Day 149 Tuesday 13 February 2007 Taxila to Swat, Pakistan

An early start to explore the archeological remains and museum (see previous day) and then westwards towards Peshawar before turning north into the Swat valley. The road in the main is good and the traffic much better behaved than India. We take awhile to adjust to the contrast – no horns, sensible use of indicators (ie right indicator means I’m turning right or overtaking, NOT I’m parked, I’ve gone for lunch, I’m turning left, I’m stopping, I want you to pass on my right, g’day mate, Im here, hows things, I pulled away from the kerb at the start of my trip, or one of the seventeen people crammed into the cab grabbed it by mistake), people cross on crossing, no goats, sheep, pigs, dogs or COWS everywhere. We make good progress until we start up the Malakand Pass which climbs to the upper swat from the Punjab plain. Its a gravel road, which after the rain is very muddy. Near the top of the pass we come to a halt as a large truck carrying two earthmovers has broken down on a sharp bend, blocking the road in both directions. Its nearly five by the time its fixed, aided by hundreds of pashtuns many with rifles, so we do the last 50kms in the dark, much of it thru thick axel deep mud to Swat. We follow a couple of UN landcruisers on the basis that they be heading to the same hotel but lose them going through a bazaar. Eventually we make it to the Serena Hotel in Saidu Sharif, an anglo-indian mansion in 5ha of gardens which is beautiful contrast to the PTDC accommodation the previous night, and the former home of the Wali of Swat, a great title if ever there was one. The UN convoy arrives soon afterwards which despite their satnav and local drivers have got lost in Mingoara.

Distance Today: 252km Trip to date: 22,139km