Bit of open engine surgery, many many things to fix.
What you do on a lazy Sunday afternoon in Belochistan
A typical Pakistan pick and drop taxi/bus
The destruction the flood waters are doing in Pakistan right now is quite terrifying
Karakoram Highway up towards Gilgit, hope there was no one in the bus
Gov vehicle testing the waters, we were next across
This is where the bridge was washed away, building a new road and helping the locals across
Thursday 25th August 2022
Said goodbye to our new Polish friends this morning, it has been a wonderful 12 days with them. They fly down to Islamabad and onto home in and around Warsaw, we head down Naran to meet a group of 22 Malaysians exploring the Karakoram Highway whilst we continue to wait for our Iranian visa.
The journey to Naran is about 360km, most of the road is sealed with a few sections of dirt and areas where water has eroded the sealed surface. We decided to do the journey in the Hilux and leave the Bikes in Skardu, it's a good job we did.
We had faily good weather leaving Skardu, cloudy, but warm, as we climbed Babusar Pass at over 4000m it started to rain, crossing the pass the rain increased, it has obviously been staining here for a while. As we approached a queue of stationary cars we realised the good journey up until now may be about to take a turn, the road was flooded.
The torrent covering the road was running fast and had washed away a lot of the stone surface, eventually a government owned Prado gave it a go to try and cross, which it did successfully, we pushed our way to the front and crossed next. As we descended into the valley and passed Batakundi we crossed more water that was quite deep and flowing fast.
At the side of the road, a trio of a father and two sons flagged us down, they had no luggage and had come off seriously damaging the father's had that was already swollen to twice it's sive. We put the bike on the back of the Hilux along with the people and ran the gauntlet through two more deep and fast streams running across the road that would not have been possible to cross on the bikes or in anything that was not a 4wd with higher clearance.
About halfway between Batakundi. And Naran our progress was blocked by a landslide (see video, this was shot by a local on the other side from where we were). Rocks had been fallibg all along the road and the rain was constant, we could not proceed and we're unsure of returning the 9km
I am getting concerned, on the 25th of July we submitted, via TasteIran, our visa application for Iran. TasteIran sat on it for a week and only submitted it for approval after being chased on the 1st of August, this is the second time they have sat in our application and not submitted it without being chased, will it be using them again. That is not the reason for my concern though, visa applications I have been told, should take 2 to 3 days, mine has now been over 3 weeks.
We have had communications in that time, mainly about clarification of the itinerary, Tatseiran have promised to call, find out what is happening and get back to me, they never do get back to me when promised, not without being chased, and then there is no real info. Today, they informed me, again after being chased, that it is highly likely our visa will be rejected due to the amount of time it is taking. I have no idea if this is based on real information, or is speculation.
Dominics Pakistan visa expires the first week of September so what I am thinking is looking at the option of shipping the bike out of Karachi to somewhere, anywhere in Europe or even the UK.
I think it prudent to start getting quotes for shipping now, so If anyone knows of any shipping agents in Pakistan worth contacting who give a good service and may be able to help, please reach out.
Also, here is me riding a horse up to Fairy Meadows, much more scary than riding a motorcycle, it does things I do not ask it to do. Motorcycles are more obedient.
Can only upload one video per post, here is Dominic having his massage by our mechanic
