| Pakistan, Part 1 | |||
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02. - 12. Nov: cycling in Belutshistan |
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| painted truck | Who can find the camel? | Broken desert | |
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| Desert architecture | desert people | desert without anything else | |
Chaotic borderwe push our bicycles across the border: Now we are in Pakistan!?! And now? In front of us we can see the border village Taftan. Obviously no one would stop us if we would just pass the checkpoint without going in. But to be legally in the country of course we need to get an entry stamp. In the delapitated building already about 80 local people are waiting. The "Welcome to Pakistan" sign lays in the dirt. But happily we also find a shop where we can buy a cold and refreshing fanta which is really wonderful after cycling through the desert for three hours. Fortunately we dont have to wait very long but we can go straight through to a special counter for foreigners, where we get photographed by a webcam which really does not fit well with the old building and the obsolete computers.After we have to meet with the pakistanis at the custom. Mandy and Benno ` are getting a slightly spicy tea with milk. This and also the painted pakistanian trucks remind us very much about being phisically and culturally on the Indian subcontinent. They write down our passport numbers. Then we want to leave, but we are not allowed - Benjamin has not have his tea yet. But after Benjamin also has drunken his tea we can leave: We crossed the border - welcome to pakistan! In the border village Taftan we take a hotel for the night, and there we also meet a french couple wo are on holiday with their three children for 2 years, and in this time they will also be teaching their children themselves. They have to cross Pakistan within 72 hours, while we in the same time will propably only see 3 little villages in the desert. At night we are happy to find a restaurant where we can find a nice vegetarian dish which have been so rare in Iran. After that we can even change some money in a back room after asking locals for this, but for a very bad rate we only change a little bit. |
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| Restaurant | Paschtunes | left houses | |
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| Banana salesmen | Bus to Quetta | ||
Belutschistan by bikeEarly in the morning we get up and leave Taftan to have some nice and fresh hours of cycling in the morning which we need so desperately when we are cycling through the desert. And after cycling for some time - really nothing is happening. We are in the desert, with only stones and sand on both sides and hills bordering on the horizon. We only make brakes if we rarely find shadow in the little little villages and where we try to relax ion the shadow. The people are very hospital and offer us tea or something to eat. The first night we camp on the ground of a police station in Nokkundi and also here are being welcomed very nicely. A nasty sheep tries to steel some Pasta from Benno, but Mandy is able to hunt it back with the help of a policeman.Also on the next day we continue like the day before: We pass stones, sand, and some dunes - even a few camels we can see in the wide desert. The we have a big surprise on the next police station: Suddenly Marco and Ela, the swiss couple with the Volkswagen Bus arrive which we already met in Iran. We are very happy, and we talk and exchange some information, but after a while reality bites back, with having to cycle through the heat of the desert where the sun burnes us the whole day even in the beginning of november - we really dont want to be here in August! In the afternoon we both are a little bit exhausted, and when we have to change our Gps-Batteries, Benno continues to cycle and so he is leading by maybe one Kilometer. So now we are alone in the desert when suddenly a car slows down and continuously drives next to us. The man in the car shoutes at us and with the hand makes a movement to show to be willing to be violent against us. After that he spits at us, and Benny has to steer the tandem in the gravel next to the road. Than he spits at us for another time, and when we go to the left even much further, the car finally leaves and drives faster, but not without showing us their machine gun by lifting it out of the window. Now the car is gone, but still we are shocked! But at least we almost arrived in Yakmach, our destination for today. Again we rest and have a cold Fanta, then we find a small guesthouse where we can stay for the night. But still we are worried very much about the experience we had before. Unfortunately many people in this region are illiterate and the education is poor because many of them did hardly attend school. Because of our white skin they think we are americans or british people which they hate for making war in Iraq or Afghanistan. anyway we decide to not continue to cycle to Quetta but instead take the bus. Anyway we made this one negative experience, but still we are very happy that we cycled this part because we also had so many positive experiences which changed our view of this region drastically. |
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| The "Taliban" - afghan refugees | Tents of workers | ||
Adventurous BusAfter a relaxing night we say goodbye to Benno who will continue to cycle. We instead quite quick find a driver who will take us to Dalbandin from where we want to take the bus. we put the tandem cycle on the truck, and then we sit in the car with 8 people on two benches and also an old man on the back between luggage and tandem cycle. As another man wants to join with his goat, that is even to much for the pakistanis, and he has to get out again and take another car, also for the luck of his poor little frightend animal companion.Reaching Dalbandin, this village seems to be the biggest summuglers village we could ever imagine: Over kilometers, the people are selling petrol from small containers they got from Iran. They even are suposed to make deals with the border policemen. Also the main road in western europe you would just call an animal market, with horses, mules, sheep, goats, chicken and dogs on the street. In the bus terminal we are quickly surrounded by a crowd of 30 people. 2 of them are being introduced to us as taliban, while a deaf bus worker is carrying our tandem onto the bus, climbing a latter with the tandem bicycle on his back. For 15 minutes the bus driver blows the loud and annoying horn, almost without stopping, to signalize that he is going to leave. So many people come into the bus that they even are sitting in the middle pathway, and on some seats there are 3 people instead of two. The bus is speeding across the many holes in the road, and on the small lane the bus is only going to the side in the very last moment if there are other vehicles coming from the other direction. But at least we sit pretty much in the back that we dont have to worry to much. when we stop for lunch at a little restaurant, we even get invited for lunch by a docter from Dalbandin! But there is not a lot of time for talking because the bus driver is blowing the horn and is eager to leave again soon. after sitting back in the bus, we even start talking to the two "Taliban" men. Actually they are afghan refugees, and they are very friendly and even offer us a cold drink. They also say, they like Germany. Many Afghan people went to Pakistan in order to escape the war. QuettaThrough impressive mountain scenery and passing many checkpoints we finally reach Quetta, the capital city of Balutschistan. This city reminds us a little bit of Romania with its many horse- and donkey trolleys and other animals on the street. But here there is much more on the street: cyclists, Motorcycle-Rikshahs (Tuktuks), cars and colerful painted trucks are fighting for the best way over the asphalt. Also in quetta the local people are very friendly. Many of them would just like to talk to us or shake hands with us, and some invite us for tea or ask if they can help us. Just women we do not see on the streets, and we hear that the pashtunes do not even take them to marriage celebrations. Because of this a woman on the street, especially a blond european one, is being stared on very much. But for us the happiness about the hospitality is much bigger, and one pakistani even gives us a lift straight from the city to our hotel, when we actually wanted to stop a rikshah. Unfortunately we have a not so ` nice leave in Quetta, after one guy wants to have some money from us again we already paid to his fellow. but after a phone call we were able to also solve this situation. |
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| Streetlife in Quetta | We visit a christian church | Muslims on the way to pilgrims meeting | |
Train marathon from Quetta to MultanIn the morning at 5 o clock the alarm clock rings, and still very sleepy we get up and pack our things together to go and take the train to multan. The trains are almost booked out because there is a big moslemic festival where muslims from all opver the world gather near Lahore. It is a hassle to get at first our bicycle in the train and then get our luggage through all these people and finde our seats where we will be sitting for the next 24 hours. On the 6 seats next to us there are at least 11 young pakistani pilgrims which are eagerly reading the koran and also praying almost all the time in the train, or outside, when the train is stopping which it often does. still there is a nice atmosphere and we get offered lots of tea and even food.We really get so many impressions passing from the mountains through the desert into the indus valley area comparatively quick compared to our normal travel speed. Sometimes we see Mango and Coconuttrees and very big white birds, but also many very dirty and dusty fields. Finally at 5 oclock in the morning we arrive in multan and find a hotel after 3 hotels tell us that they are full. We now have to change our opinion about the air quality of Teheran: Compared to Multan it is actually really nice there. still we try to relax a little bit in this city and we will get us some originally pakistani dresses before we want to continue to cycle to Lahore and India! |
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| Mandy learns to count in Urdu | Carried up alone! / Citylife in Quetta | The cause of Quettas pollution | |
| < back to Iran, part 4 | continue with Pakistan, part 2 -> | ||