CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES THE MIDDLE EAST!
Rhys, Dave and Fintan in an amazing valley in the Balouchestan Province on the way to Quetta
We were up at 6am to hit road Northwest towards Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balouchistan Province. For security reasons, we were told not to travel through this tribal region at night. About 3 hours into the drive, we spotted a herd of camels on the side of the road. We stopped to get a few photos with the incredibly smelly animals and pushed on again.
Camels grazing on the side of the road towards Quetta
Approaching the arid but starkly beautiful mountainous region towards Quetta, the transformation from Indian Sub-Continent to Middle East became evident. The mountainous ascent is littered with small tribal villages with all buildings made from clay. There’s plenty of security checkpoints along this stretch which runs very close to the Afghani border. We had a laugh with one security guard who let Rhys hold his gun!
A Pakstani Security Guard lets us borrow his shotgun!
Coming down from the mountains and not far outside Quetta, we entered an amazing green valley which was quite strange since we’ve travelling through desert for most of the day. As we stopped for photos, we were approached by two suspect looking guys on a motorbike, with their faces covered in Taleban-esque scarves! We were a bit worried they had guns and were after us, but in fact they were very friendly, spoke fluent English and just wanted to get in a photo with us.
Getting a photo with the Dodgy looking guys in Headscarves
Heading closer to Quetta through the Balouchestan desert, the presence of gun turrets and armed men became more apparent. We even came across one checkpoint, manned with a massive machine gun, that looked like something from a Rambo movie. The army men here were nothing but nice and kindly offered us tea with them.
A rambo-esque gun turret near Quetta
We arrived into Quetta, just as it was getting dark. Located only 60kms from Afghanistan, Quetta has the air of a frontier town and is a melting pot of tribal groups, a large proportion of which are Afghani refugees. Driving through the town, we were a bit taken back when a tank patrolling the streets, passed us by. Yet again, our accommodation was arranged by Toheed and we organized to stay in a train-driver’s guesthouse.
DAY 111 ROUTEMAP
1 comment:
Nice narrative but I must add that the bit about 'tank patrolling the streets' is rather far fetched and your feeble attempt to add drama to your blog. I know from personal experience that tanks do not patrol the streets in Quetta and never have. Having said that Quetta is a garrison town with a large army presence stationed on its outskirts, so if you did actually see a tank it would be on the back of a tank transporter if it was within the city limits.
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