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An Arduous Drive from England to Sri Lanka Through Khyber Pass: A True Story of a family undertaking an Overland Trip from England to Sri Lanka through Khyber Pass During the Winter of 1976
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About An Arduous Drive From England To Sri Lanka Through
Product Description This is a horrifying but a true and exciting story of a journey undertaken by our family of four including a 5 year old daughter. It details an Arduous overland Drive from England to Sri Lanka through the famous Khyber Pass in Afghanistan during the winter of 1976. The crossing of the English Channel from Dover in England to Calais in France by Hovercraft was a memorable and exciting precursor to the trip. There were numerous problems during our journey of nearly 14,100km over a period of 27 days. Apart from natural causes, probable threats from Taliban and other bandits kept us under continuous alert. We were stopped by the Police for speeding in Bulgaria and Turkey. While the Bulgarian police excused us as we pretended to be ignorant, the Turkish police was more adamant until we paid him. We decided to drive in the night especially in Afghanistan to minimize our stay there hoping that the prevailing cold weather may suppress any unlawful activity. The declining trend in behavioral standards of officials and individuals was quite obvious as we travelled from West to East. The weather condition in Turkey forced us to use wheel chains to avoid skidding on a thick layer of snow. However, we had to remove them sooner than we thought, as it affected our progress. We had to face a different scenario at the Turkey/ Iran border. The Officer in Charge insisted that we must pay some money before he can allow us to leave, falsely alleging that we have over stayed. After carefully assessing the situation, we took a riskier decision to leave the border without getting the endorsement. It was a miracle that we managed to pass through so many army check points under extreme pressure. Had they caught us leaving without exit seals, we would have been imprisoned and fined. When we entered Iran, we felt a great relief after the stressful scenario we faced just a few minutes ago. The Iranian officials were friendly and courteous. We were so happy and decided to stay the night in a nearby hotel in Maku. Now, I decided to orchestrate a funny incident. I wanted to take the wooden boxes placed on the car roof to our hotel room. When I carried the boxes, I pretended that they were fairly light. When an energetic well-built Room Boy came to help, he tried to lift it but found to be heavy. He looked at me in a surprised manner indicating his disagreement to my body language. I could not stop laughing when I saw the expression on his face. Even today, I cannot stop laughing whenever I remember the incident. After we pumped petrol into the car in Afghanistan, as I was going to pay the cashier, the pump attendant switched off the petrol meter. When I objected, the army official who was present there shouted “you pay” and I had to pay the amount. At the Iran/ Afghanistan border we changed the currency at the bank there. We found out later that we had been cheated by the Bank Teller. As the 10 and 100 Afghanis denominations were of the same size and colour, it was not noticed. We had travelled a long distance when we realized and we had to forget about the loss. We were looking for a hotel in Afghanistan since we were tired and it was getting dark. We entered the unimpressive building the only one with a Hotel sign post. There was no electricity and when asked, the manager said that it will come soon. But it never came. In the midst of all this, another hotel guest tried to be funny with my wife and when I complained to the manager, he handed over a pistol to me to use it if it happens again. I do not know whether it was a real one or a toy pistol. We left the hotel early morning after a stressful night. We reached Pakistan/ India Border at Wagha to find it was closed. Next day we came to India where we had the longest drive. However, with all these challenges, we crossed the Indian Ocean by ferry from Rameshwaram to Thalaimannar and reached our destination Colombo in Sri Lanka on 17th January 1977. From the Back Cover I am Kithsiri De S
