Quetta Serena Hotel

We had to wait quite a while for our escort to arrive before we were allowed to leave the next morning. Yet another day driving through the wilderness. We had two armed guards in the back with us through the morning, who were letting Shane and Lee pose with their guns. It was more frightening seeing those guys brandishing the weapons than the policemen themselves. We spent our next night in Quetta ...

One of the great things about travelling with Alex and Alby is that we have to stay in guesthouses or hotels which provide secure parking for Stumpy (the truck). Those with secure parking tend to be more upmarket than those without. So the Hotel Bloomstar in Quetta suited me down to the ground with its clean, cockroach-free rooms set around a pretty lawned courtyard. Having breakfast out on the lawn reminded me of home and I think we all felt a little ...

Nice relaxed morning for the first time in a while. Our tour of Quetta didn't start till 2 so we had all morning free to do whatever we wanted. I spent an hour on what seemed to be one of the slowest internet connections in the world in order to at least update the blog with map pins up to yesterday to let y'all know I'm still alive after the travelpod blackout in Iran. The rest of the morning was spent lazing around in the sun/shade in the ...

Finally back online in Pakistan (travelpod was blocked in Iran). Maybe it was a bit follosh to delete all the future entries after all. While it made it easier to see what I had updated and what still needed to be updated, I'm finding that it's taking AGES to update now on the slow internet connections I'm finding. And it's totally pot luck whether the computers can connect to a camera, never mind actually wait for the photos to upload. Anyhoo, I'm still alive and kicking as are ...

From departing Esfehan we have spent travelling through desert and stopping at three towns: Yazd (Iran), Bam (Iran) and Dalbandin (Pakistan). Staight after Esfehan and before Yazd we headed South to the ancient ruins of Perspolis which was cool but compared to Rome the ruins weren't much. The next night we bush camped in the desert which are by far the best to camp in; comfortable temperature, no grass so no dew in the morning, clear stary skies (we ...

Destination 76: km64'817 Heutige Fahrt darf wohl als kritischste Fahrt meiner Reise bezeichnet werden. Zu spaet von Dalbandin losgefahren und zu viele Unterbrueche haben verursacht, dass wir (James und ich) im heikelsten (gefaehrlichsten?) Gebiet in Pakistan um Quetta nicht vor Sonnenuntergang dort ankamen. Bei Sonnenuntergang waren immer noch 50km zu fahren und so wurden wir von mehreren Militaerpolizei- Eskorten nach Quetta gefuehrt. Wer weiss was geschehen waere, wenn ...

I am now in Quetta in Pakistan, I arrived here after one of the hardest 24hrs travelling I think I've ever done. I left my hotel in Bam on Wednesday morning at 6am and had to wait for 30 minutes for a bus which had come from another city and was going to Zahedan close to the Pakistan border. It was very hot and it took about 6 hours to get to Zahedan and the journey was not helped by another Indian film. Zahedan is 100km from the border and I hoped some others would arrive to ...

We jumped on the bus and found our positions. All Westeners down the back. As our bags were being hoisted onto the roof, I asked to be moved, but they just ignored me and moved. The preferential treatment I had received outside was going nowhere on this bus. Just before the bus took off, the driver let loose on his horn. It went for about five minutes. If it had gone on any longer, I was about to wonder down and rip the ****ing thing off and jam it up his ...

The bus trip was possibly the worst I'd ever experienced so far in my travels. It was absolutely jammed full of people and stuff. Our seats in the bus were right near the back with very little leg room. They were so old that all the padding had worn away so we both had metal frames digging in our backs and bums. The recliners were broken too so when the guy in front put any pressure on the seat at all it reclined into my already squashed knees. I had to ...

15.03.05, Quetta, Pakistan Quetta ist 1500 meter hoch und von kahlen bergen umgeben. gestern was ich in Marriabad. Dort leben Afghanen, welche aussehen wie eurasier... heller teint, haare, teilweise sogar blaue augen. Ihre siedlung ist durch einen bergkamm von der siedlung in der paschtunen wohen getrennt. Beide koennen sich net riechen. Auf der Paschtun seite ist die Talibanflagge (schwarz-weiss) auf den Fels gemalt. Beide gehen in ...