After being pumped with all the travel warnings and negative media coverage concerning Pakistan we were expecting to be riding into something half resembling a war zone. However the reality so far has been totally different. Coming from India where the streets are awash with cow shit and rubbish the first thing we noticed was how clean the roads were...makes us think this has something to do with beef being back on the menu! While there is a strong Police presence everywhere the place does not feel uptight or unsafe and people seem to be going about their daily lives as normal. Everyone is extremely friendly and always quick to shake your hand, but usually that is after we have told them we are NOT from America which is usually their first question. Im sure it would be different if I was, but I am Australian and very glad for it.
This is Lahore however, which im told is the safest and most liberal city in all Pakistan. Im sure tomorrow when we head north through Islamabad to Peshawar we will get to see a different perspective on things, where in the tribal areas things are apparently a lot more volatile than here. We will have to go through numerous Police checkposts so im sure if things are too hairy they wont allow us through, if which case we will turn around and head down south towards Multan and Uch Sharif on our way to Quetta where we are picking up our Iranian visas along with a new set of TKC80 tyres being delivered post restante to the GPO(hopefully!!)
Aj and Bec
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