Day 123 – 7th August 2014 Lahore

I need to leave Pakistan. It’s been by far the most interesting experience of my travels but the bureaucracy and bullshit police attitude is getting to me and tainting my otherwise positive experience.

Today a local friend accompanied me to the post office to collect a bolt and 3 small fixings for a repair on my bike which had been posted a few weeks ago from the UK. It took 2 1/2 hours for me to lose control having been shunted from office to office collecting a stack of paperwork then to be told I had to pay 6,200 rupees (£35 – £40) which doesn’t sound a lot but in terms of Pakistan it’s a fortune. I have a Carnet and I produced this claiming I am exempt from duty as I have a ‘temporary import license’. The ‘superintendent of customs’ wasn’t accepting my point and I felt he was unreasonable so in ‘Dan Style’ I told him and returned a while later and told him again, it was at this point he removed me from his office!

I have no choice but to pay. Hopefully tomorrow I can collect the parts and leave Pakistan shortly after.

The police are getting to me too. Two days ago I was in a rickshaw videoing whilst slowing passing traffic and a policeman asked what I was doing? Videoing I said. Why he asked? Because I’m a tourist! You can’t he said! I told him I could and there is no law saying i can’t! We argued for a while.

Last night I went to a massive mosque here in Lahore with two guys from The Maldives and a policeman asked why I was there? I said experiencing your city as a tourist. He asked if I had permission to be in the mosque? I told him I didn’t need permission! He said I did and needed a letter stating so, I told him that’s rubbish… This went on for a while then I told him to get the chief of police here… I went in and had an amazing experience.