TRAVERSE 179
TRAVEL - PAKISTAN
DAVID COULTHARD
WHEN LOVE AND HATE COLLIDE
One of the best destinations you can visit if you are an avid adventure rider , but for me , Pakistan did not start like this .
Comments from friends didn ’ t help . “ Why would you possibly want to visit there ? Have you not seen the news ? You could be killed or captured by terrorists ”. Reality though , is usually often different from any preconceived notion we may have of a place , and Pakistan is a great example .
Pakistan , a country to pass through , a place you had to visit in order to go to somewhere more interesting . For me , that interesting place was India , a country I had wanted to visit for many years . Helped more by my first impressions when entering Pakistan . Riding through Balochistan after entering at Taftan on the edge of Afghanistan the temperature had been 45 degrees Celsius plus . Escorted by the Levies , trying to find accommodation in the fully booked city of Dera Ismail Khan after Dominic , my travel partner , and I had finally been let go of our escorts yet did nothing to dissuade my initial view , I wanted to spend as little time in Pakistan as I needed to . We headed directly to Islamabad along rough roads , across dried out deep riverbeds of sand where the local bridge had collapsed , and through traffic spewing out so many fumes , my silverish beard was turning black .
At the Visatronix office we initiated the process for our Indian visas , that we were reliably informed would take a number of weeks . While waiting , we decided to head North , to the cooler temperatures of the mountains . This is where my perception of Pakistan changed , from one of hatred , to deep and unconditional love .
We headed out of Islamabad in temperatures of around 35 degrees with low humidity , it felt noticeably
TRAVERSE 179