We are happy to be back in Pakistan (December 2024)

Hello all!

Christmas time in Pakistan, that sounded like an interesting idea (:-0) Anyway, we were looking very much forward to visit Pakistan again. During our first visit in January 2024 there was not much time available to dive deeper into this country since we were on a hurry to arrive to India. So, this time we gave ourselves a little more time to investigate Pakistan. And that was good.

Different than you would expect Pakistan is not ‚full of terrorists‘ (of course not). It is the other way around: very friendly and hospital people wherever you go. And often very nice landscapes e.g. the mountain areas in the north like Karakoram, Himalaya and the Hindukush (we could not see as much as we would have liked since it was wintertime and too much snow on the roads and passes). And in the west, there are the deserts and some more mountain areas (we liked to drive there very much).

Pleasant in Pakistan was that the people are not so pushy and not so close (compared to India). They are very interested, but they gave us space and time to get in contact. You could immediately feel the Muslim spirit (this is why they are more defensive and with more distance, in a pleasant way). We felt good in Pakistan. We were very much looking forward to visiting our good friend ‚Hussain‘ in Lahore and also to see Islamabad for the first time. Both cities have busy areas and especially Lahore has a lot sights that could be visited. After a long time with only a little meat we were very enthusiastic to go to a BBQ restaurant at the first evening in Lahore (thanks, Hussain J). We did a lot of visiting of local markets and I (Carsten) did also a long overland tour with the motorbike through the villages – very interesting! Driving on Pakistan steest still is challenging but not to be compared to what we experienced in India… Christmas was a bit slow this year. Fortunately we could find a nice hotel (Serena) that offered a (wonderful) christmas brunch.

The second part of our trip in Pakistan was the transit through Belutschistan (on our way to Iran, Turkey and Europe). 1500km driving more or less in one passage. In that (very rural and poor) area you are not allowed to drive alone. We were guided by a police escort until you arrive to the Taftan border (our entry point to Iran).

Greetings from
Heike and Carsten

(–> Text übersetzen in Deutsch)