3rd October 2013 Collecting travel documents, Quetta
Pakistan
Once you have arrived in Quetta you become a cog inside a
machine. A day after arrival you must visit the Government of Baluchistan
offices and request an NOC (no objection certificate). This is a lengthy, whole
day process. We travelled to the government office in an AutoRickshaw guarded
by cops on a bike. At one point a donkey cart appeared to race us….. At the
first office we visited, a very irate Italian guy in a wheelchair turned up. He
had apparently had some very poor experiences with local police. His name was
Fabio, he travelled the world in a converted car…. He was returning from a trip
where he had covered 30,000 km, travelling through all the countries I had
travelled through plus Uzbekistan, Tajikistan…..
Fabio had recently upgraded to a Renault Duster, having
covered 700,000 km around the globe in a Fiat Panda.
Most of the staff in the Home Affairs department are kind
and helpful, tea is offered on a number of occaisions. I took my laptop with me
and wrote up a little of my blog to make use of waiting hours.
NOC in hand we headed back to the BloomStar. The staff
informed us that a Petrol strike had begun. We had seen something that
confirmed this! My bike had run so low the previous night that I had been
worried that I might run out en route to the hotel. The dramatic performance
from one of the staff was spellbinding “Oh sir, big problem, big, big problem.
No petrol available….” He then listed all the local petrol stations stroking
his chin in supposed deep contemplation…. “I have a friend who may be able to
help… very expensive” We finally settled on 240PR a litre, having paid 113PR on
our journey to Quetta. We purchased 20 litres… it arrived apparently by
rickshaw, for which we paid 200PR…..
The following morning we were ready to depart at 7.00am, the
time dictated by the NOC. The police arrived and we set out, 500 metres later
we passed a petrol station……. Yes you guessed it, doing what petrol stations
do….
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