Shaking in Islamabad

Kevin, Luke and I have reunited again in Lahore. I spent a day in a Hostel in Lahore before they arrived. The owner of the Hostel was an amazing, he treated us to a tour outside of Lahore. We joined Malik and went to an inauguration ceremony for his cousin who was recently elected to office. They had some amazing drumming after the ceremony followed up by fireworks. I met with several different ministers of Health, Education, Finance... here I am in the middle of the upper brass of the Punjab region my first day in Pakistan, too funny. We later went to a festival outside of Lahore. I always heard about the cannabis culture here and never knew how big it was, you could smell the hashish everywhere you go. We were invited back to a drum tent were we met the big ticket performers for the night. These "ladies" shook my hand, and I was a little baffled because women are not allowed to touch men. I was sitting in a tent with about 40 men and children staring at me and my friends while we talked with the "ladies". Our host told us they were man "ladies" who performed around the country and this is a good blessing/superstition if they dance in your village. Many of them were hermaphrodite some just very effeminate men. This was one part of the Islamic Republics I never thought I would see. After the dancing was over and the weirdness of 100 men watching 12 un-choreographed "ladies" dance we returned to the hostel. When we arrived we heard music upstairs only to find a live Sufi band playing. We danced and had a good time and the day was over. What a crazy day of random events...

We hooked up with a hospitality club member from the US who is now a resident of Pakistan. Bobby hosted us for a couple days while Luke rested from his stomach problems. Bobby and his wife prepared us some amazing Pakistani food that we thoroughly enjoyed. We needed to head towards Islamabad to apply for our Indian Visa's. We have found out the Karakorum Highway is inaccessible to the north due to the devastation of the earthquake. We were really looking forward to conquering the highest paved pass in the world between Pakistan and China called the Kunjerab pass at 4934m. This will have to wait until another trip.

We arrived in Islamabad on Friday, the civil engineers planned a more western approach creating a grid like infrastucture than other Pakistani cities. We have not seen any major signs of the earthquake but the outskirts of the cities look worse due to their more earthquake prone mud brick homes. I was in my room last night in fetal position (another amoebic party in my stomach) when I felt the bed shaking slightly. I thought Kevin snuck in the room and playing games until I said a few choice words and lifted my head from the covers and no one was there. This subtle shaking went on for about a minute or so and stopped. I thought it was just my delusional state from a high fever and the shakes but it was confirmed that two tremors occurred last night.

So we are waiting for 7 days in Islamabad until our Visa is approved. Next stop India!

Until our next post!

Curry and I'm in a Hurry

Sorry for the lack of updating for all those concerned.

I am safe and well in Pakistan. I was in the south near the Iranian border when the quake hit.

My friend Luke and I cycled through 1000km's of some of the most stereotypical desert you can imagine. Every travel book we read advised against us riding through southeastern Iran as 3 cyclists were kidnapped 3 or 4 years ago. The locals told us it would be fine as did a seasoned traveller who has done this type of journey, so we pushed on. Sand blew across the road and into every possible orifice and spot that you wouldn't want sand getting into. At the end of one day I emptied a small pile of sand from my right ear. Man is it ever parched down there.

Without getting into too much detail, our highlights involved smashing a washroom sink up by acccident, staying at 2 military installations including accomodations in a military jail cell, passing children with AK-47 machine guns waving at us, passing many burnt out trucks and drinking 40 degree water from water bottles that feel half melted from the unrelenting desert sun.

Now I am in Pakistan about 4 days ride from the earthquake affected regions in the north. Unfortunately we will be passing through this section and seeing the aftermath. This region is very high. We rode up to a 3000m pass today and road a sweet downhill for the better part of 60km's. The road between Quetta and a town called Ziarat was bearly a road. Nightmare ride. Very bumpy, no gravel and totally dusty. I just about rattled every bolt of my bike and every ounce of my being.

The land is very arid here. The towns are dusty and crowded and we are constanly bombarded by 10-40 people at once. I counted 40 today when I went into a shop to buy some bisquits. The people are very friendly and curious and I must keep this in mind. Sometimes it is frustrating to say the least, but it is nice when i am thinking about where I am and how much fun it must be to talk to a strange freak like myself.

I feel that I am very safe. There are a lot of people here an it is alarming, but at the same time we cycle past 2-4 military and police checkpoints a day and we have been escorted twice now by police through two areas.

Luke had a bout with diahrea and nausea yesterday and we took a rest. Somehow I manage to avoid this plague of the cyclist. All that organic dirt I eat when not washing my veggies at Plan B must account for something!

So that's Mr. Kevin. Still pedallin my sorry butt onwards. Our route may shift to Tibet and the Mount Everest base camp via Kashgar in China and south through Tibet to Nepal. We'll keep ya posted. Wish us luck. Steve and I should reunite in 4 days or so.

I miss everyone!