PAKISTAN
An epic train journey from Iran to Pakistan
Taking the train from Zāhedān in Iran to Quetta in Pakistan Zāhedān is the capital of Iran’s southeast Sistan and Baluchistan province and is located near the tri-point of the borders between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The city is hot, dusty and practically...
read moreThe Aga Khan’s Helicopter | Travels in Northern Pakistan in the early ’90s
Travels Through Pakistan - An Epic Travellers Tale It sounds dramatic I know, but I arrived in Pakistan for the first time under a hail of falling rocks, lightening, thunder and torrential rain. It was September 1992 and I had just left the Chinese border town of...
read moreFriday Flashback | Shooting a Kalashnikov rifle in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier
Darra, or Darra Adam Khel to call it by its official name, is a one-street town 40km south of Peshawar in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous Tribal Areas. Because of security issues, tourists aren't officially allowed to visit Darra anymore but back in 1992, when I first went...
read moreFriday Flashback | Problems in the Hunza Valley, Pakistan
On my first visit to Pakistan in 1992, I spent a week or so relaxing in Altit, a tranquil village deep in the Hunza Valley. My then girlfriend and I had unexpectedly (*) had to walk and hitch from Sost (the closest town to the Pakistan/Chinese border) to Gilgit, a...
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