stations so we rode up to Sost, 90km from the actual border but officially the last immigration post on the Pakistan side. Still we had not seen any fuel so asked where the nearest petrol station was and found out that the one 5km north of Sost had run out of petrol. So we had to backtrack 100 kilometres down to Hunza to get fuel. This is known as one of the best places to ride a bike so it was a pleasure to ride the road over again, then back up to Passu for the night. We just managed to fill all 3 bikes before the last of the petrol in Hunza ran out: if we'd been 5 minutes later we might not have been so fortunate to visit the top of the KKH! In Passu we stayed at Shisper View Hotel; a simple, friendly guesthouse. The manager, Sultan (www.twinadventurers.com/photos/Sultan.jpeg) , is a really friendly, hospitable chap and entertained us with his in depth knowledge of the area. His cousin, Abdul Kasim (shimshal20022002@yahoo.com) is a local tour guide and he gave us some useful information about the Shimshal region. Unfortunately the area has been hit by the lack of tourists this year and he, along with most of the tour operators in this region, has to seek other work to substitute their income. Email him if you are a keen hiker as there are some fantastic hiking trails of which he will be only too keen to provide information about. We rode up to the top of the
Khunjerab pass to the border of China the following day. The mildly cool
conditions in Sost turned to snow and sleet at the top and we had all our
winter riding gear on, something we have not had to take out since we left
Austria months ago! It was a brief visit to the top due to the freezing conditions, at least we thought it was cold: we were amazed to see the locals building a border post barefoot at the top! We rode back down to Passu and stayed another night at Shisper View Hotel so that we could walk up to the Shisper Glacier close by. Although it appeared close to us from the KKH, the glacier took us over an hour to reach. We spent an hour walking around on the magnificent piece of solid ice. It certainly is an amazing feat to come face to face with this ice age phenomenon. On the way down, boys will be boys; we found a huge cliff face off which to roll large rocks down into the river below. The sound of a 50kg rock bounding its way down the mountainside certainly makes you feel tiny! We did hear and see some "natural" erosion of the glacier heating up and shedding some large ice blocks. After Passu, the glacier and the wonderful Karakoram mountain range we started our journey south back toward Islamabad. We stopped in Gilgit to have a bite to eat, fill up petrol and change some money. We stopped off at Younas hotel and restaurant, just off the KKH on the road into Gilgit across the road from the Shell service station. The friendly English speaking owner, Khan Yasin Mohammad, was only too pleased to help us, as his tourist season has been almost non-existent up till now. If anyone wants to visit this area (he will tailor a holiday for you whatever your interest - sport, hiking, jeep expeditions, etc.) you can send him a letter for information: Khan Yasin Mohammad Telephones are not that reliable but there is a contact number: (Pakistan code) (Gilgit code) 55681 and fax is 53776. After lunch at Younas we got to Dasu by sunset and stayed at Kyber Lodge Hotel on the river Indus. This place has a good shop if you want to buy local guidebooks, T-shirts, posters, etc. The KKH on this stretch is very demanding and requires a lot of concentration, as the effort to take this road over this area is immense. The road winds its way in and out of the rock face only allowing you to do around 35 mph at best. The road also gets busier the further south you go with local trucks and cars using the road frequently. The next day this winding road continued, like it would never end! It certainly is beautiful but takes a lot out of you so be warned, take it easy and enjoy it rather than try to rush it. We then made it to Islamabad via Abbottabad and the shortcut to Murree. The road from Abbottabad to Murree deserves a mention as it climbs its way high up into the clouds! It is a massive pass that didn't even register on our maps but it certainly is beautiful! The KKH head south from Abbottabad over the Salhad pass but we took the shorter route via Murree. It is a good road though can be quite busy with local tourists and trucks alike. Today we are in Islamabad, Dom has got his shiny new screen so fitted it to the bike ready to attack those Indian roads with a vengence! Tomorrow we will be heading to Lahore where we'll enter India the following day. Itinerary of the last few days: Thursday, 25 July Friday, 26 July Saturday, 27 July Sunday, 28 July Monday, 29 July Tuesday, 30 July Wednesday, 24 July 2002 We are currently in Chitral, Northern Pakistan. We have now been on the road 79 days and covered 9935 miles (15 900 kms). Since leaving Islamabad a few days ago, we have started our ascent up the Hindu Kush Mountains before we head east toward the Karakoram mountain range (and the Karakoram Highway - KKH) toward the Chinese border. We rode out of Islamabad on the road to Peshawar (close to the Afghanistan border) before turning north on the road up to Chitral. The quality of the road is not too bad but there are many potholes and a lot of vehicles using this road. However, once we had turned off the "main" road it became a lot quieter. We reached Dir by 6pm and spent the night there. Dir is a small village set up on the slopes of a mountain overlooking the fertile valley below. Here we found some beautifully hand crafted knives, just one of the many items made to precision by the talented artisans this area has to offer. Excellent quality handmade pine furniture and steelwork seem to be some of the mainstream industries here, along with farming. After Dir we headed further up the road over the Lowarai pass, an ascent up to 3100 metres over some rugged terrain. There is quite a bit of traffic using this route; HIACE taxi's ferrying people, lorries transporting goods and jeeps taking tourists up to the mountains. The Mastuj River winds its way down the valley and the road snakes its way up alongside it. There are many rock falls due to the heavy rain that falls during summer. We were lucky not to come across any blocked sections but are told to expect some further up this road. It took us 5 hours over only 95 miles to reach Chitral, another village similar to Dir but much larger. It has an airport that is usually busy with tourists in summer. Since September 11 though, not many tourists have ventured out here this year. We are some of the few and so we have been treated to some great hospitality that would normally be shared out to hundreds! It is compulsory for foreigners visiting these remote areas to register at the local police station. On our visit this morning we found out just how badly September 11 and the Afghan war has affected the tourism in the region. Local tour operators who would normally be booked out at this time of the year are sitting around with little to do, and worse little money coming in! We had a look at the figures of years past (displayed on a wall chart) and there are usually 1000 people who visit here in summer. This year it is probably not going to top 100! Tomorrow we head up toward Gilgit, though we will spend at least one night on the way there as it's too far to do in one day. We have been told by local sources that Phundar is a great place to spend some time: trout fishing and hiking being what most tourists usually spend time doing there. The "road" officially ends just north of Chitral so we will be doing the 250 kilometres or so to Gilgit over nothing but jeep tracks. There is no tar from here onward and so it may be a few days before we reach Gilgit. The Shandur pass at an altitude of 3800 metres has to be crossed so we are in for some interesting riding over the next few days!
Monday, 22 July Tuesday, 23 July Sunday, 21 July 2002 We are currently in Islamabad, Pakistan. We have now been on the road 76 days and covered 9625 miles (15 400 kms). Since leaving Quetta on Wednesday,
we have had a few challenging days on the bike. This route is relatively quiet and a good road from Quetta to Zhob. We had to cross a number of sections where the tar ends and there is a dirt section to the next bit of tar but it is usually not bad. From Zhob however, things changed as the weather played a part in the terrain. This region is a vast, mountainous desert and the riverbeds are frequent but we hadn't seen any with water flowing before leaving Zhob. But when the clouds open things change drastically. Almost every 5kms the riverbeds are very active with brown, muddy water streaming down the shortest route. Some of them are small and easily negotiated but others are knee high. It took us about 3 hours to cover the first 50 kilometres outside Zhob and eventually there was a river we couldn't cross and it would be dark soon. We camped close to the river, hoping that by morning it would have subsided and we could easily get across it. By morning it had, and we continued on our route to Dera Ismail Khan. After crossing the same river 3 times in the first 10 kilometres, an early morning wake up and shake up, we rode out of the most dramatic gorge. There were steep overhanging cliffs and mostly in the shadow at that time of the morning, very scenic. The "surprise" was yet to come, however, as the tar ended only a few kilometres into the days ride. This time the gravel, sand, mud and river sections were more demanding. It was also heating up at around 30 degrees by 9am and, as the riding became more physical through riverbeds, mud and sand, we began to feel quite fatigued. In 4 hours we covered just 60 kilometres with the odd topple every so often. Dom had one spectacular mudslide where he completely detached a pannier and flew through his front screen, removing it entirely. A new one is on its way from London via Karen and DHL so hopefully his bike will be "mended" soon. It's not comfortable riding at 100 km/h without a shield from the wind! After that taxing day we reached Dera Ismail Khan, nothing more than an Oasis town alongside the Indus River. It is very warm here with the mercury reaching the high 40's during the day. The next day was a nice break from the previous as we headed up north to Islamabad. The map suggested close to 600 kilometres as we departed at sunrise, but it was closer to 500 by the time we arrived by 3pm. Islamabad almost stands out of Pakistan as it is not like any of the towns we have visited. Instead of there being a busy city centre, everything is spread out into grids with each little community having it's own set of shops, restaurants and hotels. It's actually quite a nice break from the poverty stricken areas we have encountered up till now. There don't appear to be any main routes passing through it, where passing trucks push their thick diesel pollution into the atmosphere. It is a quiet, almost rural "town" with what appears to be not much going on. It is also amazingly "cool" in the middle of summer, humid but not the 40 degrees we have almost become accustomed to over the last week. Tomorrow we head up to the Karakoram Highway (KKH), one of the worlds engineering wonders, a road built to join Pakistan with China. It starts just outside Islamabad and runs for over 1000 kilometres gaining nearly 4000 metres in altitude. It is carved out into the cliffs beside the Indus and Hunza rivers. Landslides and rock falls are frequent as a result of the earth tremors in the region. The road is constantly rebuilt and so it's course changes almost on a daily basis. It is what many motorcyclists and cyclists alike travel from far and wide to come and ride. If you come to Pakistan and don't do the KKH then you are missing out on a part of Pakistan you will regret for a lifetime! Itinerary of the last few days: Wednesday, 18 July Thursday, 19 July Friday, 20 July Wednesday, 17 July 2002 We are currently in Quetta, southern Pakistan. We have now been on the road 71 days and covered 8957 miles (14 331 kms). We spent a day in Bam, an oasis
town close to the Iran/Pakistan border and usually the first (those On Monday we left early to get
across into Pakistan at the border of Mirjaveh. The Lonely Planet states
that the border is open from 7am to 8pm so we thought we'd get across in
the afternoon, stay in Taftan just across the border and this would allow
us a full day on the road without the hassle of a border crossing then
trying to get to Quetta. However, perhaps just in summer - we don't know,
the border on the Pakistan side is closed from 1pm till 4pm (immigration)
and customs from 4pm till 6pm. It took us an hour to get through the Iran
side and we arrived at 1:30pm on the Pakistan side to find that they were
asleep for "lunch". We made good use of the time and changed
some money, there are quite a few At 4pm the officials were awake and working again so we breezed through immigration. Heading onto Customs for the final hurdle we were told that they had just gone off duty and would be back at 6pm! Anyway another 2 hour wait and finally we were able to check into the only hotel, the run down PTDC, and get some "rest". This hotel is government owned so right next door to the customs office. It is expensive at more than US $ 10 each and there was no electricity or running water! Taftan is not more than a squatter camp of a town in the middle of the desert! We do not recommend doing the same thing if you are doing this route. It would probably be better to stay the other side of the border, perhaps in Zehadan or closer if you can. We met a Swiss couple that did this and got through the border at 7am in 2 hours with no such problems. Pakistan Quetta is another milestone in our trip, we spoke about this town many years ago and finally we are here. It's a long, hard struggle to reach it from Iran due to the vast desert that has to be crossed. Most people do the 650 km sandy haul in 2 days but we decided to put ourselves and the bikes to the test and do it in one. It's the best part of 50 degrees centigrade in places now in mid summer. It was probably the hardest thing we have done on a motorbike and took us from 6am to 6pm to complete. It was also the longest day we have had on the bike so far at 401 miles. The road is single track from Dalbandin, about half way and so when trucks or busses are coming the other way you have to get off the tar as the biggest vehicle takes preference! The drivers are not aggressive and do slow right down for you, flash lights and wave a friendly greeting. We met a few Pakistan truckers and were amazed at the pride they take in their vehicles. They decorate them like Christmas trees with jingling chains and some intricately painted art on every square inch of metal. There are a number of police check points along the way, perhaps 10, but we were only asked to stop 3 times for passport checks. The officials are very friendly and it appears there are no problems in this area. We eventually got our weary selves to the Marina hotel at about 7pm. They insisted on us driving our bikes through the front door and putting the bikes into the courtyard within the hotel complex. This was not as easy as they made out! Riding a 250kg motorbike up 3 steps and through a normal door takes a little skill! They did provide a door laid over the steps that we could ride up so it proved to be a little easier than first thought. We have noticed a change in the Pakistan people compared to the Iranians. Although they gather around you when you stop, they seem more interested in you than the bike. If you move away from the bike, rather than stay with the bike and ogle at it, they will move to where you are going. Today we decided to have a day off as we've been on the move for the last 5 days without a break, covering 2500 kilometres. There is some maintenance to be done on the bikes with oil and tyre pressure checks as well as changing of chain and sprockets of Gary's bike. Tomorrow we continue north up toward Islamabad, parallel to the Afghanistan border. It is probably a good 2 days before we reach Islamabad where we are looking forward to the beginning of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), 1600 km of breathtaking road climbing it's way up to the Karakoram mountain range. We are told this area has the most roads above 4000m in the world and thus it's a motor bikers paradise! Itinerary of the last few days: Sunday, 14 July Monday, 15 July Tuesday, 16 July (longest day on
the bikes so far) The
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