The Pass
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
207
451
Trip End
Ongoing
Peshawar,
Pakistan
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Once in town, we found a rickshaw driver that was nicely priced and we ended up at the Rose Hotel. We grabbed a room, and had a look in the book to see if there was anyone there we knew. From Lahore, was our Pommie mate, Alexander, so we buzzed him and planned to meet up, once we were settled in. This was done quite quickly, and as he had not seen the fort, which you can not miss when driving into town, we decided to take a walk down to see it. The LP states that you can see a small piece of it and also visit the museum that is inside, so we marched up to the front door, only to be stopped by AK47 wielding soldiers. Kind of makes you stop quite quickly when they are pointed at you. It was quickly explained that we were not allowed in. We pointed at the LP and told them that this book does not lie, but they would not take the word of the bible !!! From this point, we split up again, and we were grabbed by an Afghani carpet seller. He plied us with his tea, but we resisted, but he asked us to come back the following evening for a traditional Afghani meal. We accepted on the spot, as we are tight bastards and we do like a free meal !!! We met up with Alexander and we had dinner on the roof of the hotel. He explained his plans for Afghanistan, and it has now started a clock ticking in our brains. We must get there ourselves, as the place is getting safer.
Lucy, had said that I was being the perfect boy, and she was going to reward me with a trip up the Khyber Pass. She said that she had organised a guide ??? I thought I knew where it was !!! She also had a car and driver !!! This must have been a special place she wanted to go to, to get to the Khyber Pass. We jumped in, complete with a guide called Prince, it was getting weirder by the minute. Then off we drove. Then Prince said that we were also taking two Canadians !!! I knew Lucy was flexible, but one of them was a girl. All I could think of was, ham, sandwich, strap-on !!! After about an hour of driving, Lucy started to get excited. She said it was close, and was I ready. I was ready to rip my pants off, I was so eager, there is not words to describe the way I was feeling. Then it happened. The car drove through a gate, and the sign stated. "Welcome to the Khyber Pass". My bubble was burst. We were actually at the beginning of the Khyber Pass. So we took some photos, and onwards we drove. It was quite amazing, seeing the old British forts and the scenery was delightful. Prince gave us some great info and we all had photos with our armed guard, whilst holding his AK47. We stopped at numerous sites, including one place where there was an old mosque and some concrete sharks teeth, which the British had laid down, to stop the Germans coming through the pass on the way to India. We drove as far as our permit would let us go, and then got out to take some more photos. We were about 1/2 a K away from Afghanistan. I kind of wished I had a visa so that I could have gone over then and there. On the way back, we discovered that Prince was another of my homies. He loved his cricket, especially the Aussie side. He dropped us off at our hotel, and a young Turkman, came up to talk to us. He was another Afghani, and he was an Afghani homie. He loved cricket as well. We spoke for ages and he invited us to dinner. We declined, but he insisted on the next night, so we accepted straight away. We went up to the other Afghani's place, and he cooked us some great food, washed down with green tea. It was a great way to end a good day. He did try to convice us to buy some carpets, but we had to decline
It was good to sleep in, after some of the days we had been having, so we decided to have a proper walk around the town. We found the gold bazaar, which lead us to the oldest and biggest mosque in Peshawar. The Mahabat Mosque. Homies came over as usual to talk, but we were on a mission. We moved through the bazaars and came across the womens one. Most of the women were wearing Burkhas. I thought Lucy would look good in one of those, for when we go to Afghanistan !!! We moved through, until we came to an old caravanserai. It had been used as an old fire station and Police post, and also contained an old Hindu Temple, but was now falling down. There were a couple of kids playing with fluro chickens as well. Kind of looked right in place with the surroundings !!! Down the road, we came across Cunningham Clocktower, built for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Back into the bazaar, we managed to pick up another Afghani homie, who wouldn't shut up about cricket. Then it happened. A guy came running up and said his name was Shaquille Afridi. I joked and asked him if he knew Shahid Afridi. He said it was his cousin, which is quite possible, considering that everyone here seems to be related. I could not help but think 6 fingers, two heads !!! We lost our Afghani homie, and as it was getting late, we went to the Turkman's place for dinner. He had some more Afghani friends, one who was called Abdul Qadir !!! I asked if he had played for Pakistan, he just laughed and said that he was a better bowler !!! Over dinner, the talk was cricket. In fact, we talked nothing else. If Afghanistan get their asses into gear, one day, they will have a side that will be capable of beating Bangladesh !!! Dinner was great, and we told the Turkman of our plans to come back as we want to go to Afghanistan. He said he had loads of relos who would be homies for us, or he would even join us and be our guide !!! Eventually, we had to leave. We said our goodbyes and said we would meet again in the future
That was Peshawar and the Khyber Pass. It was good to come, but the North of Pakistan is calling us, so it is off to bed now, as we have an early bus to catch
