The border crossing was reasonably straight forward.  A large number of different people seemed involved in signing the carnet out of Iran.  On the otherhand, only two people needed to sign the car and ourselves into Pakistan.  The Pakistani side of the border was somewhat of a contrast to the orderly Iranian side.  Chickens, goats and money changers (offering terrible rates) abound.  General impression – dusty and untidy.  However, the pakistani officials could not have been more different to the Iranian side.  They were courteous, helpful, with (dare I say it) less bureaucracy (I thought that Pakistan was second only to India for bureacracy and paperwork).  We even had tea and biscuits while they were completing the carnet.  They all speak very good English which helps.  Despite this, the border formalities still took two hours to complete. 

Refreshed by the tea and biscuits, we embarked on our mammoth trek across the desert regions of Baluchistan.  Camels, sand dunes, oasis but no cacti!  This area is tribal and somewhat out of the reach of the Pakistan law.  We had to get to Quetta in one day and we had been advised not to travel at night.  The first part of the road was superb – fairly new, straight and no bumps.  We could manage speeds of up to 130km/h. 

Sadly, the remainder of the road went through sand dunes and washouts.  Potholes and narrow, undulating roads severely limited our speed.  Fortunately, the road although remote, is fairly busy and you have the company of buses and trucks for much of the way.  The periodic army checkpoints which log you in and out of various regions also provide reassurance.  Occaisionally, we got in with a convoy of desert workers (telecommunications industry, I would say by their equipment) who had armed guards in the back of their crewcab pickups.  We made it into the safer region by night fall and hopped from checkpoint to checkpoint until we finally made it to the hotel in Quetta.  We both slept extremely well.