Fuel prices in Pakistan were approximately 72p and 75p per litre for petrol and diesel respectively.
We were ready to leave Sukkur on 2 June at 0700 hours when we were told that Adam, the driver, had delhi belly and we would be delayed. In-fact we stayed in Sukkur for an extra day. It was very hot again so hardly anyone went outside the hotel except to go to the little shops across the road from the hotel. I did go out once and sat drinking tea in the street with the old men. The hot, sweet, spicy tea was lovely and people did speak to me, especially the children that were around. Sukkur is known as the City of Bridges which could be verified by driving around and seeing the number of them that were round the place.
On 3 June we left for Bahawalpur on route N5, the Karakovan Highway. The area now was more than hot with signs indicating that it was sugar country, that is sugar cane country. There was more greenery to be seen as we passed mainly due to the availability of water in canals and small streams. The usual carts and trucks were on the road and we arrived in Bahawalpur after eight hours travelling.
We arrived just in time as I then had an explosion of delhi belly myself. Ran off the truck and into the hotel and thank goodness for sit-on toilets which are still around in places. There was no way that I could have gone any further and though there had been the comment from our leader that the hotel was too expensive to stay at this was changed and we were put four to a room for the night, the rest of the day not meaning anything to me. I woke the following morning not too bad and found that we were in the PDTC Hotel and that Seamus had the lurgy during the night and was worse than me.
One of the things I have noticed, or not noticed, was the sightings of more prosperous housing while travelling through Pakistan. This may have been because we were travelling through the wrong parts of towns or maybe they were not to be seen, but this changed on entering Lahore. There are no pictures of these houses, large and swish as could be expected, as they were difficult to see being surrounded by trees or high walls and generally well back from the roads with closed gates and guards.
We stopped at a backpackers hostel in the city and our leader went to sort out rooms while we started to move our bags off the truck. Some of the group hared after Polly but did not notice that she had come out of one hostel and gone into another before coming back to the truck and saying that the rooms had no fans and with there being constant blackouts the place was not suitable and we would go somewhere else. Communications then went haywire as some of us went back to the truck which then took off quickly to go to an hotel, a proper one this time as it had an automatic front door (funny how simple things are now meaning a lot and indicate so much) and she then realised that a number of the group had been left behind. She was able to contact them and they eventually turned up at the hotel in rickshaws very hot, sweaty and not in a good mood.
Lahore itself is very green with parks and trees everywhere. When we arrived at the hotel, the National Hotel, I arranged for Seamus and myself to see a doctor who prescribed different medicines for us. We were lucky as there was a doctor in the hotel at the time and he arranged for one of the hotel boys to go to the chemist and pick up the medicines for us. For whatever reason the doctor nor hotel charged for the visit or consultation and the medicines cost us £2.80 each. Two others were checked over by the doctor later as well. Later still Jackie and Martin became ill with Martin being taken to hospital being dehydrated. He was treated straight away and returned to the hotel in the evening. The ambulance, doctors and medicines cost him £28 and he remarked that the whole experience was quick, efficient and the hospital as good as any he had seen. Someone else remarked that ‘we were falling like flies’.
The hotel has an automatic door which worked, and the lift, when there is power available, as power cuts are the norm here as well. I went outside last night and there were hundreds of people around eating at cafes and restaurants, very much different to what I have seen elsewhere. It was so busy and fascinating to watch. There is an Odeon Cinema next to the hotel.
We were ready to leave Sukkur on 2 June at 0700 hours when we were told that Adam, the driver, had delhi belly and we would be delayed. In-fact we stayed in Sukkur for an extra day. It was very hot again so hardly anyone went outside the hotel except to go to the little shops across the road from the hotel. I did go out once and sat drinking tea in the street with the old men. The hot, sweet, spicy tea was lovely and people did speak to me, especially the children that were around. Sukkur is known as the City of Bridges which could be verified by driving around and seeing the number of them that were round the place.
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| The guard outside the hotel |
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| Watching the truck |
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| Selling balloons |
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| This would look good in a Norfolk tractor run |
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| Car transporter |
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| Wheat store |
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| A pretty truck |
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| The bag on the back is in one piece and holds grain husks. The whole is filled by men filling sacks with the husks then throwing them up to the men on the top who empty the sacks into what is seen on the truck. They are absolutely huge. |
On 3 June we left for Bahawalpur on route N5, the Karakovan Highway. The area now was more than hot with signs indicating that it was sugar country, that is sugar cane country. There was more greenery to be seen as we passed mainly due to the availability of water in canals and small streams. The usual carts and trucks were on the road and we arrived in Bahawalpur after eight hours travelling.
We arrived just in time as I then had an explosion of delhi belly myself. Ran off the truck and into the hotel and thank goodness for sit-on toilets which are still around in places. There was no way that I could have gone any further and though there had been the comment from our leader that the hotel was too expensive to stay at this was changed and we were put four to a room for the night, the rest of the day not meaning anything to me. I woke the following morning not too bad and found that we were in the PDTC Hotel and that Seamus had the lurgy during the night and was worse than me.
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| The hotel grounds in Bahawalpur, not that I saw much of them. |
We stopped at a backpackers hostel in the city and our leader went to sort out rooms while we started to move our bags off the truck. Some of the group hared after Polly but did not notice that she had come out of one hostel and gone into another before coming back to the truck and saying that the rooms had no fans and with there being constant blackouts the place was not suitable and we would go somewhere else. Communications then went haywire as some of us went back to the truck which then took off quickly to go to an hotel, a proper one this time as it had an automatic front door (funny how simple things are now meaning a lot and indicate so much) and she then realised that a number of the group had been left behind. She was able to contact them and they eventually turned up at the hotel in rickshaws very hot, sweaty and not in a good mood.
Lahore itself is very green with parks and trees everywhere. When we arrived at the hotel, the National Hotel, I arranged for Seamus and myself to see a doctor who prescribed different medicines for us. We were lucky as there was a doctor in the hotel at the time and he arranged for one of the hotel boys to go to the chemist and pick up the medicines for us. For whatever reason the doctor nor hotel charged for the visit or consultation and the medicines cost us £2.80 each. Two others were checked over by the doctor later as well. Later still Jackie and Martin became ill with Martin being taken to hospital being dehydrated. He was treated straight away and returned to the hotel in the evening. The ambulance, doctors and medicines cost him £28 and he remarked that the whole experience was quick, efficient and the hospital as good as any he had seen. Someone else remarked that ‘we were falling like flies’.
The hotel has an automatic door which worked, and the lift, when there is power available, as power cuts are the norm here as well. I went outside last night and there were hundreds of people around eating at cafes and restaurants, very much different to what I have seen elsewhere. It was so busy and fascinating to watch. There is an Odeon Cinema next to the hotel.
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| Fighting Talk |
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| The Odeon |
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| Not even 'Dirty Dancing' |
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| Motorbike salesmen |
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| A tuk tuk |
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| Water carrier |
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| The dustbin men |
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| Reading the paper |
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| Poor donkey |
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| Ice cutters |
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| Not my barber today |
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