Bike Tour 4,000 KMS - Karachi - Naran - Astor (Gilgit Balistan) and Back to Karachi

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Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-01 16:55:59 +0500 #21

Following are pics of my stop at Maj Hasan's office after I showered at home and changed into clean clothes. They even washed my bike, did a fresh oil change with the oil I had brought along and was due now that I had traveled well over 1,200 kms. I usually do an oil change every 1,000 kms but this time around settled for an oil change after 1,200 kms.

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-01 17:12:45 +0500 #22

The few days I stayed in DI Khan.

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-01 17:37:41 +0500 #23

I packed my Luggage and tied up all my stuff on the bike the night before so that in the morning all I needed to do is shower, have breakfast, pray Fajar and then hit the road by 6 am.

That's Maj Hasan in the morning seeing me off. His driver and Guard escorted me out of city limits in the 4 by 4.

Syedamjad87 (Syedamjad87) 2013-12-01 18:22:08 +0500 #24

Sir Zabrdast mera bhi shoq he bike per pure pakistan ghumne ka.,....

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-02 01:52:59 +0500 #25

Dear Syed Hamza, thank you for your comments. Unfortunately, I live in dha and work in Clifton and have only ventured to North Nazimabad a total of 4 times. Three times I visited there to attend weddings late at night near Nagan Chowrangi I think it was, at wedding halls. The fourth time was to visit someone at home, not sure where that was because I went with someone and they drove. So I never visited any other locations such as malls or the market you are referring to. And its not likely that we have ever met.

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-02 01:56:09 +0500 #26

I just realized that the Dam I was referring to where I was stopped was not the one on my way to DI Khan, but rather on the next leg of my journey which I started again three days later on Sat Aug 24th when I drove from DI Khan to Islamabad. I think it was somewhere after I passed Chashma which is called Chashma Barrage. That is where I was faced with some armed officers and I had to delete my pics of that bridge.

lazyboy (lazyboy) 2013-12-02 02:08:35 +0500 #27

Great Narrated trip and great photography. Amazing and looking forward to your journey up north.

farooq05 (farooq05) 2013-12-02 02:44:32 +0500 #28

lucky, you got a army protocol excellent coverage sofar.. thx.

Baleno1300 (Rashid K) 2013-12-02 04:22:20 +0500 #29

The best Trip narration on PW.
I had been planning for such a bike trip with a friend for ages, but never found the courage for such a long bike trip.

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2013-12-02 09:25:24 +0500 #30

Checking out every hour to see if there is any new update.. lol.. addicted to this thread.

jamshed8401 (jamshed8401) 2013-12-02 10:08:40 +0500 #31

me too

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-02 10:58:00 +0500 #32

Hahaha, I had no idea this thread would provoke such an interest but please have patience, I plan to share a lot more as it was a very exciting and adventurous trip for me so much so that I took a second trip just last month from Karachi again towards Kashmir. But that will have to wait till I finish this thread.

However, due to lengthy work schedules I find it difficult to keep the post going all day. In Sha Allah I will post more pics and more details of the journey ahead in the next few hours as I find the time.

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2013-12-02 11:09:41 +0500 #33

Sure.. no need to rush but do update once in a while. I'm also looking forward to the Kaghan Valley & Gilgit-Baltistan part

And wow, you took another trip to Kashmir.. Hum sochtay hee reh jatay hain.. hats off to u

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-02 15:53:04 +0500 #34

On my way to Islamabad I went past Chashma, Kundian, Mianwali, and Musa Khel, after which I went through some mountains which were totally blocked by trucks on both sides. The bikes were able to squeeze through but only up to a certain limit after which we were all stopped.

After getting over the mountains I then went through Mianwali, Talagang, Chakwal, Mandra where I came onto GT Road (N5), and then on to Islamabad.

Following are some pics I took along my way to Chashma with a tiny creek running along the side of the road for quite a while. It was an 80 km drive from DI Khan to Chashma but 50 km of the 80 km stretch of the road was under construction with many rough and unpaved sections of the road. That kind of slowed me down a bit but there was hardly any traffic at around 6:30 to 8:00 am when I was passing through this part of the journey.

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-02 16:19:00 +0500 #35

The road ended just as I reached Chashma which was on my left while I had to turn right at the end of that road and to my surprise I came across fields and fields of Dates which lay on mats in the open air to dry.

I took some pics of the site which was the first I had ever seen.

Silver_Knife (Silver_Knife) 2013-12-02 16:43:07 +0500 #36

Nice !!! Iam also planning a trip from Islamabad to Karachi and from Karachi to Quetta

Iam little much constrained on my budget, but most unexpectedly if i do this tour it will be in jan

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-02 17:12:09 +0500 #37

Passing Chashma I was on my way to Mianwali and had pretty much part of my trip there on partially paved road which was under construction.

This where I passed a large Dam, the one I was stopped at much later after I passed the bridge on the other side of which I have no pictures since I had to delete them.

But first you will see the pics of the police officers who told me it was ok to take pics even though the sign said "No Photography".

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-03 02:37:10 +0500 #38

I went through Mianwali, actually bypassed it as the main highway was in a different direction and head towards the mountains adjacent to Namal Lake, even saw Namal University on the other side of the mountains in a distance during my descent from the mountains.

During the ascent on the mountains, it was my first experience being on a bike going up winding roads on a mountain which was an exhilarating experience for me to say the least. I enjoyed it so much and just kept pushing the bike as well as my limits and soon came to a traffic jam going up the mountain. Mostly it was trucks that were stopped and in between there were many cars and vans, but since I was on a motorbike I was able to navigate in between the trucks and on the side of the cliff. But eventually I ran out of space. There was no way out as the drivers had shut off their trucks and many were simply standing outside their trucks chatting with other drivers. So I asked what had happened, they said its just a traffic jam and all the traffic is stuck on both sides of the mountain due to a possible truck engine problem or something which has just stopped all traffic.

Sulaiman75 (Sulaiman75) 2013-12-03 02:47:40 +0500 #39

While we were stuck in the mountain I noticed a black truck turning around. The owner was outside the truck instructing the driver on how to reverse so as not to hit anyone else in such tight traffic jam. So I walked up to the man and asked why he was turning around, he responded that there is no way out ahead and needs to turn around. So I asked what was the best option as I was heading to Islamabad, he said to just follow him.

He turned around and there was a small cut into the road leading to a dirt road inside the mountain which he took and I followed. To my surprise there was a tiny cut between mountains where there was work going on and there was no one there but it was a route through the mountains. Naturally, as we drove through that route others also began to follow. You can see some of the pics of that dirt road in the mountain we took. On the other side we were met by more traffic stuck which was heading up the mountain. It didn't take us very long to head down the mountain and that's where I saw Namal University in a distance. The road ahead was without much traffic and a great ride.

asifcae (asifcae) 2013-12-03 03:13:07 +0500 #40

lovely shots.............