Maybe it is hard to imagine, but it is only after many kilometers in Iran, that civilisation abrubtly ends. Beluchistan is a part of Iran and a part of Pakistan where it is a little bit lawless. That is why we decided to take the train, which is a good alternative to the bike, especially because this one only went 30 km/h max. It took us more then 50 hours (including a delay of 24 hours) for less then 700 km. But we were in good company with Theo and Laura. And we had four guards, in our compartment alone, so we didn't feel unsafe. We could cook our own meals ( Theo's famous garlic soup, 3 FEET of garlic!!) and had great views of the barren desert landscapes. The border crossing went smooth, except for the 10000 screeming and pushing pakistani's.
The world totally changed from there. A bigger transition we never experienced before. Quetta is total chaos, with dirt and people everywhere. But it had a great atmosphere. Theo compared walking in the streets of Quetta to taking hallucinating mushrooms. It was very nice to meet up with our friends Marco and Ela, with their green Volkswagen van.
We had decided to go as quickly as possible to the north of pakistan, because we really wanted to cycle (a part of) the famous Karakoram Highway, which was tricky because it was almost winter there, but we tried anyway. And had no regrets. The most beautiful landscape we had ever seen in our lives. Like a fairytale. After a couple of days cycling it started snowing, which ended our adventure. But it has been absolutely magnificent.
And we were lucky that we bumped into motorcyclists John and Alanna, who took us trekking to Fairy Meadows, a beautiful place on the foot of Nanga Prabat, 8126 meters. Perfect days in great company of John and Alanna, Markus, Kevin and Caroline.
And then it was time to go to India. We cycled in six days from the border (Lahore) to Delhi.It was amazing, the freedom in India! All of a sudden you see women again, even on motorbikes. And the feeling of cycling again in short sleeved shirts cannot be described. Passing cows and buffalows, overtaking horse and wagon and having lunch in green gardens...
It was an amazing feeling to arrive in Delhi, a place we already were familiar with, but now we actually cycled to there. We were very proud of ourselves...
And then came the biggest cultureshock of all. We are back in Holland. We had a great welcoming, though. And it is good that we know we are going to be on the bike again in about three months. Because we still have a long way to go, Beijing is still some 7000 kilometers.
Great!