in escorting us , and at times were going rather slow along dreamy surroundings through the desert , passing camels and flocks of sheep , at times we would be herded through busy towns with sirens blaring . It was like an action movie while we struggled to keep up with the lead vehicle .
The experience in this region , in particular at the checkpoints , proved another showcase on Muslim culture . Acts of hospitality and kindness were the norm , it never ended and was quite different to Western culture .
Offerings of tea was the standard , and with no time constraints we could chat with the checkpoint personnel . Some would insist that we sat down with them while having tea , snacks were even offered . The hospitality extended to strangers like the English teacher who dropped into a small-town shack style restaurant we were eating in and insisted on paying for our lunch . It cost only one dollar but was surely more than he could afford and a lot less then we could . He was then adamant that he would guide us on our way , merely symbolic as the road ahead was straight . It was almost comical as his moped wouldn ’ t go much faster than 50 kilometres per hour . Picture a moped guiding two fully loaded adventure bikes and an armed pick-up truck . After a few minutes , we opened up and waved goodbye to someone who looked like we had just made his day simply by accepting his kindness .
After two long days , we eventually reached Quetta and with it the atmosphere became a little more tense .
More personnel were now deployed to accompany us . Armed vehicles led straight to a hotel which we were told not to leave . We would have to stay over to get a certificate from the police station stating that we are crossing without political or journalistic motivation . Quetta is the largest town in this area and was known to serve as a Taliban hideout due to its proximity to Afghanistan , making it to the news for occasional bombings or terrorist attacks . Fair enough in regard to the regulations but to me , it seemed like taking foreigners there was like presenting potential targets on a silver platter .
It was not until crossing a smaller mountain range , which runs the length of Pakistan and separates Balochistan from the Punjab region , that it got considerably warmer and quite a bit more populated .
On this side , Pakistan also looked a lot more like India . It wasn ’ t the first example where changes in culture and people were dictated by geographical rather than country borders , which makes sense historically .
We were heading towards Multan and there was a warm wind blowing that made me think of the Subcontinent . At that point , I was assuming that we would be able to leave the convoy and travel by ourselves . It wasn ’ t allowed , we were told that even if we ‘ lost ’ the lead vehicle any hotel we checked in to had to report us to the police who would then swiftly appear and ask us the same questions , “ Why are you traveling here ? Where are you traveling to and from ?” Then a vehicle would show up and take us out of town the next morning .
The official statement for the security concerns was to ensure that travellers were safe and not to ruin Pakistan ’ s international reputation further but to me it seemed to be two-fold . Our every move was being watched , ensuring we didn ’ t take photographs of the ‘ wrong ’ building or have conversations where we weren ’ t supposed to .
Pakistan is only some 70 years old and there is an ongoing dispute with India , the biggest one being over the Kashmir region , all making for an obvious concern for Pakistan to not
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