Day 100 – 15th July 2014 Islamabad

As I’ve been on the road 100 days I thought I would answer some of the questions I’ve been asked;

Distance travelled – 11,500 miles / 18,500 Km
Total countries – 20
Camera – All photos taken with Apple iPhone 4S

Dakar (bike) been great – 1 service, 1 new set of tyres, the bespoke narrow panniers made by ‘Overland Solutions’ which sit 1cm inside the width of my handlebars are brilliant as I have no problem filtering and rushing through traffic with all the locals.

Spollin mistooks – I no ther r spoilin mistooks as I cont spol vewy wel:)

So, I take photos with my iPhone 4s. 99.9% of hotels and hostels have wifi and when I connect the iphone automatically transfers the photos, notes and other information to my iPad and the iPad then automatically uploads the photos to Dropbox for security. I can then relax and when I’m ready to blog I haven’t had to do anything and everything I need is there for me.

For the last 20 years I’ve only written business stuff and the odd personal e-mail so I wasn’t sure how I would get on blogging but I have found the experience really enjoyable, I take maybe 20 minutes out of my day and reflect on the days events and attach a few photos. It’s not hard work or a chore it’s really enjoyable.

What’s amazed me is that the blog was only ever for family & friends but people from all over the world have visited the site, they must be bored:)

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I had a lay in this morning and went to the ‘Ministry of Interior’ to get a NOC (no objection certificate) to travel to the northern mountains & KKH. Getting in wasn’t easy but after security guards and various receptions I got to the right office to be told it takes up to 45 days to get approval! I found out who the decision maker was and went in his office and sat for around 20 minutes with his assistant and as nothing was happening I just walked in’ hello Mr Deputy Minister for Interior’, we talked briefly but I made the all important appointment for 10am tomorrow to return with completed paperwork for his consideration. So, 5 hours yesterday at the India visa centre and 3 hours today, oh, and I returned to the visa centre at 3pm to get myself known and after an argument getting in as they close at midday I was welcomed and I progressed that too. A successful few days even though I’ve spent them in offices dealing with bureaucrats.

I left my couchsurfing host and checked into a hotel as Garth & Heiko have arrived and we need to go to the Ministry of Interior tomorrow.