By the time we left Lahore we were really missing our motorcycle (it was being shipped to Dubai). We had traveled from Islamabad by bus and decided to make the next hop to Karachi by train. Although both allowed us to travel quickly and safely, the experience was nothing like what you get on a motorcycle. Traveling by bike gives you a 360 degree view of the world, allowing you to smell and feel every kilometer. That is real travel!!

After a long 21 hours on the train we arrived in Karachi. It was hotter, dirtier and more crowded than any place we’d seen in Pakistan.

Again we stayed with a local family, this time the in-laws of Kamil’s friend from Australia (Arshad and Mr.Azad thank you for your hospitality!!)
Most of our time in Karachi was spent going through the beauracratic nightmare that is customs clearance at the sea port. Once this was completed and we were ‘relatively’ sure that the bike would be shipped out, we took a quick flight to Dubai.

Dubai is a city that doesn’t need much of an introuction. In the last decade or so it has been growing at an amazing rate and is considered one of the world’s richest cities. The wealth can be seen everywhere. New buildings are springing up like mushrooms. One that is close to completion will reach over 900m!! An amazing sight…

Our second day in Dubai marked the 6 month point of our journey!!
We’ve traveled to 14 countries (not including Singapore) and covered over 30,000km. Over half of those have been off-road. The Africa Twin has been performing well, with no major breakdowns so far. That’s excluding the annoying electrical hiccups and unplanned flooding in Kyrgyzstan So far we’ve replaced the rear wheel bearings, regulator/rectifier, spark plugs, brake pads and 3 batteries. The first one failed after about 4 months (even though it was bought just before the trip) and the rest have been Chinese ‘cheapies’ so they didn’t last long. The current tyres (Michelin T63) have done just over 13,000km. They’ve held up better than expected and we’re really happy with them. We’ll pick up a new set of TKC80’s in Dubai, that should last until Cape Town.

Traveling has now become our life. It’s a simple and often spartan existence. Our typcal day consists of: planning the route, riding, finding something to eat and then a place to sleep. If out in the wilderness, we can go days without a proper shower…
Our biggest headache are the visas which we organise on the road. They are costly and can take days to process.

At this stage we cannot imagine this trip coming to an end and having to return to a ‘normal’ life. New places, languages, food and people, make everday and adventure!

So far we’ve had a few changes in our original plan/route (such as the visit to China & Pakistan) and we expect more along the way
The plan now is to stay in Dubai for about 2 weeks to organise some visas, service the bike and check out the upcoming Desert Challenge rally. After that we’ll head off to Oman, Yemen and the huge land that is Africa!

P.S. A big thanks to everyone for all the comments, guest book entries and emails!!!