Day 22 Friday 27th July 2007

QUADIPUR RAN, PAKISTAN – LUDHIANA, INDIA.

A good nights sleep outside on a bunk, with a fan keeping me lovely and cool all night. Again the Police escort and again the frustration of having a long way to go in one day but they do insist on crawling along at 30mph!

Entering Punjab in Pakistan, I was struck by how green and cool it all seemed compared to Central and Eastern Pakistan. I wondered if the people felt lucky to live here instead of the oven-like stone quarry I had left behind me.

Eventually arrived at the border with India and left Pakistan feeling that I had just been in one of the friendliest countries so far – the other being Iran.

I went through the formalities on Pakistan side fine, but the Indian immigration authorities said that my Visa was not valid because the official stamp is smudged (small incident involving leaking water bottle a few days earlier). Anyway, after a tense moment or two the man said he would go and ask his superior if I could enter India or not. His superior came and told me off for not taking care of my passport and then said I could go to the next stage of the process which was to get XS into India with me. A bit of paperwork and a cup of tea later and we were set free to commence to Ludhiana.

On arrival at Ludhiana city limits, I was lucky enough to be approached by one Kuldeep Singh who offered to ride pillion and guide me to my address where I was to rest with friends. Well, I thought XS was already fully loaded, but we soon found that there was spare capacity for one more person. And so we travelled across the city with Kuldeep tapping one shoulder or the other of mine, according to which direction I should take.

Arriving at Florences home I breathed a sigh of relief and looked forward to a nice rest with all the facilities. Florence is an excellent cook, so I knew I would be able to regain a bit of strength while with her and her husband, DK. (Jonny Krause)