I recently bunged some Iran pics on the Middle-East thread because it is pertinent and relevant. However, my Pakistan lorry pics fall into another category.
Lots of Middle-East drivers did Pakistan, especially in the old days - '70s. However, they all tended to go to the southern half of the country, to places like Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The notorious and epic Karakoram Highway had yet to be built. I think it was completed in about '96 because I was driving a Westermann drawbar at the time and I got quite excited about it - excited enough to travel the length of the Pakistan section from Islamabad to the Khunjerab Pass on the Chinese border in 2009. I didn’t drive there in a lorry, I hasten to add, though I did take some happy snaps to share with you. The route goes through Abbotobad (where Bin Liner was holed up), Besham in the Swat Valley which had just fallen to the Taliban when I was there so we had to go on tip-toe. Then right up to where the Karakoram, the Himalyas and the Hindu Kush mountain ranges meet at Bunjil. We climbed up through Gilgit and Karimabad where the peaks are over 7000 metres.
As you might see from some of these pictures, the road was amazing. I’ve never heard of any European lorries going up the Karakoram Highway, but thousands of Chinese container trucks go through the pass in the warmer months, right down to the container terminal in Karachi on the Indian Ocean - epic stuff. Enjoy. Robert
Great photos there Robert I would assume that the Bedfords have been re engined. When were you there? as you mentioned cross border traffic with China, when I was doing China through Kaz the Chinese authorities weren’t allowing either the Chinese out or any other nation in. I wonder what kind of reason they have for letting their trucks gong into Pakistan. Are the Pakistan trucks allowed into China?
In the 70’s there was a Pakistani national that used to drive a British reg F88 to and from Lahore. There’s a few photos floating about on here somewhere.
Jelliot:
Great photos there Robert I would assume that the Bedfords have been re engined. When were you there? as you mentioned cross border traffic with China, when I was doing China through Kaz the Chinese authorities weren’t allowing either the Chinese out or any other nation in. I wonder what kind of reason they have for letting their trucks gong into Pakistan. Are the Pakistan trucks allowed into China?
In the 70’s there was a Pakistani national that used to drive a British reg F88 to and from Lahore. There’s a few photos floating about on here somewhere.
Jeff…
I went in 2009. The deal was that very efficient Chinese work-gangs would maintain the road and keep it open. The Karakoram Highway finishes in Kashgar (China). We were hugged by the friendly Chinese border guards at the Khunjerab Pass.
The Bedfords are built there by Hindustani. There are lots of pics of trucks going to Pakistan on the M/E thread, but I’ve made this separate because the north was not accessible in those days. Robert
Did you get into China then ■■?
The transfer station at Corgos was actually on the China side of the border but only by a 100mtrs or so. My mate once parked down the far end of the customs pound and bragged for months that he had been farther into China than anyone else. We were allowed to walk through to the village if we were accompanied by guards but there wasn’t much there, pretty much just a a billet for the border patrol. No cameras allowed, no cultural exchange, nothing to buy, wasn’t worth going back.
Jelliot:
Did you get into China then ■■?
The transfer station at Corgos was actually on the China side of the border but only by a 100mtrs or so. My mate once parked down the far end of the customs pound and bragged for months that he had been farther into China than anyone else. We were allowed to walk through to the village if we were accompanied by guards but there wasn’t much there, pretty much just a a billet for the border patrol. No cameras allowed, no cultural exchange, nothing to buy, wasn’t worth going back.
Jeff…
No I didn’t cross the border. I then went east to Skardu, Kapalu and the Kashmiri border (dodgy). Scenery throughout northern Pakistan totally breathtaking. Brilliant place. Robert
Did you get across to the Bolan pass? I wonder if they still have that bridge that was to tight to get across so you had to ford the river under it. Caught many people, and if it was getting close to the wet season they just used to leave it there and go back a few months later if it was still there. Kenny Rene that drove the Cargo International 110 super form the Scotish Borders was stuck there for 4 days and paid a bunch of locals 3 quid to get him out, that was back in 1978.
Jelliot:
Did you get across to the Bolan pass? I wonder if they still have that bridge that was to tight to get across so you had to ford the river under it. Caught many people, and if it was getting close to the wet season they just used to leave it there and go back a few months later if it was still there. Kenny Rene that drove the Cargo International 110 super form the Scotish Borders was stuck there for 4 days and paid a bunch of locals 3 quid to get him out, that was back in 1978.
Jeff…
I think the Bolan is way further south, like the Khyber Pass. Drivers used to access Peshawar and the Grand Trunk Road from Afghanistan in that neck of the woods. But in those days the areas now accessed by the KKH were completely isolated and explorers and travel-writers were still going to the Hunza Valley on foot and pony. Robert
The biggest hazard on the KKH was landslides. I found Pakistani driving to be way more careful and courteous than elsewhere in the Middle-East. But the landslides were unrelenting. I met several on my trip and two occasions had to abandon transport to climb over the debris and engage someone else on the other side to take us onward. In winter it is called the hell road, of course. Robert
Have you looked at getting into China to do a tour, I believe the Chinese government has set up a hire drive 4x4 adventure company operating under the name of Nova tours. I was speaking to a guy that lives local to me a few months back and he said he was going on one up round the Mongolian border. I haven’t seen him for a while so I don’t know if he’s been yet. The prices must have been favorable because I know he’s a tight ■■■.
Jelliot:
Have you looked at getting into China to do a tour, I believe the Chinese government has set up a hire drive 4x4 adventure company operating under the name of Nova tours. I was speaking to a guy that lives local to me a few months back and he said he was going on one up round the Mongolian border. I haven’t seen him for a while so I don’t know if he’s been yet. The prices must have been favorable because I know he’s a tight ■■■.
Jeff…
Yes, you can do the KKH starting at Kashgar in China. Wild Frontiers are very good on this sort of stuff. Robert
Robert
Your pics are great but im confused they look like holiday snaps ,what were you doing there in the first place you seem to have traveled a fair distance since you appeared on trucknet,but where is a pic of the trucks you drove ,your vast selection could have been taken by any tourist,im sorry but ive never heard of you ,and I know of most,but i suppose we dont know everyone ,a bit more about yourself would be nice.
Roger
Loose-wire:
Robert
Your pics are great but im confused they look like holiday snaps ,what were you doing there in the first place you seem to have traveled a fair distance since you appeared on trucknet,but where is a pic of the trucks you drove ,your vast selection could have been taken by any tourist,im sorry but ive never heard of you ,and I know of most,but i suppose we dont know everyone ,a bit more about yourself would be nice.
Roger
There should be no confusion. I have posted hundreds of pictures of trucks I was driving, in situation, on many threads here including Astran / Middle-East drivers thread, the North Africa work thread, Kent transport thread, Over the Water in the '90s thread and many more. Like many older drivers I am also well-travelled elsewhere and take a camera with me. I have also worked abroad as a teacher. I always preface my posts or series of posts with a sentence making it clear whether or not I was taking these shots as a driver or an observer at the time. This thread is no exception: so yes these are holiday snaps. The only single trip recounted on these threads (and nearly 600 posts) which blurs the boundaries is my account on the Over the Water in the 90s and Beyond thread, of a trip to Azerbaijan in which I travelled as a spare driver and free-lance journalist writing one of my LDDs for TRUCK magazine (all my other LDDs were straight forward accounts of my own trips a la Lawrence Kiely). I would be unhappy to find that bloggers were not aware of this distinction because that would detract from all my North Africa and Middle-East experience as a full-time driver. The other thing to remember is that all drivers take ‘holiday snaps’ when they are off-duty. I posted quite a few on other threads that definitely look like holiday snaps but in fact all I’ve done is to lock the cab door, go for a beer and snap a few local trucks on the way back! So there you have it. Robert (Hackford)
harry:
Was that Iveco an auto-box,Robert?
Great snaps BTW.
No Harry! It had a very well-installed Eaton Twin-splitter: brilliant!
By the way, and Roger may like to know this, my postings about this truck on the Middle-East run start at page 208 of the Astran / M.E. drivers thread. Robert
