Quetta

July 2017:

There was still no chance to travel this area without escorts.

I arrived from Iran with an escort to Gilgit. Even within Gilgit are many different police responsible for the areas, hence, be prepare to change many cars/vehicles/motorbikes/... They asked me where I would stay, as I said I do not know, they brought me to the Bloom Star Hotel. There are only three hotels where foreigners are allowed to stay and the Bloom Star the cheapest one. (still you can negotiate!) There, I was not allowed to leave the hotel! it has a yard and the roof top is accesable/climbable. You can ask at the reception to bring you food, fruits, vegetables from outside. From the hotel I was picked up from the police to get to the homeoffice to get the NOC (no objection certificate). again I changed Police several times. At the home office, I went form one office to the next. shaking many hands, answering questions, drinking tea. After four hours I got the NOC. and they asked me where I want to go next and how - no way, they would let me hitchhiking out, so they brought me to the bus station. For some reason, no bus would allow me to go with, so they brought me to the train station and I could buy a ticket for the train for the next day. The next day again, I was picked up by the police and even in the train (I had to sit in a womens cabin) two police men would escort me until the border of baluchistan (which took 8hours).