and so into India

It has been increasingly difficult to get Internet connectivity and as there has beeen no free Wi-Fi and the keyboards in the Internet Cafes don't seem to have all the letters where you would expect them. In fact some have more characters than you know what do with. As a consequence and also because I'm having too much fun this update has been some time coming.


Our journey in Turkey continued with our travelling from Oludinez to Olympos which is an old Roman port on the Mediterranean somewhere. The port is in ruins (no surprise there) but the sea is blue and given the warm weather a welcome attraction. We stayed at a spot on hotelish place sleeping in 'tree' houses (actually wooden huts on stilts). 

'Tree House' Lodge in Olympos

Given that I already had my Pakistani visa (thanks to Kash for the assistance in getting this) I decided to stay and chill out in Olympos while the rest of the motley crew trolled up to Ankara to get their visas and meet up with them in Goreme.  After leaving Olympos late afternoon and travelling on an overnight coach next to the most irritating Turk ever (yes, more irritating than me, he hummed to himself all night and kept asking me where I was from - the limit of his English!)


I arrived in Goreme early the next morning and met up with everyone the same evening. Ankara disn't work out too well and Pakistani visas were applied for but it seems that permission had to be obtained from Islamabad and so with the applications submitted  there wasn't any point in hanging about Ankara so everyone got to Goreme a day earlier than planned.


Goreme is in Cappadocia which isn't an actual region of Turkey. The name comes from the fact that horses were bred in this area and when the Persians invaded they referred to it as the valley of the beautiful horses or some such hence Cappadocia.  Anyway for those who want to know Goreme is in Anatolia. The unique thing about this area is that in days of old, and in some cases even now, people live in houses carved out of the weird rock formations that are all around the area. The rock in and around Goreme is known as Tufa which is soft like sandstone although its volcanic in origin. The pillars used for the houses are created through wind erosion predominantly but there used to be lots more water than now so that probably helped too.

Goreme

Rock houses - Cool in the heat!

From Goreme we spent the next six days driving for the border to cross into Iran. We had a few rough camps with the biggest blast at the top of Nemrut Dagi (very very very windy but tent survived - just). We spent a day in the border town of Dogubayazit (fondly referred to as Doggy Biscuit) while the girls all got their Chadours made in preparation for Iran and Pakistan.


We crossed the border from Turkey into Iran on Friday the 14th May (threw the date in so you have some idea of timeline).  The border crossing was a pain. We were at the border pretty much for the day waiting to be finger printed and processed and just to top it of it rained (got a short burst of hail too!). Anyway after spending loads of time waiting we got fingerprinted and let into Iran where we drove a little way from the border and gratefully set up our tents for the night.


The next day saw us arrive in Tabriz where we spent a little time looking around and but its a city like any other so very little of interest. From Tabriz we made our way to Masoulah camping at a couple of popular Iranian beauty spots. We know these are popular spots because there were Iranian families camping there too. It seems that this is the thing to do to get away from the daily grind.


We arrived in Masouleh to find a fasinating (haven't I used this once already?) town built into the hill side with the rooves of the houses making up the walkways between levels. This is a really cool place and is popular with Iranian tourists which is just as well 'cos there aren't many foreigners around!

Masouleh

After leaving Masouleh we drove (with rough camp - first in a desert!) to Isfahan. What a place!! This city is the largest after Tehran and has a fantastic feel to it and I had the best couple of days exploring it. Much of my time was spent at the famous Naghsh-e Jahan Square (known as Imam square is one of the largest in the world).  

View across Immam Square towards the Grand Bazaar

The square is surrounded by buildings with the Shah Mosque situated on the south side. On the west side there is the Ali Qapu Palace which is currently being restored. The Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is situated on the eastern side of the square with the northern side opening into the Isfahan Grand Bazaar. Definitely a place to come back to!

The Shah Mosque

The Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque

After leaving Isfahan we drove to Persepolis and setup camp for the night. 

Persepolis if you didn't work it out

The following day saw us arrive in Yazd, our last city to visit before leaving for Pakistan. I should mention at this stage that the terrain we have passed through in our trek through Iran has gone from heavily cultivated with forested hillsides and paddy fields to harsh desert. Yazd is an old city and is one of those places that has hidden gems only discovered when you walk down an alley that you hope is going to get you to where you want to be. There wasn't enough time to see everything and so yet another place on the 'got to go back to list'.

Old Yazd from the Clock Tower

Unfortunately despite Lu's attempts the Pakistani visas hadn't come through before we had to leave Yazd so at this stage there were only five of us on the truck (Adam the driver, Lu our erstwhile leader, Norrie, Edna and me). While I felt sorry for the guys that they didn't get their visas at the time of writing this blog I'm glad they didn't as it made our Pakistan adventure bearable. Fourty people would have been Hell!


Anyway, after leaving Yazd it was a two day slog with rough camping to the border with a side trip to Bam Citadel.  This is a very interesting place (was going to say fasinating). Like Yazd, and many other old town in this part of Iran, it is  made from sand, clay, manure and water. usually with straw, which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun.  It is in fact a large fortress in whose heart is the citadel is located and forms the highest point of the building.  Because it was so impressive the whole fortress was named Bam Citadel. Itv was built around 2500 years ago and was apparantly the largest building in the world made from this material.
and is currently being restored as an earthquake in 2003 destroyed around 80% of the building.

Bam Citadel

After leaving Bam we picked up our first of many police escorts at one of the checkpoints on the road to Zahedan which is the border town we were aiming for and since Iran borders both Pakistan and Afganistan security is tight as you get closer to the border. The police escorted us to Zahedan where as they wouldn't let us into the police compound! Despite being told it was dangerous and not having many options (well none really) we ended up parked in the middle of the road and had to sleep on the truck. Interesting noight! The next day saw us cross into Pakistan and despite all our fears this was pretty straight forward and once we picked up the first of our many escorts we were off!


As an aside, I have never seen so many dodgy geezers loading and unloading trucks on the Iranian side of the border.  I would have taken some photos but this was a no no so you just have to take my word for it but there were hundreds of pick-ups hanging around, occasionally one would arrive off load stuff, shift it onto one or more other pick-ups who would then drive off.  One of the roads into Zahedan near enough touches the borders of Afganistan and Pakistan and I wouldn't be surprised if we were in smuggler central as we cross the border.


Because we got through the border quicker than expected we drove from the border town of Taftan to Dulbandin where we overnighted in a very pleasant hostel. Unfortunately the situation with Pakistan has meant that that we were effectively rushed through with little time to explore. 

Some of our escorts from the border to Dunbaldin

From Dunbaldin we drove to Quetta where everyone must register with the police and it was here we would find out how we would be escorted through to Lahore. Our biggest worry was that the police would want us to transit as fast as possible which would have been really rough on Adam but as it turned out they were OK with our driving from Quetta to Sukkur then to Multan and finally Lahore. Quetta is huge! six million people live here but it is very spread so until you see it from height you don't realise the sprawl it actually is.

The road to Quetta

Crossing the Indus

Entering Ghotki

As ever with overland trips things don't always go to plan and as a result we weren't allowed to stop in Sukkur but had to drive a further 40K to a place called Ghotki. We were taken into what was called the police compound but this was a very loose description of the word compound! Once we stopped for the night we seemed to get our first of many visitors wanting to know where we came from, where we were going and what was our names. For a supposedly secure compound we had all sorts milling around from small kids to some very dodgey looking chaps. Everyone was really friendly but there didn't seem to be the concept of personal space so you were always in a crowd. Very stressful!.

Ghotki Kids

From Ghotki we were escorted to Multan where we really were in a police compound. Multan is in the Punjab and we were at the Punjab police main compund. 4,000 police so we really were secure. This time we were only visited by police men wanting to know where we came from, where we were going and what was our names. We met members of the Elite Punjab anti-terrorist squad as well as what passes for the normal bobby. Everyone was really cool and we had some laughs.

Entering Multan

Multan also saw Adam go down with some nasty infection. We were woken up during the night with Adam shouting and curled up on the floor. I thought that he had fallen from the roof of the truck where I thought he was sleeping. Edna was convinced he had been knifed but it was actually an acute bladder infection. We called an ambulance and Norrie accompanied Adam to the hospital where the police escort helped getting him seen to.


We ended up spending two more days in Multan while Adam recuperated. I went into town with a couple of policemen and had a quick looksee arou8nd the bazaar and did some shopping. 

Some of Multan's finest

The police doctor, Dr Hussain, invited us over to his house for a meal on our last evening. What a brilliant night!!! We met the doctor's family and friends and spent a really nice evening chatting and telling each group of visitors where we came from, where we were going and what were our names. We took the kids on at cricket and let them win (it was polite to do this).

Dr Hussain and family with us of course

After his two days enforced rest and medication Adam was up to driving and we hit the road with an escort to arrive in Lahore (well, about 20K outside to be exact). The hotel was spot on with air conditioning which, after the 46 degrees in Multan with nothing, was more than welcome. We were outside Lahore for two full days while Lu went off to Islamabad to get her Indian visa. I used this time to good effect, chilling, chilling and chilling.  Unfortunately due to recent troubles (a bomb I believe) we were actively discouraged from going into Lahore and looking around so will have to put it on my list of places still to see.


From Lahore we crossed into India and after waiting for the border closing ceremony to finish driving to Amritsar where I spent time making the effort to update you all on my travels. I also think that I need to show everyone that I do really know who I am travelling with so here is a complete breakdown of the Motley Crew.


Girls:
C(K)atherine (C(K)at), Catherine (Floyd), Christine, Claire, Fran, Grace, Julie, Lisa, Lucinda (our leader!), Megan, Nicky, Pauline, Pauline, Rosie, Sarah and Vienna


Boys:
Adam (our driver!), Artur (he's french so no h) Chris, Chris, Chris, Danny, Jake, James, John, John, ME!, Neil, Owen and Richard


Couples:
Adam & Jenny, Norrie & Edna, Nancy & Andy, Gaye & Geoff, Derek (Dell) & Kim and Kai & Adele


There have been a couple of claims to fame and only the ones I can publish are mentioned here.


Sarah gets the shopping award for buying a Mars bar with a credit card in a super market in Turkey and Owen gets the 'I really have no idea' award for buying a small barrel of beer rather than Sarah's lunch and then wondering why she was pissed off with him!


Neil has a tea addiction and has now bought his own kettle so he can brew up in hostels. He has also consistently managed to make tea no matter where we have been even to the extent of getting hot water from the locals.  I think he is now getting sick of tea as he seems to be drinking more coffee.


Norrie and Edna jointly get the inspiration aware.  Edna for inspiring Danny not to give up when going up to Berbeck Castle. Norrie has around 300 photos of post boxes from around the world and after chatting to him about this strange hobby I have been inspired to do the same but with rubbish bins.  I now have photos of 22 different bins from the Czech Republic to Iran (Pakistan has no bins!) will upload them at some point for the saddos who are interested to look through them.


Floyd gets the futility award with Kat for trying to change out of her costume in windy weather with no one seeing while forgetting there were people with zoom lenses on the hill above her (blasted picture didn't come out!!). 


Adam is currently three nil up on the Pakistani drivers in the 'crunch a car' competition.  Everyone reckoned the Turks were bad drivers until we got into Iran and now we are in Pakistan it is clear that the Pakistanis are the worst by far although I have the feeling that the Indians may come a close second.  Despite the truck being a bloody great big thing and our being under police escort there have still been situations where divers of small cars decide they can ignore police hand waving, other traffic and the truck generally and cut us up willy nilly.  Whilst there were some close call three cars failed to squeeze  through the gaps and lost bumpers, stoved in doors and definitely shagged the paint work!  


Signing off for now, will probably blog again in Kathmandu. Hope you are all well.


Matt in India
Thinking of you (NOT!)
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