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Hi, sorry I haven't been in touch in a while but internet facilitites are few and far between in Iran and Pakistan and are very slow, some of the hotels have internet but with a queue of 40 people waiting and 1 computer it's not easy to get much time on the internet.
We're just into India now so we've survived Iran and Pakistan without any bother and I have to say for the most part we were all pleasantly surprised with what we experienced.
We were all warned by the Colin, the tour leader about how to dress and not offend the locals, this especially was more important for the women on the bus as in public in Iran all women have to wear head scarfs and keep their arms, shoulders and legs covered. Also men can't wear shorts that expose the knees, this even applies in hotels. Women were also warned about going out in public unacompanied by a man. We had 10 days in Iran so we weren't sure what to expect or how the locals would treat us.
It took us about 5 hours to cross the border from Turkey into Iran and we also picked up our Iranian tour guide Valy. It's Iranian law that you must be accompanied by a tour guide. The first city we got to was Tabriz, we sheepishly left the hotel in a group of about 20 to walk around and actually found that the people were very friendly. A lot of people came up to ask us were we were from and to welcome us to their country. We were getting a lot of attention as tourists are not common, but it was all very good natured and friendly.
The main cities in Iran are Tehran (the capital) and Esfahan which were great places, a lot more cosmopolitan than we expected. We never felt threatened or in any trouble and the women on the bus could wander freely without any men although they still had to wear their head scarves. Valy showed us the sights which basically consisted of Mosques and Bazaars alhough some were very impressive.
The last 4 or 5 days we headed east towards Pakistan and the country becomes more dangerous and noticably poorer, we were basically advised to stay in our hotels and not to venture out alone. The last city before the border was Zahedan which is a main route for Heroin smuggling from Afghanistan (which was only about 30 km away) and not a nice looking place. Before the border we picked up our armed guard which we would have the whole way through Pakistan, the government provided the guard as they don't want anything happening to western tourists.
The crossing from Iran to Pakistan was a very long day, we were on the bus around 20 hours. It's basically desert tracks with no towns at all so we couldn't drive much faster than 30 miles an hour. We entertained ourselves with games and quizes which were good craic but we were glad to get to the first city Quetta at about 4 in the morning. We only had 6 nights in Pakistan so it really was a stop gap tour. Due to the security situation we could only leave the hotels as a single group and along with our armed security guards so it made it difficult to see the country properly. We had some highlights though, in Multan a local soccer team organized a match with us which was really good craic. We had a girl play for us, Geena, which the locals were amazed with, apparently she was the first woman to ever play on that pitch!
I was in Lahore for St. Patricks day which was different to say the least. We managed to source a few crates of beer and had a great night in the hotel as Pakistan doesn't do pubs and definately no Irish ones! So we managed to have a great one in Pakistan.
It's been the most interesting part of the journey so far and though we were in some dodgy places and couldn't get alcohol in Iran, we had a great time. Next up India!
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