Pakistanistan, Day 0, Warp speed and back to Islamabad

Although it was a late night, or rather a late early morning, my host Adeel, messaged me to say a friend of his has invited us over to see his bikes, and he has 'big' bikes. Not wishing to miss an opportunity to see something rare in Pakistan, I'm showered and dressed in under 15 minutes. We drive for 30mins on the way seeing the Lahore version of Brussels' Atomium.  

We pull into his friend, Humayun's, driveway and sitting there are a Triumph Tiger 800 and a Honda Valkyrie, big bikes indeed. 

The house is beautiful and adorned with tasteful art chosen by Humayun's wife. After a brief tour of the house, I'm handed a helmet and gloves! I'm in trainers and jeans, and yet totally against my "all the gear, all the time" philosophy, I readily accept and jump on the Valkyrie. This is a bike powered by a six cylinder 1800cc boxer engine!

I gingerly pull out of the drive and get used to its reluctance to turn, perhaps the front tyre is a little flat? A little more lean and an assertive push on the inside bar overcomes the reluctance. Humayun on the Triumph blasts away on the delicious sounding triple so I have no choice but to speed up. A few straights and roundabouts and I'm soon comfortable with the meaty cruiser, and soon realising that a less than gentle twist of the throttle results in the rear wheel unsticking from the tarmac. Not wanting to smoke his tyres, I have to be more careful. 

Over breakfast at an upmarket eatery, Humayun tells me he's planning to replace the tyre anyway. Thus on the ride back, the Valkyrie managed a few gentle power slides exiting roundabouts, it's just so easy to do with an that torque available. Humayun says he doesn't get much opportunity to ride in Lahore as not only is it hot and busy, but the area is so flat the roads are not so interesting to ride. Coming from Brussels with relatively low rolling hills in in full sympathy. But he has taken some rides up north and says the riding is excellent, which bodes well even if our steads won't be nearly so interesting. 

Adeel drops me at the coach station and it's a four to five hour ride to Islamabad, this time on the Daewoo coach service. I prefer this to Faisal Movers as the drivers seem to be more in line with my western sensitivities. 

At the service stations I decline the multiple offers of take away burgers! 

Arriving in between Rawalpindi and Islamabad and the roads are chaos. I try to get a cab using the ride hailing app Careem, but fail miserable three times (it had worked reliable until now). After the last attempt I give up and negotiate a fare of 800 rupees from a regular rickety cab (his first offer was 1000, while Careem would have been about 600. I pay 900 as he 'doesn't have enough change' and I only have a 1000 rupee note 🤦🏽‍♂️). Before we set off I check that the vehicle lights are working as it's now dark!

The intention was to meet the boys: Steve, Duff, Gerard, Hugo, Christopher, and Ray (sadly no Danny, Mark, Mick on this trip, although the latter has a good excuse), who are eating at a hilltop restaurant; but it's 45 minutes away, so I decide to go straight to the hotel for the night, first collecting my bag from my Islamabad host. He's entertaining an official from the EU and it's not me. What a coincidence! I join them for dinner at Islamabad's exclusive Polo Club, which makes up for missing the scenic dining experience.

I find out that we have to leave the hotel tomorrow at 330am!!! 😱....