Even after the 'affirmative' from the consul in Lahore, and the 'special fax' sent from Islamabad, we no longer felt confident about an Iranian visa. Anyhow, we decided to heading up to the Murree Hills for my birthday weekend. We both needed to get out of Islamabad which was seeming hotter, steamier and cloudier each day. And what better excuse than to celebrate a 32nd birthday...
We drove north with our only aim being to spend a couple of days amongst the trees and cooler air. Murree as we've mentioned before is quite touristy, so we by-passed it and headed further north to north to Nathiagali. We made it as far as the quiet village of Bhurban for the first night. Here we met some southern Pakistani guys who were away for the weekend, and we relaxed and enjoyed not sweating for the first time in a while. The next day we arrived in Nathiagali, where at 2500m, the thickly forested village still commanded expensive prices in it's hotels. Here we managed to find a room with a lovely view of the valley, and only being 1.5kms from the 'high street', we could leave the car and walk. BBQ chicken seems to be the flavour of the month here. Chickens are found dangling slow cooking around flames on most corners, with freshly cut potato chips and roti not far away.
After a late breakfast and an interesting conversation with a Lahore doctor, we made our way to the Ayubia National Park wildlife office. We'd heard a rumour there was a young snow leopard there, being saved locally from captivity. We didn't see a live specimen, but we did see some stuffed cats/foxes and birds. Seemingly the taxidermist was still learning when they attacked these unwilling examples. There was a very friendly and curious goat watching the car for us however which made up for the lack of snow leopard. A quick phone call to the Iranian embassy again resulted in 'sorry, no answer. Call tomorrow.'
We avoided buying more carpets or a bright eared umbrella - but nothing could stop the birthday girl purchasing a garland of daisies.
Locals were selling anything they could get their hands on, and the closer we got to Murree, the more emphatic the selling got. Thank goodness for electric windows. Flower-shaped hand-held windmills, emergency towing ropes, corn on the cob, laptop computers and chai, everything the weekend holiday maker does NOT want. Even fairly floss.
There was one thing the Pakistanis were doing that we did think was a great idea to take home. As we slowly rolled through the congested Murree streets, we noticed a loud beeping sound. Coming around the corner we saw a small forklift. But this was no ordinary forklift, this was a special Police Issue forklift, fitted with lights and sirens! As the holiday makers double-parked their cars in all the wrong spots, the police would come along in their fork lifts and simply carry the car away. It was brilliant, and though we doubted they could lift the landcruiser, it would have made an excellent photo!
It was an interesting weekend, and we felt a lot fresher heading back to the city. As a special 'birthday treat' (I could drag this out for days) we stayed at a very lovely guest house in Islamabad for the night. The next day they were good enough to suggest a place more suitable to our budget where we could stay for the following week while we pleaded our case further at the Iranian embassy. Unfortunately, there was no change there. We met a German couple who were staying in their big motor home at the camp ground in town, and they were also hoping to get a visa, but also didn't have much confidence. After calling every morning, and being told to call back every afternoon, our patience and hope faded.We decided to start seriously exploring our options for either shipping the car or driving through China/Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan. Andrew researched visa agencies and we located the 'Stan' embassies here in Islamabad (which incidentally are not in the diplomatic compound, nor are they where they are listed in the LP guide book or on various web sites). We made the usual list of the car jobs that would be best completed before we left Islamabad, and started researching visas for Russia and the 'Stans.
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