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Thursday 26th Sept
Up at 6.30 quick breakfast and away to Mashhad. Our first job
was to find a Garage & fill right up with Petrol then we went off.
There was very little traffic along this road & it was ashphalt, we
averaged 50 miles in the hour which was quite good, a few
Villiages which restrict your speed but once you are clear of the
Valliage you regain speed, by 10.30 we had covered over
100 miles. We had to go through three Mountain Passes
along this road, the first was just a minor one which proved to be
no obstacle, the second was also of no real effort but the
third & final one was for a considerable distance & it took us up
to a good height the road was good & it was 2nd gear work
until we reached the summit & we descended in 2nd gear because
of the steep incline. It took quite a considerable time to clear
the Mountain but at the top you had an excellent view of the
whole Range, once we cleared this Range of Mountains the road
became straight then we headed for Chenaran & the last 90 miles
of the journey to Mashhad we kept up a speed of 50/55 MPH.
We pulled in for Petrol & a Boy offered to direct us to the Camp Site
& as he said that he lived in Mashhad, we let him do so.
This Boy spoke English well & told us that he wanted to come to
England, he offered to show us around Mashhad the next day
& we accepted. Our milage for the day from Gorgon to Mashhad
was 369 miles & the Milage on the Clock is now 7529.
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Friday 27th Sept
We decided to stay at this Camp Site of Mashhad for a few
days as we had told Ray & Nicky, Mike & Jeremy we would
see them here. Our intention was to get our Visas for
Afghanistan in Mashhad because although we had written to
the London Embassy of Afghanistan they had not replied.
We had the fortune to meet people who were returning to Denmark
& so bought some Afghan money from them, we walked through
the streets but the dirt & filth is deplorable. There are
literally hundreds of children, some say Hello! others just
throw stones at you, the refuge [refuse] that lay in the streets is
piled up in places, the gutters of the road ways are 2ft deep
so one has to be careful when stepping on to the Pavement. I
say Pavement but there are no such things in Mashhad, it is
a Pathway which is used by Cyclists & Moter Cyclists, also
the shop keepers display their goods on it, some men are
even working on it. We had two Coaches pull into the
Site & the holiday makers from Norway literaly took over
the Site. Every available space was litered with washing
Mattresses & seats were brought out of the Coaches & dusted.
Toilets became full, it became just a Gipsy Camp. It is
a shame but again I put it down to bad Management.
Some of these Sites could be well recommended if properly
supervised, the charge here was 60 per night. We learnt
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a bit about Afghanistan & will make plans to be on the right
side as it appears that all & Everyone in Afghanistan is out
to “Twist” you for anything they can get.
Sat 28th Sept
As arranged we met this Boy whom we had seen at the
Garage, he turned up at the gates of the Site at 8PM1 with his
Cousin who was driving a car, we were driven to the Embassy
to get our Visa, but on arrival we found the people who had
been in the Coaches waiting there, the Office hours of the
Embassy were 8 till 12, but it was 9.35 before they appeared
You have to fill in two Forms,, place a Passport Photo on each
one & pay 5 American dollars, no other Currency is accepted
when you have given these in with your Passports you are told to
call tomorrow & collect. Whilst we were waiting at the
Embassy for the Staff to arrive, one of the Men on duty asked
us if we had come by Car & he cautioned us about these free
lifts. They are thieves we were told, but when we had completed
the Forms & were able to leave the Car had gone, we presumed
that the Official had spoken to them, the Boy had waited &
he offered to show us around, but as we told him we were not
interested in buying Carpets he left us, we strolled along &
made our way back to the Camp site. The Coaches had now
returned to the Site because of some of the occupants were in need of Visas
& like us they had to wait until Sunday.
28th Sept
1. 1 Although he has written PM, I think it should be 8AM.
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Sunday 29th Sept
We got a Taxi to the Embassy & the Passports were ready for
us, having collected these we walked along to find the
Post Office, we posted five letters, we walked through the
Town & then got a Taxi back to the Site. Women in
Mashhad wear Robes from Head to foot & Elsies dress created
great interest to them. In one part of Mashhad we saw
several women sitting down on the Pathway holding a conversation
among themselves. Mashhad is a busy place & at least 25%
of the Traffic is Taxis. The Shops appear to be in groups, i.e. all
the Jewellers are together, so are Motor Shop Photographers wireless
fruit is plentiful, so are the beggars. Young men offer to show you
around so that they can earn money, they make themselves obliging
The Coaches have now gone from the Site & it looks deserted.
Monday 30th Sept
The VW that we met at the Iran border has now arrived here, the
weather still holds good & we are making preparations to be on the move
tomorrow, there are vow only six Vans at the Site but we have not
seen Ray & Nicky nor Mike & Jeremy, we had a lazy day & remained
at the Site. We look at some of these Vans which have been converted
& it is just impossible to fathom out how the people travel in them & the
conditions under which they place themselves, sometimes you find
as many as 4-6 or even 8 travelling in one Van “Eight in Transit”
& when you get into conversation with them they just tell you that they
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are short of Cash, which means that when planning their Tour they
have not given proper attention or consideration to the expence side of it
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