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Milage

Over 50,000km through 19 Countries; England, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia to Timor L'Este.

From Darwin to Broome, then back again to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Friday, 9 October 2009

Pakistan; Sponsored By Pepsi

So, We've been living in Lahore for the past week.

Its a typical sub-continental city. Dirty, noisy, dusty and full of weird and wonderful experiences but also so westernised at the same time, possibly due to remnants of colonial rule.

As usual in big cities, the first thing I do is to find a decent mechanic and workshop (David - who speaks both English and German!) where I can get all those naggling things on the bike sorted. This included sourcing some decent oil - fully synthetic shell helix car oil seems to be doing the job nicely. I also want some decent aluminium boxes, since the plastic ones are a bit on the small side for belongings due to the double skin for water which after much field testing is rather pointless. I would rather carry a big water container that can be disposed of. Also one of the boxes no longer locks onto the bike thanks to my tumble in the Iranian desert.

I've nicked one of Morgan's 45 litre Touratech boxes and have instructed some metalurgists to construct me two exactly idential ones from aluminium. The quoted cost is 13000 Rupees, or £100. So if theyre exactly the same they should be a complete bargain when compared to over £500 for a pair from Touratech.

I also ordered a load of new fork seal from Redline in the UK on Monday and was surprised to find them on my bed this morning after a shower, so I took the opportunity to spend the day rebuilding my front suspension to stop the leaking and get some decent damping back. Thankyou Darren in the UK for getting them sent out so quickly.

After 4 or 5 hours I had figured out how to take one fork apart, replace the seals and change the completely black old oil for fresh Mobil ATF fluid. It then only took me 1 - 2 hours to do the second one once I knew what I was doing.

David is pretty knowledgable but the problem with a lot of the Pakistanis who seem to randomly turn up at the workshop is that when I encounter a problem and stop to think my way round it, they imediately jump in, usually with a screwdriver and a hammer, to solve it. Not the best way but I hold myself back from screaming at them since I may require their help at a later time and don't want them hindering my work.

Yesterday Mark (www.theotherway.de) and I went off to explore the city for a change, and found our way to the old city where we munched many a samosa whilst wondering the tiny roads towards the fort. Everything happens on the street here, dentist, hairdressers, butchers, mechanics, and every shop had Pepsi or some sort of western brand name muraled on the ouside.

We had great fun on a couple of borrowed CD70 bikes. Seriously, the ultimate bike for travelling around the world is a Honda CG125. They can be fixed ANYWHERE! The drum breaks are crap, so much so I set off and promtly rode into another bike, and the gearbox is the wrong way round, but theyre awesome for getting around a city. Theyre also handy when I want to park my bike. I just pull over, lift up a couple of bikes that are in the way and have preferential parking, safe in the knowledge that no one will be able to lift the KTM out of the way.

At the fort and the adjoining mosque we were able to view the remnants of various items of sundry from the Prophet Mohammed, including his hair, teeth, clothes, staff and even a footprint - he had pretty big feet.

We were given a pretty decent tour thanks to a group of college students who turned up with their English teacher and were coaxed into practising the language with us, so I used them to my advantage.

Yesterday evening we went to 'food street' or one of them, where I had a fantastic chicken jalfrezi and garlic naan bread. It was possibly the best curry I've ever had but could have been even better if I was allowed a pint to wash it down with.

Roll on India!

Speaking of India, there will be women there. And monkeys, and elephants, and tigers. Woo!

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