31 October 2008, Lahore, Pakistan

Hello all!

Thank you for the huge response to our last blog - loads of comments (and mostly polite ones too!).

I have just put the phone down from a British-Pakistani film director who was looking to cast me in a short film they are making - I was to play a journalist/NGO who is 'helping the poor' when a bomb goes off and I get injured - lots of ketchup involved I gather. However, as filming isn't due to take place for a few days yet, and even then is likely to be delayed as this is Pakistan (power cuts every alternate hour, for an hour is the norm, and water cuts from 10pm to 7am), I have played the prima donna card and turned my first Bollywood offer down - we'll leave for the border first thing tomorrow morning (Saturday). Would have been interesting though!

Our 'transit' as we called it, from Islamabad to Lahore was so much more than a mere transit! We took the Grand Trunk Road which is 4 lanes of traffic, plus a good hard shoulder most of the way for us to stick to. The road is pretty flat, so progress was fast. We passed through multiple towns along the way, and had a great overnight in Gujranwhala which I will tell more about in my diary extract below. The overwhealming theme of this 3 day cycle though, was the extraordinary hospitality of the people towards us - again, more in the diary.

So we arrived into Lahore on Wednesday around lunchtime, in the thick of midday traffic. There's a knack to it - to have to get into the flow, and go with it. Fight it, and you'll be done for! Bicycles fight with cars, fight with rickshaws, fight with horse and carts, fight with motorcycles in a choking thick smog of pollution. We made multiple stops to check directions and against all probability, found our hostel - a 4 floor narrow building with a roof terrace where you can escape the bedlam of the street - the noise, the traffic, the smells and the filth. There are several tourists in this hotel, but I rather think we're the only ones in Lahore - visiting the huge fort and mosque, we saw not another westerner. Tourism here is on its knees.

We had worked carefully to ensure that we got here in time for 'Sufi Thursday' which includes 2 different musical experiences - an afternoon visit to a temple where Sufi followers make music and do a bit of dancing, and then an evening thing which is, by all accounts, very drug-induced and reaches a climax with dancers in trance shaking their heads off their shoulders (well, almost). In fact, we only went to the first one for around half an hour before bailing out (not our scene) and couldn't face the evening one either - but apparently the musicians are coming to US tonight and will be playing on our roof top (we're currently negotiating a room on a different floor!) - so hopefully that will be our chance to experience it.

This afternoon we will head off to the border - not to cross it, but to witness the border-closing ceremony which many of you will have seen on Michael Palin. Apparently it's huge fun and quite a spectacle so we're really looking forward to that. So today promises to be action-packed.

Tomorrow we will leave early to beat the worst of the traffic to get out of the city. It's only 30km to the border, then a further 30 or so to the city of Amritsar in India where we will spend a day or 2 to see the Golden Temple. So we are in a period of more sightseeing than cycling at the moment, which is fine and lovely - a healthy mix is good!

So, on our last day in Pakistan - how do I feel about this country? Well it's beautiful, and it's ugly. It's overwhealmingly friendly, but can also be hostile. As a woman, it's an abomination, whether you're a westerner or a Pakistani, and I wrestle with this issue every day - whether to wear shalwar kameez or not, whether to accept a hand shake or not. Whether to be offended, or appreciate the 'respect' intended by being ignored. It's very complicated and very tiring. The hospitality is without bounds, but it is based on gaining merit with Allah - so does that count? I think it does, but the religion of this country is at the core of everything and, I confess, I am longing to be in a non-muslim country for a while. We have loved Pakistan and would encourage anyone to visit (though probably not a solo female traveller). The fact that tourism here is destroyed is a tragedy and a serious economic problem.

As we have seen before, the transition to our next country is already taking place - this part of Pakistan feels like we imagine India to be. It is hot, and hectic. There are beautiful and serene pockets of calm around the temples. The people look different again and we feel ready for India - our 4th country on this journey.

We have now travelled over 3000km on our bicycles. Averaged 12.5km per hour. Around 240 hours of pedalling over 2 months. We think we're up to 6 punctures - all in the side walls of the tyres and all either metal or thorn. Weight loss - must be more, but we haven't found any scales for a couple of weeks. Number of cups of chai - must be reaching the hundreds! Wedding invites - 2. Film offers, 1 (to be honest, I was hoping for a role with Bollywood dancing in it - maybe I'll get something in India!).

As ever, love to you all - wrap up warm (we hear the baltic weather has arrived, in the North at least!) and stay safe and healthy.

Tracy

26.10.08 (Islamabad - a typical admin day)
Just an admin day today - decided not to go to Rawalpindi as sure we'll see plenty of Asian cities over the next fwe weeks and actually, just want to keep our heads down. We haven't seen a single other westerner since we left our Americans.....there are NO tourists here whatsoever. Our hotel is in Sitara MArket which is a collection of buildings around a central play grounds with shops and cheap restaurants (dinner about 50p each) around the outside edge. Everything we need is here including internet and we feel very safe and comfortable. We have had 2 wonderful meals nearby for tuppence ha'penny - local prices, not tourist prices! In fact, everyone seems to be charging local prices, which makes for a refreshing change!

We've done all the internet stuff, blog and emails and even got some malaria tablets, although no chance of malarone here and in fact we've heard that you can only get it in USA and Europe. as it costs #3 a tablet and you take one a day, it would cost me 400 pounds to cover my trip - so I'll have to use something else. I can't get anything recommended by Hazel or Jo Best here, so I'm taking the local recommendation and covering up and applying deet from dusk. What more can I do?

We have watched lots of telly in our hotel room which is very laxy, but good for rest. The last 2 nights we have leard lots of bangs that sound either like fireworks or gunfire - could be either! Certainly there is plenty of security in the city including guards with pump action shotguns outside most stores and restaurants, police road checks where every car is stopped and searched. It's probably not a safe place to be right now so it will be good to move on tomrrow, refreshed. My only regret here is not seeing the truck artists in Rawalpindi (we thought it would be fun to get some paintwork on our bikes and some glittery dangly mud guards perhaps!) but you just can't do everything!

28. 10.08 - Jhelum to Gujranwhala
Boy oh boy - today has been a day. The offers of hospitality reached a whole new level today - so much so that it actually started to become a problem. We turned many offers down, but during the morning alone accepted the following:
1. we stoped for chai and to buy bread for lunch.....they wouldn't let us pay for either.
2. A random driver stopped and gave us a carton of grape juice.
3. Sam driver stopped a few minutes later to give us a big bag of fruit for lunch: 4 apples, 2 bunches of grapes and 12 small bananas.
4. A petrol station manager gave us tea and biscuits.....a range of petrol company gifts (6 key rings, wallets etc).

By this stage we were getting nowhere fast and were barely half way by lunchtime and were completely exhausted by it all. Many more stopped us just to chat, including the head of police in Jhelum and a blike from Burnley over for his sister's wedding.

After lunch the people stopping us every few mintues calmed down a bit and we were able to get some mileage done, but by 4pm we were both exhausted and still 20+km from the town we were aiming for. We kept going as didn't want to face getting another huge day tomorrow when we enter Lahore. Eventually we reached Gujranwhala - a very big town with the most heaving and chaotic traffic to date. Trybing to find a hotel was hard work but after a couple of false starts, we spotted one below us as we were going over an underpass. We reversed down to it but couldn't get across the 2 lanes of traffic (each 5 deep with riockshaws, tuctucs, cars, carts, bicycles, mopeds etc). On the far side a group of smiling men waved us towards them - we just shrugged out shoulders helplessly - so they came to us! Wading through the traffic and parting it like moses! They then returned, taking us and our bikes with them - it was hilarious! ONce on the other side, they helped us sort out the hotel where we have of course been overcharged, but were too exhausted to negotiate any harder - we got them down a bit anyway.

We've done about 115km again today but we are so much more exhaused than yesterday (when we did over 140km) - no doubt the build up, but also the slower progress with the endless people stoping us, or even just travelling alongside us for miles, chatting, is so draining. Andrew gets the worst of it of course bcause I am mostly ignored by them - if I'm not, I usually opt to ignore them. Always the same questions:
Where you from?
Where you going?
What is your name?
Is she your wife?
Do you like Pakistan?
What do you like about Pakistan?
Why your people think we all terrorist?
It's absolutely exhausting.

The road, apart from in towns, is a dual carriageway with a good hard shoulder, so not too bad to travel on. The towns are hectic and you have to really keep your wits about you.

We've seen some sights - several dead dogs - the live ones are all limping and mostly without fur and many are so disgusting-looking that you wish someone would put them out of their misery. The worst sight today though was the carcass of a cow - very old and dirty, skinned but still with hooves and a lolling tongue, draped over the back of a bicycle. I can't imagine how a carcass gets to be in that condition, or why, once it is, anyone would want to put it on their bike.....even th thought of it makes me gag now.

The piles of rubbish alongside the road in some towns is beyond the pail (pale?). Stinking fetid heaps. The smell of corpses is also unmistakable and the stench at times today has been gut wrenching. This is Southern Asia - it's filthy, fetid and rotting, but it's also the most generous and hospitable country I've ever been to - Allah must be very pleased with his people today.

Update:
5. Cokes given by 3 brothers in material bazar this evenings - also invite to weddings of 2 of them next week (consecutive days).
6. We ordered 2 sweety cakes, were given 4 and refused payment for any.
7. Hotel manager and his girlfriend insisted we had chai with them before bed. Sadly he was not a nice man and the whole experience was torture, but hospitality nevertheless!

PS. Some things we refused:
1. MANY cups of chai
2. Accommodation with chief of police
3. Lunch
4. Security
5. Local guide
6. Second breakfast