Well...country number 11 and the hardest yet! After an interesting border crossing and an armed escort through the Balochistan wilderness we 'enjoyed' a night in Dalbandin sleeping on the roof of a derilict(or should be) hotel! We did induldge in some beer along with food chosen from a menu which should have read Biriyani or Biriyani or Biriyani! I awoke the next morning looking like I'd done a few rounds with Mike Tyson...a mossie bite!!!! Did cause a little amusement anyway! Balochistan is one of the most barren depressing places I've ever been...not sure I'll be back!

 Made our way to Quetta along with our armed escort who were more of a hinderance than a help, Drawing even more attention to us by sounding their sirens through towns and forcing other traffic off the road! Quetta greeted us with wonderful smells.....open sewers, cow poo,, cannabis etc etc. I actually liked Quetta after a day or 2 there. Wandering the bazaars was fun though initially stressful as I was wandering around with about 10 other folk! So after cutting the group down I managed to find some material and a tailor and got a shalwar Kameez made! Found a swimming pool in a posh hotel and after spending 2 hours in the post office getting parcels wrapped up the cold water was delightful....first dip since Olympus! Rachel lost her wallet on the Tuk Tuk on the way home...bummer..hotel staff were not very helpful...they didn't appear to want police near the hotel....wonder why! The group...especially the women recieved a mixed response in Quetta....some lovely folk and some not so lovely...old men spitting at my feet, men ignoring me in shops and no women to be seen anywhere! I went for a wander with Will to get food and during the hour we were out....I was the only women on the streets!  Unfortunately we were not able to ditch our police escort on route to Peshawar....so the next day involved driving for 14hours(playing countless silly games to pass the time...truck surfing and pass the bottle were some of the few games) with no stops and a bush camp  next to a petrol station! We had a very large audience whilst preparing dinner and I lost about 2 stone in fluid after a very hot night sharing a tent with Ave. Arrived in Peshawar at 12mn after another long day on the truck and no diner as the police would not allow us to stop! We were all a bit grumpy! Peshawar was just as crazy as Quetta and alittle scarier! I would not venture outside the hotel alone in darkness. Had a tour of the city by some guy claiming to be a prince, visiting the old palace being the highlight. The palace is up a back street in the middle of the city and has been left derilict...such a shame as it was beautiful! Good news though, the tourist board have purchased it a.nd are going to try and restore with the help of UNESCO funding. Went for a drive up the Khyber pass with an armed police and tribal escort. The land surrounding the road is a no go zone as the it s tribal land and the police have no power there...hence the tribal escort. Will celebrated his birthday on the roof of our hotel ...with some traditional music and dance arranged by the prince, some alcohol purchased from some dodgy character, a nice plate of cow masala and not 1 or even 2 but 3 birthday cakes!

We managed to escape Peshawar minus a police escort to head for Karimabad via the Karakoram Highway! and i was very glad to be leaving the city for a while!