Lahore in search of a visa

On the day we drove to Lahore we travelled on the very good M2 motorway, passing quite a few police out with radar-guns. Those hidden at the bottom of long hills with a ridiculous 50kmh limit are particularly underhanded. Even the slow old Landcruiser could be caught out here.

Reaching busy Lahore, we headed to the popular Regal Internet Inn, not easy to find and the secure parking is away from the building. Daniel was there too, and amongst others we met a British guy, Nathan, travelling on an Aussie postie bike back to the UK.

Lahore is an interesting city, but was even more humid than Islamabad. Coupled with the fact that Pakistan has an acute shortfall in power supply and the electricity in Lahore alternates on and off each hour, we got little sleep at the Regal. As soon as the fans stop, the heat and sweating wakes you. Some people would sleep on plastic chairs out on the roof area. The Regal really needs to get a generator.

A visit to the Iranian embassy turned out to be very positive. Biscuits, a nice A/C waiting area and the Iranian consul was lovely. He offered to call Tehran for us and later said that he'd been told there should be no problem for us to get a transit visa, seeing as we have a car so cannot simply fly to Turkey. He also recognised the costs involved and said we should not have to pay again, if we returned to Islamabad to collect the visa. Good news indeed!

It was good hanging around with other travellers at the Regal, but after a night of excellent local Sufi drum music, we again drove the 6 hours back up the M2 to Islamabad. A highway patrol car pulled us over, the portly officer telling us the gear on our roof was illegal on the roads in Pakistan. This is of course a load of rubbish but after some disagreement he conceded 'well in my opinion this car is illegal, however as you are my guest in this country I shall not fine you. Now you will come with us and have tea'. So we followed them to a service station, a bit annoying but we had free tea and a good chat.

Compared to Lahore, the weather in Islamabad didn't seem too bad so we headed to the camp site in Aabpara. On arriving we spied a familiar tent and met up with Darius and Jane on their Africa Twin motorbike again. We had last seen them up in Gilgit. They were also waiting to get their Iranian visa, having had no news so far about their application. A new group of soldiers had arrived to protect the foreigners so we said hello to them.

The next day we headed back to the Iranian embassy, a now familiar and sweaty trudge through humid aromas of cannabis across the vast diplomatic enclave. After a wait we were seen, and allowed to hand over a new letter pleading our case. We were told they had already heard from Lahore and we should wait to see the ambassador. Two hours later and the consul wasn't going to meet us after all. Apparently they were going to fax an appeal to the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in Tehran for us. We should just call each day to see if there is a reply. Hmmm, must remain positive.

We even got another liquor permit, except when they asked how long we wanted, and we said politely 'One month please', they didn't mention it runs out in 2 days time as it was already the end of the month! We were not to be disappointed though, instead we thought we'd stock up on a couple of cases, having enough then to share with our fellow campers for quite a while. Not the case. At least, not Pakistan. Every single sodding 'permit room' selling beer in Islamabad and 'Pindi had run out of beer until after our permit expired. And the one place that did have beers, kindly reminded us that it was Friday, and hence no beers to be sold on such a holy day.

Hanging around in Aabpara Market mostly consists of visiting the least squalid internet cafe between power cuts, eating chat (fruit salad with sweet yoghurty sauce) and drinking fruit shakes in a cafe with working fans, or visiting the bakery which has AC. We know the market quite well by now. The goat head shop is always a favourite.

We also visited 'Pindi car market and found a spare v-belt for the 12v alternator and 10 litres of decent oil for an oil change. The bloody Landcruiser has a problem where the self-adjusting mechanism connected to the handbrake in the rear nearside drum is over-adjusting and causing the shoes to drag on the drum and overheat. Annoyingly it means we cannot use the handbrake. Maybe it is caused by uneven wear of front and rear shoes, so we picked up a new set, even splashing out on genuine Toyota parts.

After four nights in the campsite we had all had enough of the heat, rain, mosquitoes, stinking squatter and lack of sleep. The four of us said goodbye to Freddy and moved to the New Islamabad Hotel nearby, after negotiating a discount of course. Pleasingly the rooms had cable tv so we (I) could enjoy England's magnificent third Ashes test victory in air-conditioned comfort.

While waiting for the visa we put the Landcruiser into Toyota Islamabad for some professional bodywork. They fixed the rusted holes and patches underneath and around the rear wheel arches, all for a bargain 17,000 rupees. Aside from the fact that you would be unlikely to get an hour of Toyota's time with the incompetent idiots back at 'Farmer and Carlisle' in Leicester for that money, the Pakistanis did a very good job. They even removed the half-gone gold stripes from the sides (that we had been slaving over with a sharpened credit card), and fixed a big dent from a rock in Cameroon. Along with the rust-free Australian wings (front guards), the old girl has never looked better. Amelia met some lovely local children outside the garage who would bring her a fan to cool down while waiting for me to arrange car stuff.

In all we spent 5 nights at the New Islamabad. Darius and Jane got their tourist visa approval, fantastic news, and they set off on the long drive to the Iranian border. We began initiating alternative options to get back to Europe in case we are rejected again. Apparently this is likely, British citizens are still not being issued visas. Neither of our two best alternatives are ideal, both are extremely expensive.

1. Ship car to Aqaba in Jordan, drive through Syria to Turkey
2. Drive back up KKH and transit through China and the 'stans to Russia and Ukraine

Unfortunately Oman and Saudi do not allow right hand drive vehicles which eliminates a number of options. We also met up with Daniel again who was in Islamabad doing some visa research. He is currently also unable to get an Iranian visa and is planning to go through Afghanistan. This sounds quite exciting but the road between the Khyber pass and Kabul sounds a bit too risky. Furthermore he is in a stock Hilux so would be able to travel incognito, unlike us with all of our gear who would stick out like a sore thumb.

With the visa waiting game getting more and more depressing, and the humidity and heat more and more oppressive, we decided to do as the British before us, and head to the cool Murree Hills to celebrate Amelia's birthday. Maybe by the time we get back Tehran may have approved a transit visa . . . .