I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS IN IRAN | S05 EP.03 | PAKISTAN TO SAUDI ARABIA MOTORCYCLE
What is this? Delicious. Better not get me killed ... Assalam Alekum and Good Morning Everyone from Iranshahr. Got here a couple of days back. Took a break for one full day after riding the motorcycle for too long.
Even my back was asking for some rest. But I used this time to edit a video for you guys. And that was the previous video. Hope you must have liked that one. Today I'm planning to go to Chabahar. Chabahar is a coastal city in Sistan and Baluchistan Province.
The best thing about it is that it's a free trade zone and at the center of a lot of trading activity in the region. It's quite a developed place with a lot of tourism. It is situated at the same coastline as Gawadar. It's landscape is really similar to that of Gawadar and equally beautiful.
I'd love to share the landscape with you all. If we ride on the highway, it's gonna be around 315 km. But I'm considering to use both the highway and some local routes through villages. I'll try to get there by evening in 7 to 8 hours. The route is going to be really scenic.
Right now I'm sitting here for my breakfast. We have eggs and local bread. The bread is what you get in every meal here. There's some cream, honey and butter to go with it.
That's gonna be our breakfast for the day. An average meal in Iran is good but I'm not a fan of their breakfast. I like the Turkish breakfast much more. So, let's finish the breakfast and get going. Bismillah hir Rahman Nir Rahim ... In the name of Allah the most merciful the most beneficent.
* Prayer for the Journey * O Allah, I pray for a safe and fun filled day. We are leaving Iranshahr now and it's almost 10 in the morning. Since I haven't planned a long route today, I wasn't too eager to leave early. Even if you wake up at 7 am, you will still need another couple of hours before you can leave. Packing and unpacking of the luggage is also a very time consuming task. You can keep checking out the city as we ride.
You can notice that all the cars here are quite similar to each other. You rarely see a different car. I just noticed one Hyundai. Most of the cars are old Peugeot. Peugeot is a French company. Until America put Iran under sanctions, French cars were still being imported. However, they stopped selling cars to Iran under American pressure.
So you won't see many other cars. Even the ones on the road are quite older models. OI had to turn this way. I'm glad that I saw the navigation. Most of the population in this region is Baloch.
Perhaps that's why we can see many people here in Shalwar Qameez. (Traditional Pakistani dress). We are finally at a petrol station. Let's get the tank filled from here. Seems crowded. I don't have the fuel card though. Let's see what's in store for us.
So .... let's go ask them and see what they say. I also had similar problems in this region of Iran before.
There's no such problem in the rest of this country. Salam .... Petrol? Full .. !! Looks like we are gonna get some petrol.
Where are you going? Shiraz. Chabahar. I think 'kuja' means where you are going. The tank is full now.
Thanks. How many? 2 I have only kept a few notes in here. Better put them in my pocket. Don't wanna open my bag every time I need to pay for something.
I just open the bag and present it in front of the next person and ask them to take as many as they want. The best thing about Iran is its fuel. It's really cheap here. As you saw, I just gave them a couple of notes. It's hardly a 100 rupees and they have given me 5 liters of petrol. The rest I leave up to you guys to calculate.
We don't even get 1 liter with this money in Pakistan. So I figured out that it depends on the mood of the fuel guy. Someone would simply refuse to give petrol without a card if they are not in the right mood. And then you have to beg them literally. Or maybe some kind hearted person can let you use their own card.
I have been noticing date trees and crops in this side of Balochistan. On the contrary, on our side of Balochistan, that's a very rare sight. Or at least, I didn't see much greenery by the road side. But this side is definitely much greener. I'm going to pass through a village called Nishahr and that is also famous for its date trees. Lets see how accurate my internet research was.
At times, you go to a place only to find it way too different from what you were told on the internet. Not too many international tourists come to this area. Because by the time they are in this region, they have already seen most of the views. They go directly from Zahedan to Taftan, without going southwards. One reason for that ... the border that touches Gwadar on Pakistan side ..
I think that's the Pahseen area .. Or maybe the one even further southwards in Jiwani, as there are two of them You can't enter these borders on your car or motorcycle. Wow .. that guy in the white car looked like he was in some hurry. So, most people use the Taftan border instead of Chabahar. If only the Pakistani government can somehow convince the Iranian government to open the other border as well, it will boost tourism in Pakistan.
The main reason is simply the beauty of that region. And you can simply get to Karachi from Gwadar in one day. Or if you want to spend some time, there are awesome places like Ormara, Kund Malir and Makran Highway.
You can enjoy all these lovely places and spend as many days as you like. There's no security related concern there either. The road is great and the area is awesome. There are some very nice hotels available in the area. But the route from Taftan side is rather long .... quite long.
Takes 3 - 4 days to get to Lahore. Or if you consider Karachi, it's still almost 3 days. And without even taking any bigger breaks.
As I mentioned earlier, just see the agriculture of this region. Our ride on the Iranian highway is gonna start now. Chabahar 295 km .... Nikshahr 145 km.
It's so windy here that it's making my head dizzy. It gets really difficult to stay on the motorcycle for more than an hour. I've got here after riding for almost 1.5 hours. I hope somebody is sitting here.
Tea? No .. Okay. Thanks. OI didn't see the dog before.
Let's keep going. These guys came to see me. Motorcycle? He's ready to exchange his motorcycle with mine.
They wanna hear the motorcycle's sound. Well ... I guess it's your turn now. What can one say to a fellow like this ...
You can run alongside, all you want. Look how beautiful this area is. Especially the last 15 minutes of my ride.
Check this out. Currently there's no water in these streams. But apparently, there's water here.
I wonder if there's a path down to the streams. I'd love to go down there if there's a path. I have seen some cars down there. But I'm not sure how they got down there. In fact the path is from over there. We can also go for a small picnic.
There are people down there. A short break won't hurt. A bit of off road riding for us. It's a wonderful place. Just a short off road section has made me realize that my motorcycle is overloaded. All my luggage including my laptop and camera ..
At first, you don't realize how heavy the motorcycle is. But it's not too long before you realize the situation. A peaceful and serene place ...! I've been here for almost half an hour. There are two relatively smaller water streams.
That's what making it a bit cold. The good thing is that I have offered my prayers here and now we are gonna leave for Nikshahr. We are gonna take a longer break there.
And from there we set off for Chabahar. The locals came here to me for chit chat. But unfortunately, I neither speak Persian nor Balochi. In the total lack of a verbal conversation, we just see each others' faces and smiles.
There are quite a few locals here. An important thing to mention here .. If you are enjoying this vlog so far ... pause the video, and hit the LIKE and SUBSCRIBE button. And do follow me on Instagram. And that reminds me I need to take some pictures for Instagram as well. Let me click a few shots before we resume.
What's this? Delicious. Please don't get me killed. Thanks The kid brought this for me.
Just a leaf though. But it has a salty taste. Delicious indeed. He brought it from that direction. Bismillah ... People here are generally nice.
And I already like Iranian people. There are few black sheep everywhere. Nevertheless, people are nice overall. Did I come from this side? Apparently yes. Because there's more water now.
It's amazing how fast people drive here. Although the cars are old, but they run for sure. I did check my luggage and closed it properly. This short video and pictures that I took here, cost me an hour.
A solo rider has to take care of everything even the location. And then you have to set your tripod at the right spot. Another thing that I noticed here is that ...
when you get close to a city in this area ... you have to go through check posts like this one. There's no one here at the moment, but apparently they can do it when needed. We have already passed through Khash and Iranshahr. And this is the third one ... And I noticed this same thing in all three of them.
I found the same thing in Turkey as well but only in the Kurdish region. Not in other regions. I can smell food.
I am near food ... Either I have already passed it. O it was on the other side ... See how sharp my nose is. My nose informed me that food is being prepared somewhere near.
Kebabs ... Let's stop here. Okay we are stopping here. I don't speak Persian. Let me grab my mobile phone. The hotel guy back there warned me not to leave my phone unattended. I'm taking help from Google Translate.
Lunch .... Ghiza ... Lunch? My Google Translate is not ... Food ... ?? Ghiza ?? Kebab? Yeah.
How many? Two I think I better download the translator. What's this thing here ..? Something is leaking here. It has changed the color. Brighto Paints ...
Brighto Paints are my sponsors for this tour. So if you are building or renovating your house, please use the paints by Brighto Paints. I would recommend it to all those who watch my vlogs. Let's go inside and sit there. The place is full.
Our kebab is finally here. And there's roti with it. And here's some salad. I guess I've been eating this same thing for 3 days now.
Either with rice or roti. But they are undoubtedly delicious. I removed my luggage because a few people just came to me to warn me. They told me that I better take care of my luggage as well as motorcycle in this area. I told them I plan to travel on local roads but they forbade me saying that it's not a safe route.
Let me get things in place before I leave. I'm from Pakistan. [speaks Urdu] So you are traveling around.
Yes. I'm going to Tehran. Thanks very much. Do you have a visa? Yes. You know how can I cross mountains to get here without one.
Solo? Yes. Thanks. Some photo shoot guys. That Urdu speaking guy was saying what he was saying because ... the people who plan to travel to Europe illegally, they enter Iran somewhere through these mountains. Perhaps that's why those other guys were also telling me to get through this area as quickly as I can.
So we are leaving now ... I actually wanted to travel on local roads here. But I guess we are gonna stick to the highway to Chabahar. I think we have now entered the free trade zone in Chabahar. Welcome We finally find ourselves around these city lights. That was a child amusement park there.
The entrance of the city was pretty amazing with clean roads. Doesn't seem like I'm in Iran. Well, Iran is quite developed to be honest. I'm just trying to compare this part with Europe.
This place is giving me the feeling of driving in Europe. The only thing that gives it away are the old cars. But that is due to the sanctions. However, the overall quality of cleanliness and roads is amazing.
My first impression is that of a rather developed city. It has no comparison with Gwadar. Gwadar is quite a small city with few roads. This, on the other hand, is quite a big city.
Some fruit vendors ... Well .. man ... you don't have to cut me on the road. I've now been riding for more than 15 minutes in the city. And I can't seem to see any end to this.
My hotel must be somewhere here. In this vicinity ... There it is ... L ... A ... Laleh ...
The location is fairly decent. Wait over here for me Rangeeli ... while I go and talk to the hotel guys. Salam ... Do you have a room?
Room for one person? No. Full? Okay. Thank you. So this place is full. I'll have to look for some other option now.
There must be some more in the nearby area. Here's one. I'm not sure if they will have rooms or not. You can go and check. Okay ... I'll go then. Thanks. This guy has recommended a place. Let's go and check it out.
Looks great but lets see if we can get in. This looked like a great place too. This one has a great location. It's a first that I came to a hotel, only to find out that they are full. There's a huge sign board saying ... 'Chabahar Free Trade Zone'.
Free Zone Pray I do get a place there because I'm exhausted after all this traveling. Don't feel like spending another hour looking for a place. The main problem here is that you can't book a room through internet. Websites like booking.com don't work here.
Otherwise, one could simply book a place online before even going there. This one looks great as well. Has he sent me to a 5-star hotel? I don't know if I can bring my motorcycle this close. Lets just keep going until someone forbids me. Salam O man ... It is indeed a 5-star hotel. Gonna be expensive.
Let's go and ask them. Reception ... Salam ... Do you have a room? Yeah? Room for one person? No. No ?? Full? Okay ... Is there any other hotel nearby?
Off to hotel number 3 now. There's a hotel not too far from here. Firdaus Hotel. OI can finally see it over there. That looks like a luxurious hotel as well. Beautiful Salam ... Do you have room available? No room? For how many persons? One person.
Finally I've got myself a room where I'm gonna stay for the night. The first thing that you must have noticed are the 3 bed in it. They didn't have a single bed room. So I was like ... just give me any room because I was exhausted. Here's a small fridge in this corner. I've placed all my luggage here for now.
And that's the washroom which is quite clean. I just took a shower. As I soon as I turned the shower on, it fell down over my head. I had to pay PKR 12000 / -... Which roughly means 55 to 60 dollars.
Lets go down for the dinner ... And then I'll show you around. I think I'm quite close to the city center.
So it's a very lively area. Back in the room, guys ... I'm just too tired to stand now. But I'm glad that I had a great day.
The ride was just too good. It just got a little too longy for some unknown reason. I hope you must have enjoyed this vlog. And if you did, please don't hesitate to hit the LIKE button. It is important because it will make YouTube promote my content more.
And pressing the 'LIKE' button is free of cost. I'm certain of that. Let's end this vlog at this point.
See you all in the next one. Allah Hafiz
2022-03-05 17:57
