As we have a day in Quetta we took a walk into the bazaar area with some of the group, that was our first experience of beggars, poverty and open sewers and being followed by mobs of people, I think some were put off by it, but it was okay for us, once we were on our own. It was fantastic to see butchers, barbers ,beard painters, fruit sellers alongside flatscreen TVs being sold in the markets. There were very few women and most of them appeared to be beggars with babes in arms, and as heart rendering as it was we just had to ignore them. We made our purchases and wandered back to the sancituary of our hotel for the rest of the day for a chill out, as you can only be out there a little at a time, until you get used to it.
We now travel to the city of Sukkur via Quetta, this road is considered one of the most dangerous routes in the world and as a consequence, we are travelling in convoy with a couple of bikers and have either an armed police guard on the truck or an armed car with us. We have to stop on a very regular basis at police checkpoints this takes a small amount of time, but is always good humoured. The guards range from old men to young boys and we are not sure if they would be much use if something happened. There are watch posts on the hills and check points in the most inhospitable places, I wonder what the soldiers say when they see their posting?
The scenery has been spectacular from the deserts to dry mountains, the irrigation projects and old fashioned ways of housing including nomads living in their temporary homes. The roads have ranged from the very good to no roads but gravel, so the ride has been very bumpy at times, and very hot.
The jingle trucks, (because they have chains and decorations on them that jingle) and the amount of work that goes into decorating them is something else(checkout our photos).
The driving is also interesting vehicles come at you from every direction, you are sharing the highway with donkeys, overloaded trucks, tuktuks, cars and buses with people sitting on the top, travelling at top speed and overtaking where there is no overtakes on, at one point we had three vehicles travelling towards us on a single laned highway. Oh, not to forget the 125 motorbikes and tractors with loudspeakers on, phew! I am worn out remembering. Our driver, Adam, has to drive similar as them to make any progress. We pass through an area of Pakistan that was severly affected by the floods a couple of years ago, and there is still evidence of people living in temporary accomodation in very poor conditions.
After a long hot and weary drive we arrive at the city of Sukkur with its seven canals and massive dam to control the river levels. But the noise and heat is overwhelming in our weary state, we just want to get off the truck and into a cool hotel, which it is (sort of). We have to share rooms with another of our group for the night, but we are happy as it is cooler than camping, and anyway the police would not allow us to camp.
We went out and ate in a local restaurant with one of the bikers and our tour leader, the food was good and well cooked, the locals looked on as we bumbled our way in ordering the food.
This morning our driver and a couple of others have tummy troubles, so we are staying Sukkur for an extra day, till they are sorted out.
The biker who was with us, Cloudio an Argentinian living in Poland travelling the world on a Ducati, is making his own way off, it was good talking biker stuff with him, while others looked on, not having a clue what we were talking about. We said our goodbyes and might see him in Lahore. The other biker we lost in Quetta his bike was broken and could not be fixed, so he will have to stay for a few days until he is sorted out, still he has a year to finish his trip!