Granite

After 3 days of continuous riding of 10hrs each day I have found that the molecular structure of my arse has change and is now made of granite. I'm presently sat on my bed in the Azad Muslim Hotel in the centre of Quetta. At 300Rs a night you'd expect it to be a bit posh but in fact to say it is a shit-hole would be an offense to any self-respecting shit-holes out there. I finally collected my Iranian VISA from Lahore after 3 months waiting. I have decided that nothing happens by accident. There must be a pretty good reason for my 3 months delay in getting home. Like I said I got my Iranian VISA, it took me no less than 5 visits to the Consulate until I finally had it in my passport and I could believe it was finally happening. Now I only had 6 days to make it several 1000 KM to the boarder. My Pakistan VISA expires at the end of October so I had to get my skates on, talk about cutting it fine. I figured it would take me 5 days to get to Iran leaving only one day spare for any unseen problems or a possible rest in one town for a day. The first days ride to Multan was not too bad, only 6 hrs of riding. Multan is the kind of place that you could easily spend a few days. There is a lot of history and it was a Hindu place of pilgrimage and is now an important Islamic one with and old fortress and quite a few mausoleums. However, I could not stop I had a deadline to meet. I badly misjudged the next leg of the journey from Multan to Sukkar. It turned out to be over 400km, perhaps 475km. I have no desire to ride anywhere at night, but the sun was failing and I still had 80km to do. As the sun went down the sky filled with 1million and one tiny moths that really did not help with visibility. I finally made it into town and found a hotel that was both clean and safe and had not a bad price. Although I was still getting free cups of tea and meals the occurrences of such was getting less frequent. In the morning I could really have done with not riding, my body was sore and I had what I think is the beginning of some sciatic pain down my left buttock. However, I did not have the luxury of resting. After I stretched out I set off heading north into the hills and towards Baluchistans only City, Quetta. The roads so far have been good and adding to the fact that firestarters cruising speed has increased from 55km/h to 80km/h I was making good time. I had a fair bit of roadkill to avoid. Every few KM a flattened dog would be either fresh or rotting and being picked at by birds. I keep being asked if I am a Muslim and since I bought an English version of the Koran in Islamabad, telling people this seams to ease them a lot and smiles follow. I am on the 3rd Surra (Chapter). So far I find that alcohol is not all bad, but there are more bad points than good, and if you drink now you'll get no booze in the Thereafter (afterlife). Also if you're a good boy, you will have many mates/wives in heaven, all of which will be "clean" i.e no poohing or weeeing or menses. One big difference I have noticed is that the Koran is said to be the "actual" word of God sent down, and not written by "people" as are the previous Scriptures. It's said to have no contradictions and to be unchanged since it was dictated to Mohammed's scribes. Also tattoos are not allowed. One interesting thing I have also read is that back in the days when it was written it clearly states that a woman should be financially looked after by her husband if and when he divorces her. This was WAY ahead of it's time when we consider this is a relatively new addition to the laws of modern Western society. With only the Koran for company in the evening I could be fully converted by the time I reach Austria.
I still have not found any reference to woman and how they should be treated. I've still to find if the "covering" and restrictions and imbalance of the homo-gender society is a religious one as commanded by God or a cultural one brought over form Arabic Paganism. On the subject of women I have learnt quite a bit about Pakistani cinema in the last week. Did you know that all actresses are from the state of Punjab and that all of them without exception are prostitutes? Well neither did I. See no other women in Pakistani society could and would be able to bear the level of shame brought down on themselves by appearing on the screen, dancing and singing and jigging about their bits for all to see. In face none of the actresses can dance very well and the singing is dubbed. What's more peculiar is that all the actresses are over 40, pushing 50. They are all revered and worshiped by the masses. Very odd considering the shame and disgust that this would bring on a "normal' woman. The formula I think could only work here. A society homo-gender (i.e. Men rule and have all responsibility and make all the decisions), which is deeply sexually suppressed worshiping dancing whores that look like someone's fat drunk aunty at a wedding. I think they are seen more like eccentric Aunties and because of this it makes it all ok. To finish matters off, all the dance choreographers are super grotesque camp men. The mind boggles.

The scape changed quite dramatically as I crossed the Central Braua Range. This area really is the wild-west of Pakistan, the out-back of subcontinental-Asia. Now I'm 1700m above sea level its getting a bit chilly making me glad that I have got my Afghan blanket with me for warmth. I'm still unsure if will head out to Dalbandin tomorrow or rest for my extra day. Quetta appears to be interesting from what I can see so far. Lots of crazy bazaars, it has a really wild-west kind of feeling with ultra conservative Muslims. Indeed it's not far over the boarder to Kandahar where the whole Taliban story started. In fact they used Quetta as a spring-board to spread the word into Pakistan. On a closing note Pakistan lost their world cup qualifier with Iraq 7:0. No one here noticed a thing, the radar did not make a beep. It has to be cricket.