6th October Nokkundi, Pakistan To Dalbandiin,
Pakistan
We make slow progress from checkpoint to checkpoint. The scenery is amazing. Some of the roads have a covering of fine sand, sand that is invisible until a vehicle passes over. When wheels roll over…. the sand then rises up and shimmys over the road surface. Dust devils roll across the landscape. Sometimes they cross our path… they carry leaves, paper and plastic bags.
Jeroen’s bike is now overheating. This is a double whammy. He can’t turn the bike off at checkpoints because it won’t re-start, as a result it gets very hot!
We reach Dalbandin and are escorted into a Levies compound. We see another occupied jail cell…. A large painted, Pakistani truck fills some of the space inside the compound… we notice a massive gash along the underside of the truck. We imagine it has been involved in an accident. The Levies tell us that the truck has been cut open by their staff, it had been carrying 100’s of kilograms of opium in the fuel tanks and in a false floor.
We realise that we are going no further and check into Dawood Hotel, London Road, Dalbandin. Our moods are elevated considerably by the fact that we can have a beer and that there is wifi.
I go out shopping for a sim card and to change some money. Levies guards accompany us, AK 47’s over their shoulders. Whilst at a chemist changing money…. Yes unusual…. One of the guards slaps a man around the face. It’s not clear what’s going on but it makes for an uneasy atmosphere.
The chemist money changer was a smiling assassin…..I negotiated a rate… a very poor rate at that, then when he used that rate to calculate the number of rupees I would get he rounded the amount down. I corrected him. He then counted the money out and it was short by 200 Rs, I corrected him. He then ordered us a couple of bottles of 7Up. I have a feeling this I how business is done here.
After buying a Pakistan sim card… we head back to the hotel. The guys have ordered in a Petrol take away. A pickup arrives with a 50 gallon drum. 10 litre jugs are served to our bikes via a funnel with a cloth filter.
We have a few Pakistani beers. “Murree” beer is brewed in Pakistan for consumption by foreigners only. We order both 5% and 8% strengths. A nice evening that the Austrian lads finished off (I discovered the following morning) by smoking ganja with the hotel staff. I disapproved!
Jeroen’s bike needs jump starting off the Levies Pickup. A
new battery has been strapped to the side of the bike. It doesn’t appear to
being doing much. If Jeroen stalls or puts his sidestand down in 1st we need
another jump start.
We make slow progress from checkpoint to checkpoint. The scenery is amazing. Some of the roads have a covering of fine sand, sand that is invisible until a vehicle passes over. When wheels roll over…. the sand then rises up and shimmys over the road surface. Dust devils roll across the landscape. Sometimes they cross our path… they carry leaves, paper and plastic bags.
Jeroen’s bike is now overheating. This is a double whammy. He can’t turn the bike off at checkpoints because it won’t re-start, as a result it gets very hot!
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| Balochistan petrol station |
We reach Dalbandin and are escorted into a Levies compound. We see another occupied jail cell…. A large painted, Pakistani truck fills some of the space inside the compound… we notice a massive gash along the underside of the truck. We imagine it has been involved in an accident. The Levies tell us that the truck has been cut open by their staff, it had been carrying 100’s of kilograms of opium in the fuel tanks and in a false floor.
We realise that we are going no further and check into Dawood Hotel, London Road, Dalbandin. Our moods are elevated considerably by the fact that we can have a beer and that there is wifi.
I go out shopping for a sim card and to change some money. Levies guards accompany us, AK 47’s over their shoulders. Whilst at a chemist changing money…. Yes unusual…. One of the guards slaps a man around the face. It’s not clear what’s going on but it makes for an uneasy atmosphere.
The chemist money changer was a smiling assassin…..I negotiated a rate… a very poor rate at that, then when he used that rate to calculate the number of rupees I would get he rounded the amount down. I corrected him. He then counted the money out and it was short by 200 Rs, I corrected him. He then ordered us a couple of bottles of 7Up. I have a feeling this I how business is done here.
After buying a Pakistan sim card… we head back to the hotel. The guys have ordered in a Petrol take away. A pickup arrives with a 50 gallon drum. 10 litre jugs are served to our bikes via a funnel with a cloth filter.
We have a few Pakistani beers. “Murree” beer is brewed in Pakistan for consumption by foreigners only. We order both 5% and 8% strengths. A nice evening that the Austrian lads finished off (I discovered the following morning) by smoking ganja with the hotel staff. I disapproved!
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