Day 161 Sunday 25 February 2007 Murree to Lahore, Pakistan

After a phone check in with Sydney, we head down from the mountains towards Islamabad, past another colonial hotel with a sheep, a chicken and a mullah emerging from the doorway. Then its thru Islamabad and onto the motorway to Lahore, 400km south. We drop down through the Salt Ranges, past the world's 2nd largest salt mine (closed on Sundays) and the World Heritage Rohtas Fort in the distance (we tick it off the list as its very like the one at Amber) and onto the flat Punjab plain. It extends for ever into the distance and from the top of the scarp you can see the curvature of the earth, apparently.

By late afternoon we reach Lahore, a small city of 5 million, and ignoring the advice to avoid western hotel targets find the Holiday Inn without difficulty (I1 navigating, I2 driving). It’s a bit of a contrast to some of the places we’ve stayed in lately.

Distance today 458km; Total distance 24,626km