Day 43 Islamabad

6:15 am. Just woken up - Shell gas station. Very western looking. Think / assume we are near Islamabad. Odd, after weeks of hot weather and no rain, we have skies which are grey and laden. Usual traffic noise and some guy sweeping with a besom type broom. No queues for gas here. Should be staying at a campsite near here I think. Very few road signs in Pakistan - so never really sure where we are!

10:15 am Hotel Crown Palace, room 309: rented for the whole Hot Rock crew: we camp at the campsite, but get showers in the hotel room. Watching Star Trek. Lots of unrest amongst Hot Rockers: feel sorry for T -she's invested a lot of cash and time in this; trip lacks leadership. Rained earlier - very British. I think we are now free to travel without the police escort. Had a bit of a walk around the city: a much 'nicer' place than much of Pakistan which I have seen; but still much poverty too.

Day 42 en route to Islamabad

No real idea where we are (we are heading towards Islamabad), it's 5 pm and we've been driving since 4 am(!). We stopped once at 9 am - for a bit of crappy bread which looked - and tasted- like a chamois leather. Apart from that all I've eaten today is that and half a dozen cookies. The organisation here is totally appalling, and the usual blame game is being followed: it's always the customers' fault. Despite driving along a main road with lots of services we have stopped at the only services which doesn't have a shop. I am told it is impossible to stop elsewhere. We have a police escort - but since this is typically behond us, I think we could stop anywhere we liked. Nothing to drink apart from coffee at 3:30 am plus one swig of fizzy pop. Really annoyed. Some background to why I'm annoyed: this morning, for reasons I cannot fathom, we followed a totally crap road for about 90 km, taking something crazy, like five hours. Perhaps to be fair this was indeed the only road - but perhaps not. I cannot help feeling that it might be worth Hot Rock buying a few maps of the areas we are traveling through. Last night we stayed in a police compound at a place called Loralai - difficult to sleep because of the mosquitoes - tried sleeping on the roof of the truck - but too hot in sleeping bag; my fault - should have put up my tent. But we arrived pretty late and I knew we had a very early start - plus it's virtually impossible to open the tent locker anyhow, what with the truck being unmaintained. In the end, Simon, T and I just abandoned trying to sleep and chatted to the police who were on duty for most of the night. They took us out on 'patrol' - in reality they called in at some street vendor to buy us a bottle of coke, after driving around the streets a bit.

Day 41 en route to Quetta

Just spent a hot and mostly sleepless night on the roof of the hotel in Dalbandin; apparently what little sleep I managed to get was through the most interesting bits - there was gunfire (automatic) and there were light signals (red flashes with white flashes responding); ad-hoc commotions in the streets below. But I slept through all of this. Set off really early in the morning, still dark. Road pretty crap: something of the quality of a residential driveway which badly needs resurfacing. Stopped for breakfast in a town called Nushki. Just 20 km or so south of Afghnistan. Got a very nice plate of spicy rice from a street stall. We create a lot of interest wherever we turn up, and Nushki is no exception. One of the most noticeable things about Pakistan so far is the almost complete absence of women.

Evening: just stopped to get a meal in an unlikely looking roadside building: mud bricks, single story. Red plastic Coca Cola crates stacked outside. Again lots of interest and attention from the locals: I was shown one guy's prized camel collection (he had about seven camels). During the meal we all sat on the floor of the place and were served up okra, rice and chicken legs, with all the locals looking on. I have real difficulty with okra - I believe that the technical term which describes cooked okra is mucilaginous. This leaves little to the imagination.

Day 40 Zahedan

Parked up outside a police compound in the city of Zahedan, about 50 km from the border with Pakistan. It's 5:30 am. Worried that I am not eating enough: crappy kebabs last night (again). 8:10 am and we are still here. 27 degrees C. Henry has turned up from Tehran - he'll be driving. Should be heading off to Mir Javeh, on the Pakistan border.

11:05 am and sat in the customs' hall on the Iranian side of things. Cannot change Iranian money here - don't have very much but might be able to change it on the other side. Bought several small bottles of some cola drink - yuck. A big customs' hall -much more modern than the one back at the Turkish border crossing. The building is called the Mir Javeh Border Terminal. 11:58 am and we are no on the Pakistani side of things. Crowded, but some organisation. Lots and lots of people. Lots of dust blowing about outside. Hot winds blowing fast across the desert. 3:25 pm - we've been driving some time but now stopped at a police roadblock - we have to write all our names and passport numbers in a small ledger being passed around the back of the bus. Sand blowing about - gets all over the place - and in between one's teeth - gritty. Something like 500 km to Quetta in north-western Pakistan. 7:45 pm - we've stopped for the night in some small town about 300 km from Quetta cheap hotel. The town is called Dalbandin. Walked along the town's main road (a linear town - like a cartoon strip - watermelon shops repeating every fifty feet). Stopped by the police - very professional - had Simon, T and I surrounded. Grabbed Simon's arm - lots of guns (AK47s); ubiquitous pickup truck, complete with man in back behind electric window (lowered), wearing dark glasses: told in no uncertain terms to return to the hotel and not to walk about the town - for our own safety. At this point we were about 500 metres from the hotel, walked back - all okay so far. Tonight we sleep on the roof of the hotel - I think simply because it's very hot and there aren't enough rooms in anycase. Wish I was climbing. Long drive day tomorrow - talk of 1000 km to beyond Quetta: but there's no way we will cover that sort of distance on these roads in one day. For the first time since leaving Turkey we can get beer: available in hotel; incredibly no beer bought for Simon by Hot Rock - despite him having driven for something like 36 hours. Appallingly rude.

Day 39 Bam

5:45 am. About 125 km short of Bam; Simon driving all night. Chilly. Desert environment. Managed to sleep for about four hours - stretched out across four sets - but with annoying gap between the two pairs of seats. Not 100 % comfortable. 7:35 am and we have arrived in Bam. Long, wide, poorly surfaced roads, eucalyptus trees; no real shops as such - locals selling their goods out of ISO containers (the sort that go on container ships); no sign of any food or coffee. Already hot enough for a tee shirt.

Four and a half years ago, (26th December 2003), most of Bam was destroyed by a devastating earthquake; magnitude 6.6, leveling 70 percent of the buildings according to news reports at the time. Spent some time walking around the 'modern' part of Bam - I can see now that the ISO containers are being used as temporary shops - presumably replacing buildings destroyed in the earthquake. Some rebuilding work was evident - but the people involved in this seemed to be hopelessly ill-equiped - e.g. shovels and spades, no heavy earth moving machinary. The dust was pretty bad - it's so arid here.

On a more everyday note, found a supermarket - in a more regular building. Not big, the sort we used to have in the 1970s in the UK. Managed to spend the remains of my Iranian currency - I am followed around the store by staff afraid that I am acting in a suspicious manner. (I get this in all shops I go to, nothing specific to Iran! The best sort of shops are those on two floors - I go up and am followed up; then I go down and am followed down; up and down, up and down...keeps the shop staff fit.) Anyway, managed to buy cans of tuna, cookies, tins of pineapple and some cartons of juice. Also, managed to find an ISO containerised shop selling Iranian music CDs - have been trying to get a CD of Iranian music since Tehran - but difficult to make myself understood - there are lots of CD shops in Iran - but they seem to be selling computer games or perhaps videos rather than music - after much hand waving etc managed to buy something - goodness knows what sort of music it has on it - clearly not a proper CD but something homemade - I mean it's a CD-R disc with something written in Farsi in a marker pen.

Later in the afternoon we moved the truck to the older part of Bam, near the historical Citadel of Bam, Arg-e-Bam. This is a giant complex of buildings made from unbaked mud bricks, clay, straw and trunks of palm trees, dating from something like 300 AD. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Arg-e-Bam was seriously damaged in the 2003 earthquake and is under the process of reconstruction. (High resolution satellite images before and after the earthquake ) Spent about an hour walking about the site. Once again, like so many sights in Iran, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

2:37 pm. We have left Bam and are en route to our final Iranian city, Zahedan, in southeastern Iran, located near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sat in the back of the truck - it's just too hot to do anything other than sit and feel hot. 44 degrees C in the shade (according to my digital thermometer on my alarm clock). Driving through seemingly endless desert terrain. Really nothing much here at all other than the road, desert and the sky and the heat. We have a police (or army) escort.

4:56 pm. Two shots fired - from our escorting patrol's 4x4 pickup. We were directed by the patrol to pull over to the left - something to do with a third vehicle the patrol had pulled over on the right hand side - this vehicle then sped off whilst being shot at. Apparently the fugitive vehicle was something to do with Afghan drug smugglers - they did not have the correct documentation or something when questioned by our escorting patrol.

Incredibly hot - now the thermometer reads 49 degrees C - that's about 120 degrees F, out of direct sun in the back of the truck. And then you get the odd even hotter blast of air in from outside. No habitation or anything on this desert road - except once when we stopped at some sort of army base, and got some ice cold water. Very welcome: we have nothing cold on the truck.

Day 38 Shiraz

8:55 am. Went with Simon to drop the truck off at the welders - they are going to weld the new seats in place. Waiting for Nescafe - without sugar (this seemingly simple request is generally ignored) - in street cafe in downtown Shiraz. (Nescafe instant coffee (which I normally regard as disgusting) is seen by the Iranians as the height of luxury - I guess because it's Western.) We have been told to be back at the hostel for some sort of conflab with Hot Rock leadership. 10:20 am - we had the meeting - trouble getting Indian visas for T and others - fortunately I ignored Hot Rock's advice and got mine back in London before setting off on the trip. (We were told there was no need to get Indian visas - we could pick them up en route. But in my experience from other fields it's best to do whatever you can as soon as you can - things always go wrong - some sort of entropy thing.) The main problem is that T doesn't even have her passport - it's with Henry up in Tehran - he's meant to be getting the visa sorted out up there. Presumably T cannot leave Iran until she's got her passport back! We also discussed the transit through Pakistan to Islamabad, from the Iranian border. Have lost my mobile - simply cannot find the thing - had it this morning - suspect stolen. 4:15 pm just had lunch - chicken kebab and rice. Have bought another mobile, about $35, plus SIM card and top-up etc. A basic model (complete with Farsi lettering) - but seems to work. Really annoying - buying mobile phones is one of the most tedius things one can get involved in - in any country, let alone Iran!

7:20 pm. Sat on the truck - for a prompt 6 pm departure(!) Have Silk Road map and Dostoyevsky to read - we are planning to drive through the night to Bam - and I probably won't get much sleep in the back of the truck.

11:59 pm - we have just bought 400 litres of diesel - for a grand total of $7 - that's about 1 pence per litre. Not sure how the Iranian economy functions.

Day 37 Persepolis and Shiraz

8:10 am. Hostel in Shiraz. Proper bed, but pillow lacks any softness - like a bag of cement. Need coffee. Will spend today doing internet, post office etc and try and find a phone. Did some washing (clothes) last night in my bucket. Good thing is that the washing dries really quickly here.

Yesterday afternnon we visited Persepolis, about 70 km from Shiraz. In my ignorence I hadn't realised that Persepolis is uninhabited and is essentially ruins - I assumed that there was a modern Persepolis also; although I did know that it was the capital of the Persian Empire. [Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest remains of Persepolis date from about 515 BCE]. Smaller than I imagined, given its historical importance. One thing which caught my attention was the graffiti from western visitors, carved into various parts of the monuments, some of it clearly dating from before the first scientific excavations at Persepolis in the early 1930s. I assume that the name Stanley pictured here is that of the American journalist and adventurer, (Henry Morgan Stanley) who took New York Herald's mission 'to go and find Livingstone', which he duly did on November 10th, 1871 at Lake Tanganyika - so the inscription here predates his discovery of Dr Livingstone by a year.

12:30 pm. (8th July) visiting Karim Khan's Citadel (also know as Arg of Karim Khan) in the north east part of Shiraz. Dates from 1766. Basically a fort-like structure enclosing beautiful walled gardens, citrus fruits, water in rectangular pools. Like many of the Iranian sites of interest, inexpensive (2000 rial, or about 11 pence) entrance fee. Once again spent some time talking with a group of Iranian students (aeronautical engineers), they are generally interested in what we think of their country, and how Iran is perceived by the west. Often they are keen to say that they are not the same as the government. There was a small, but interesting exhibition of old pictures of Shiraz, including this strong-armed man and his friends.

5:30 pm and sat on carpets in the Nasir-al-Molk mosque. Relatively cool inside the mosque. Peaceful too. Beautiful coloured glass windows; vaulted ceiling supported by ten pillars - tiled; lots of Persian carpets; quiet. Tiling turquoise, dark blues, creams, Naple's yellow. Have the place virtually to myself: a space for contemplation at the very least and time for a quick sketch in my diary.