We left the following day and arrived in the early evening in Bam where we went straight to the Overlanders famous Akbar guest house, we were expecting to be the only travellers due to the time of year, we were surprised to meet several others, two Canadians in a Nissan, two Italians in a Toyota Land cruiser and a Austrian hippy called Bernard or “Hariom” his Indian Yoga name, Bernard had reinvented himself due to a break up with a girl friend, the van was typical hippie style, paintedby his friends and complete squalor inside, I wasn’t sure which was dirtier his van or the streets outside? Bernard’s new persona “Hariom” soon started to show cracks, inside the van he had a huge Love sign hanging from the rear view mirror, so when a few of us posed with the AK47 we were all a little surprised that “Hariom” got on the back of the Love wagon and held up the gun for a picture, we did read his blog later and he mentioned about the policeman that was sitting in his front seat and how cool he was, the only thing was he didn’t like the gun in the Van...hang on a minute weren’t you the guy on the back WITH the AK47?...anyway Bernard became quite a liability mainly because he was too busy smoking hash and listening to his music that he forgot that he was actually in a convoy and we didn’t all want to go at 65km an hour especially when it was a 600km ride to the next town, the first day turned into a bit of a disaster as we ended up riding after dark, for the guys in the cars that was fine but for us was a real nightmare, trucks and buses with their lights on high beam, pot holes and huge amounts of dust really doesn’t make safe riding, we couldn’t stop as all through Pakistan we are escorted by the police, some of them were ok but the majority everyone ignored, most of their Toyota pickups had seen better days, usually no back lights or sirens that had any effect, one even had a small tin which they were burning wood in to keep the guys in the back warm.When we stopped in a town before dark we suggested to the others that we all stay there, suddenly everyone in the cars suddenly forgot about sticking together and all said “ahh so we will carry on and meet you there later” Brian, Tanya and I were quite disappointed mainly because we had waited all day for the hippie ...there was certainly no love coming from the “Woodstock” van, Bernard hadn’t washed for weeks and we all noticed the same socks were worn every day, I’m sure in an emergency you could actually use them for motorcycle boots as they looked so stiff from constant use.
Bernard "Hariom", Brian and Tanya
Court yard of the Akbar Guest House
Bam Taxi
Castrol?...try Cactus?...same thing I think?
Fresh bread....they could have made a pizza from this...they are so close!
"Hariom" showing Brian how slow he drives!
Apparently it's like a musical massage?
As you can see I am well impressed!
Actually the Italian's spaghetti impressed me more!
The city of Bam in 2002
The ancient citadel of Arg-e Bam has a history dating back around 2,000 years ago, to the Parthian Empire (248 BC–224 AD), but most buildings were built during the Safavid dynasty. The city was largely abandoned due to an Afghan invasion in 1722. Subsequently, after the city had gradually been re-settled, it was abandoned a second time due to an attack by invaders from Shiraz. It was also used for a time as an army barracks. The modern city of Bam was established later than the old citadel. It has gradually developed as an agricultural and industrial centre, and until the 2003 earthquake was experiencing rapid growth. In particular, the city is known for its dates and citrus fruit, irrigated by a substantial network of qanats. The 2003 Bam earthquake was a major earthquake that struck Bam and the surrounding Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 1:56 AM UTC (5:26 AM Iran Standard Time) on December 26, 2003. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is 6.6 on the Richter scale. The earthquake was particularly destructive, with the death toll amounting to 26,271 people and injuring an additional 30,000. The effects of the earthquake and damage was exacerbated by the fact that the city chiefly consisted of mud brick buildings, many of which did not comply with earthquake regulations set in Iran in 1989, and that most of the city's people were indoors and asleep.
The first day of the Convoy
Heading off towards Pakistan just after sunrise
Another police check point
Police station on the Pakistan border
A local enjoying Bernard's Van
Not much hope for animals here
I knew I was close to Scribble town...not sure what the graffiti said...or which was the Graffiti?
Ahh bend ahead!...oh yeah I am getting good at this!
Killing time behind "Hariom"
Well kept roads!
Desert pee stop
Trying to get into a comfortable position
Checking to see if "Hariom" was still awake?....he had his camera and was busy taking exciting pictures of the road ahead?
Gas stop, locals have special cards, we have to pay the tourist price
Brian trying to make something green grow...which if it does will be hacked down and burnt by a local
One of the local police
Prayer Group....OR filling in another police guest book!...note Bernard's summer pants!
We arrived at a police station in the middle of the desert and they kindly let us stay in a small guest house, there were several armed police guarding us, one was even suppose to sleep outside and guard the bikes and us, when we got up in the morning he was nowhere to be seen....about thirty minutes later he suddenly appeared, It was freezing that night so he probably buggered off somewhere and slept in a warm spot, I wouldn’t blame him, even if he ignored the Police chief’s orders, lucky we weren’t attacked by bandits! That night “Hariom” had also wandered off to the village, the Police Chief was extremely angry that he had gone without permission and another policeman was sent to fetch him, Bernard thought it was all very amusing...we all thought something else!
Police station...but you knew that right!
The compound
Town
Home for the night
Disco Truck!
Baker...typically kids here!
They said I snored.....wasn't me I didn't hear a thing!
Ready to go next morning
Second day of the convoy
New bike with the modern soft panniers!
Colourful enemies
I took my camera out to take a picture and I dropped it, the battery and SD card fell out as well, I spent a few minutes looking for it much to the annoyance of our police escort.
WWII style bunker central Quetta
The next night we spent in Quetta the home town of the Taliban, Quetta is not far from the Afghan border, this was an extremely edgy place and I felt quite nervous, you could feel an underlying tension, I made it quite clear to others that I was nervous and hoped no one would feel too relaxed and think it was all fine, which it always is until the shit hits the fan, of course “Hariom” the hippie had gone for a wander to search out some hash from the locals and was asking about the Taliban, I had quite enough of this guy as he was a complete idiot and he really was attracting unwanted attention, Brian, Tanya and myself decided the next day we would not risk any more time with “Hariom” and that night we organised a separate police escort and told the Manager we didn’t want this guy with us, he agreed to help with the police, we also told Bernard that morning we could not risk riding in the dark so would not be travelling with him, for some reason he managed to join the convoy again but lucky for us he turned back, I think he had forgotten something, during the day we also lost the guys in the cars, this didn’t worry me because I was more happy travelling as a group of three, much easier to manage and much quicker decision making and that actually makes for a safer ride, because it was a long ride we only just made it to the next city “Sukkar” as it was turning dark, we had to go south and then back up as the direct road was not safe to travel on, a Swiss couple in a Van were abducted there three months ago and are still being held by the Taliban, Sukkar is an absolute toilet of humanity, dust, rubbish and complete chaos reigns here, lucky we had the police with us, the first place was smack bang in the centre of the city, it was crazy, we stopped the bikes and a crowd of fifty to a hundred onlookers gathered around us, the hotel looked crap so we asked the bewildered police to take us elsewhere, we were all extremely exhausted and it was all quite tense, the second place was better as it was on the outskirts of the city, before we left I had to fill the policeman’s motorbike with a litre of gas so he could escort us, the second place was a major rip off but I was happy just to be somewhere at that point, we all shared a room to make it a bit cheaper, which is more of a bonus for me as I would have had to pay a separate room which was the same price, we ordered KFC which we had seen on the way in, I had been only eating food which I had bought with me and my health was good, Brain and Tanya were eating everything including roadside trucker food stalls, at one point a guy decided to show Tanya how to eat correctly and proceeded to grab a piece of her bread then dipped it in her food fingers and all, and if that wasn’t bad enough he then offered it to her to eat, I was just looking in shock, the KFC is not the same here, it was a grey Pattie of pureed chicken meat?...anyway of course the next day sore stomach and the runs...arghhhhh! Brain and Tanya were most amused that I was the one who got the “Bug”.... I am secretly plotting my revenge!
"So is the way you are sitting on that"
Brian passing the hairy mammoth!
Somewhere underneath was a tractor!
Shell Gas station
Stove and spare gas bottles
Using "Mr Funnel" to screen out dirt and water
It's smuggled gas from Iran
Please switch off your engine?
Brian and Tanja's DRZ400's
Even the policeman wanted to help
Local wheels, most bikes are 125cc there are no large bikes Iran and the ones in Pakistan cost a small fortune!
Black leather jacket and AK47 is the Policeman
Waiting to sort the Carnet's at the border
Flat tyre on the Canadians Nissan
Pakistan camping at it's best?
Cannot imagine why you got a flat....sold rock can't weight that much?
There was a big group of locals but Tanja scared them over the wall by pulling out a camera!
Well done...its actually only cotton but still.
These guys came racing out of the desert at high speed with a machine gun on the roof....which made me a bit nervous!
Lucky I was packing "Heat"
Guns aren't necessary until they are necessary!
We are currently in Lahore Pakistan which is about 30km's to the Indian border, this afternoon we may go and look at the border changing ceremony and the following morning we will enter the extreme chaos which is India.
