OzBus 14

Yet another long drive for today, so much so that there is almost nothing worth mentioning.  The group has found their own unique ways of dealing with such prolonged stretches on the coach.  As we slowly make our way towards the holy city of Varanasi, we all look forward to what it has to offer.  Some of us know what the city is like, some do not.  Regardless of the opinions some have, we do not have the chance to put them to rest as we arrive in the dead of night.

Due to our late arrival, a few of us head to the restaurant in the hotel next door for dinner.  The theme so far with food has been the same; curry and rice.  Not a late night for us all as tomorrow yet another sunrise.  This time, it’ll be at the holy river, Ganges.

In store for us today was a very long drive.  Something you’d think we’d be used to by now, but you can never really settle into such a routine.  The next stop was Lucknow, a place that wasn’t really highlighted for us by our leader as a place to be doing very much.  As with many other journeys so far, the day is mostly taken up by the events happening on the road.  The roads seem to get crazier the deeper we get into India.  Our drive today was so long that we needed to save time over lunch in order to get back on the road.  At lunch, we find a small children’s playground that gives us a hint of relief from the confides of the coach.

We pull into the hotel at Lucknow very late.  Andrea and I decide to head out for dinner with a couple of people from the group, just to see what the city has to offer.  Tuk-tuk drivers a plenty, many of whom cannot speak English, we find one to take us to the restaurant recommended by the hotel.  All the night was a bit of an unorganised mess, with the tuk-tuk driver not helping proceedings due to his lack of knowledge and constant pushing of us going into the shops giving him commission for taking people to their place.  Regardless, the food was nice, the place was what we’ve come to expect from India and the bed was comfortable enough.  Bring on tomorrow!

5:45am is our suggested time to catch the sunrise at Taj.  Our guide, Anil, says that this is plenty of time to organise the tickets and get to the site before the sun comes up.  Can you ... [Continue reading this entry]

Leaving Delhi - more so the hotel than the city - wasn't popular for the group, but is expected as part of the tour.  As we get into Agra, the first thing that strikes you is the ... [Continue reading this entry]

A free day for us all in the city, so Andrea and I decide to go sight seeing.  After finishing breakfast we hop into a tuk-tuk with a vague idea of where we're going.  The weather was ... [Continue reading this entry]

The drive to the capital was estimated at 12 hours.  So far, our bus was bumpy to say the least and the most uncomfortable by far.  With no planned stops (other than the usual pit and toilet ... [Continue reading this entry]

Border crossing today leaving Pakistan.  As Amjad taught us when first entering Pakistan, the song 'Jeeway, Jeeway Pakistan' meant 'Long life', a song that we all had no issues singing when leaving the country.  We drive to ... [Continue reading this entry]

A rest day for us all as we are free till 4pm when Amjad has organised that we all go shopping.  Due to security issues, simply walking out of the hotel was an almost impossible feat.  A ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tourism day.  1st port of call: Lahore Fort and Mosque.  Peter, our guide for the sites, was a friendly character crammed with facts.  He was interesting, but the land stole the show. Both the Fort and ... [Continue reading this entry]

The capital is our last stop and will be the place where we spend longest; a total of 3 nights. Moving from Multan to Lahore also meant that we progress from the Sindh province to the Punjab province ... [Continue reading this entry]

A long drive but not such an early start as there aren't any cities or towns to go through.

It does also mean that there aren't many interesting places to stop at.  Most of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

A long drive is in store for us today, making for an early start. There is a chance for us to see one of the royal excavations and another mosque before getting into Sukkur. On the way ... [Continue reading this entry]

We head out of Karachi with high hopes for what's to come. Today is the first time we meet our ever changing police escorts, something that we become accustom to (eventually). Unfortunately one of the group had ... [Continue reading this entry]

5am start, straight to the airport. Long check in process before our flight, the usual immigration procedure and a 3 hour flight all to be able to say "welcome to Pakistan". The airport in Pakistan is nothing ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mustafa lives in Esfahan, so for the final city hop we have a new driver and coach (though the same as previous). Tehran is our destination as our flight to Pakistan leaves from the capital city. Much ... [Continue reading this entry]