I woke up around 7:30am and the rest of the people were fast asleep. I tried to go into one of the rooms to get my stuff and to shave and have a shower but the room was locked and I didn’t know where the keys were. I spent the next two hours with my mobile deleting text messages and updating my contacts list as I couldn’t do anything else till these guys woke up. They finally woke up at 9:30am and we had breakfast. I love this Iranian breakfast of cheese, walnuts, butter, honey and Lavash (one of the 4 types of bread in Iran). Oh yeah they also have yogurt as well but I ate yogurt with sugar while they ate with lavash. These Iranians drink so much tea it’s not funny; three cups ... read more

Zahedan Bus Terminal The Zahedan bus terminal is away from the city. No one speaks English and it is a bit of a pain. Fortunately two guys who came with me from the border to Zahedan helped me buy the ticket to Esfahan. It cost Iranian Riyals 65,000/= or they also call it Tumans 6,500/=. Obviously One Tuman is equal to 10 Riyals. There was a dodgy looking guy who came and started asking questions in Farsi. Then another friend I had made while being there came up to me and started talking. Then the dodgy guy went up to him and started asking questions about me. Questions like where I am going, who is funding me etc. Anyway the dodgy Zahedanian went his way the moment the guy I knew took his bus and I ... read more

The border immigration opened in the Pakistan side around 9am. At the border people were burning plastic cans to keep themselves warm. I guess the Pakistan government should run an Environmental Studies 101 in this area to make people aware of the harmful effects in what they do. Since there was no queue for foreigners like in the Wagah border I was put in front. All the while my backpack was resting on the Iranian border wall; I kept watch from the Pakistan immigration queue to make sure no one was putting anything. I think have got quite paranoid of this whole drug trafficking route hence, worried that people will put something in my bag. Exiting Pakistan was a breeze; as usual the officers have a laugh at my unusually long name. It’s a funny site ... read more

Quetta - Tafton The bus was supposed to leave at 4pm but it finally did at 5pm. I guess I was a part of the delay as I had to go back to the exchange place and come back. The bus had rice or floor bags on the floor and everyone walked over it. I guess this is how they conserve space in the baggage area. I had sufficient space and since I had an aisle seat I managed to put my legs out, the guy next to me, I am so glad I wasn’t there he was all cramped up. There was insufficient light to read, pretty bored. We had one piss stop and then a dinner stop. The dinner stop was quite cool, you go inside this building and everyone is seated on the ... read more

The train left at 11:25am while Shahid Afridi was tearing the Indian bowling attack into pieces at Faisalabad. Everyone at the train station was glued to the TV's. It was quite an effort to get into the train like in India there is no queue and people just don’t give a damn about the people trying to get in. They will bulldoze their way through and get in. After much difficulty I got into the train and wow it looked very clean. Now the Jaffar express I believe is the Rajadhani / Shatabdi equivalent in India. Cannot make a comparison between them because I have not been in the Indian equivalent nevertheless it was much cleaner than the Indian trains. People aren’t spitting or throwing things anywhere at least temporarily. As I saw later on, the ... read more