Newsletter 5

Newsletter 1
Newsletter 2
Newsletter 3
Newsletter 4
Newsletter 6
Newsletter 7
Newsletter 8
Newsletter 9
Newsletter 10
openiningspage

It took us a pretty long time to cross the border because the customs took there lunch and for the carnet we have to go in the village to another office we easily could forget it but there will be problems to get out of the country for sure.

We decided  already in Bam to sleep in the border place Taftan. We slept in a small cheap hotel but no water, no problem off course in Asia. Buckets with water where brought to the room (salty) to clean ourselves. We where invited by a small group of local people to get a sightseeing and a invitation for a meal. The "dining room" was a small working place where they are fixing everything from TV sets to motorbikes so we get a blanket to sit on and everybody was eating out the same pan.

The next day back on the road, trough the dessert again, a lot of people has the idea of the Baluchistan dessert that it should be very dangerous (kidnapping and so on) but we and all the other travelers we spook had no problems at all, except maybe for there stomach. The drive was s great so many things to see, al the different landscapes, the wild camels, the amazing sand dunes, the small whirlwinds and a good road (made by the Iraniers).

Dalbandin is a small dessert town, here we found a nice hotel on the main road (there is only one road) the next morning Jolanda crashed nearby a gas station, here was a hole filled up with gravel she gives to much gas and lost control of the bike, it was a nasty crash. Jolanda came out with blue spots but the bike was in a worse condition: the windshield broke of, the gas handlebar was stocked by the stupid construction of the acerbic protection shield. So we took it of. The box on the right-hand side was damaged but the bike and Jolanda where still able to drive and Jolanda was not hurt to much and after one cigarette and putting away the broken parts we continued the trip.  

Almost when she found her self a bit back on the bike, she felt down again, the asphalt stopped and a hole with loose sand was the problem this time. The damage was not so bad. but the break lever bended in the wrong direction. The bike and Jolanda where ready to drive and the rest of the dessert no more accidents anymore. 
The dessert was so beautiful, so we took to many pictures and we forgot the time, in a moment the sunset was there and we have to ride another twenty kilometers. After ten kilometers of driving we couldn't see nearly nothing anymore, the trucks speed up they also want to make the drive before the dark was complete. Driving now was really madness to do, but what choice did we had? Barbara one of the Swiss couple was pushing of the road so we stopped and we tried to find a sleeping place for the night. 
A minute walking back Leon  had seen a gas station maybe there was a place to sleep, we asked and the man of the station showed us a room big enough for the four of us. The bikes could sleep in a wooden round small hut but big enough for the four bikes. So this was perfect we didn't have to pay for the overnight and we get tea and bread, we slept very good and during the night the man -looking like Mozes- took care of our stuff.
 The next morning the man heated some water so Jolanda -always the first who's awake- could wash herself, they where so friendly and hospital.

In Quetta we have to repair the bikes -Martin had a accident as well- we got from other bikers a address from a man he could repair everything. We decide to do it by ourselves, the mirror was the easy part, nothing was broken luckily, only in a wrong direction. The box was something else Leon went to a metal shop to drill the blind rivets out, hit the box back in shape and put new blind rivet in. that was part two, we design something to get rid of  problems with the Acerbis protection cover for good, I will call it a distance holder. They have to make it special for us and because we need four of them this part took the most time, while the guy was making the part, Leon was going out of the shop to smoke a cigarette. 
He saw a remarkable  scene: a guy from the butcher's shop game out the shop with a peace of dead animal, the guy looked to the peace of meat, he bend over and "cleaned" the meat in the gutter, looked at it again shakes it a little, and "washed" the meat another time in the gutter. If you noticed that everybody is using this gutter for everything (oil, to take a leak, painting clothes, etc.) Leon nearly have to throw up. But the parts where ready and we could get the minds backs to the bikes. We had a vegetarian meal that evening.

From Quetta we took the northern route to Ziarat and Lorelei there is a big road but the gravel road should be more fun, and indeed it was not complete gravel but no trucks or other traffic and again perfect scenery. Ziarat is the place where Pakistan people escape from the heat during the summer, it is in the mountains and over there a lot of Juniper trees, the climate was indeed very good all though in the evening it was even very cold, under zero on 12 November? We liked the place very much real friendly people.

Lorelei was not a nice place, the people click there tongues while we where passing them the complete atmosphere was not good, that we could escape the next morning  was the best thing of Lorelei.

From there we drove to D.G.Khan we had to work hard on the bikes from Rakni to D.G.Khan the road went trough the mountains and only one track wide that means everybody who's coming down have to give way to the vehicle who's coming up, but because it is to dangerous for a vehicle to go completely from the road both cars has to go to the side. For  us it means stopping get of the road al the time this hundred kilometers cost us the whole day. The roadside is always lower than the asphalt, sometimes loose  rocks sometimes loose sand or the most scary part: no roadside at all. The mountains and the spectacular views we saw, where the once while we stopped. 

In D.G.Khan we asked for quite room in hotel Pakeeze (safe motor and car parking) and as always they give you the room close to the market. The market went on to 23.00 o clock and started at 4.00 am, so we had a "perfect" night, also this place could not steal our hearts, but there was a good restaurant down the hotel with lovely Chinese food. We stayed in the room to answer letters e-mails and work on the Newsletters.

Multan finally a really good place to be, friendly people, a perfect hotel -more about this later-, the best bazaar till now and we met the push bikers (Guido and Peter) again, from Holland. The arrival to Multan was not that good, Jolanda get hit by a horse car who went backwards and because of the rest of the traffic she could not escape. No damage to Jolanda or the bike but she was really angry to the driver.
The hotel (Sinbad safe motor and car parking) is one of the hotels we never want to stay, to much money 1000 rupees one night (60 ruppees one dollar). But we arrived early enough to find a cheaper one (at 13.30)  Leon asked for the price anyway, the manager want to go down till 400 ruppees and we only want to pay 300 rupees. So back to Jolanda who was saying 300 is the max, back inside I told him so and he was thinking and he said is a deal. 
He showed us the room 1 bed but big enough for the both of us, a shower, a sit toilet and two chairs. We agreed but when we want to leave the room there was no lock in the door, the manager told us you can put all your valuables in the safe of the hotel, for us all our stuff is valuable (helmets jackets, etc) so he understood the problem. I will give you another room was his answer. That means room number 2. the room looks ok there was a lock inside of the door and the rest was the same we had before,   when we want to leave the room and locked the door we could easily open the door again, we have to move to room number 3. Also this room has a lock problem, the past guest broke the key of this room and with thousand excuses we get room number 4, finally  this room was ok. The room had as extra; a old refrigerator and a old strange colors tv. We couldn't have it all. We stayed there a week and beside visiting the bazaar, beautiful shrines and meeting coluurful friendly people, we spend very long time in the internet cafe to answer all the mails we get from you guys.

Lahore is close to the border of India (23 km) the city has a marvelous fort and a beautiful mosque inside the fort (ask for a guide called Sammy if he still working there) Lahore is a polluted by the too many riskja's in the city, they slurp 2 stroke gasoline (more oil than gasoline) and the whole city is blue from that. Leon nearly crashed tree times in Lahore once with a horse coming from the left side,  second a car coming from the left side and third a pedestrian who was crossing the street without looking, so this was enough for him and we found the hotel (who was very close) easily. This was hotel Clifton and off course also a good place for the bikes. Despite of the pollution we stayed also here more than a week after 5 days we want to leave but first Leon get sick (2 days) and after that Jolanda get sick.
The fort is indeed very good, inside of the fort is a mosque (60.000 people can pray at the same time) The mosque (one of world largest) was build in 1676  by Aurangzeb On the square -where the people can pray- two galleries cover the side of the square, was once a school with only one teacher in the middle of the gallery ;the gallery was build so that his voice can hear by all the students trough the echo.
In the spectacular fort are many palaces some in a good condition others in a worse condition, here we found the beautiful mirror palace (Shish Mahal), this palace was build by Shah Jahan for his lovely wife. He asked here what wish she had, she told him pluck me the stars from the sky. So he build this mirror palace and in the evening with all the oil lamps the sky was in the palace. When the palace was finished and he want to show here the beautiful work he made, his wife died in India. He build as memory to his lovely wife the Tai Mahal in Agra.

The day came we have to leave Lahore and go for India. Leon was a little scarred to get on the bike again -the nearly crashes still in memory- but on the bike again everything was all right we left on December 7 Lahore and one hour later we stood in front of the border.