Thought I'd share the current border crossing situation.
1.11 As I boarded the bus from Tehran to Zahedan at 5pm it was also announced on Pakistani news that the border had been closed by Iran due to security concerns during Ashura.
2.11 I arrived in Zahedan at around 4pm (not sure), took a taxi to the Mirjaveh Sq (3000 toman) where savaris depart for Mirjaveh, some 15km from the border. The ride took 45min or so and cost me 20000 toman. As the border closes at 4pm I was left at the Mirjaveh Tourist Inn where I paid $15 for a double room. The hotel owner acted as my guard during my stay and escorted me to the store when I needed to buy something.
3.11 At 8am the driver picked me up as we had previously arranged, without an extra charge, and took me to the border. Turns out the border was open, and no one had heard of such news... When they noticed I was a foreigner they took me to the front of the line and stamped my exit out of Iran. I was a bit worried they would ask for my Pakistani visa, which was in a different passport next to some border trails of Israel. Luckily they didn't care.
The pakistani side went just as smoothly, maybe 30 minutes combined. After I got my passport I was escorted to the Levies (local police) office where I waited for about 2h while they arranged a series of escorts up to Dalbandin.
So until sun set I went from pickup to pickup, checkpoint to checkpoint, filling in my passport information.
Once we arrived in Dalbandin I was taken to a hotel (600 rupees for a single, wifi in the lobby), changed some money (90 per dollar ugh) and had dinner (250). I was also assigned a guard for the night whom I paid dinner for. The Levies officer who seemed to be in charge tried to get me to pay 3000 rupees for petrol, but I simply stated I didn't have money and that no one asked for money before. It wasn't a problem.
4.11 At 8:30am we departed and again the same procedure. Before reaching Quetta at around 5pm I had been escorted in pickups, a motorcycle and even an armored van. All the levies officers are really nice though, almost everyone asks for their picture to be taken.
Before entering the city I was "interviewed" by the police, why I were in Pakistan and the usual stuff. I also had to give the name of a hotel so I said Bloom Star Hotel, which I had read about on Wikitravel. The hotel is very well located, just a corner from the train stations and a few minutes from where you get your NOC (more on that later). The room was 1000 rupees and they had wifi and even 3 other travelers.
5.11 To leave Quetta you need a No Objection Certificate. The hotel had arranged an escort to pick us up in the morning so we could go apply for it. It's free and took us 1-2h to get. Afterwards I was escorted to the train station to buy a ticket for Rawalpindi. You are only allowed to take morning transportation (according to the NOC) and I was told buses wont take me because of the hassle with checkpoints. There were no berths in economy class so I paid 4020 rupees for AC on the 8:30am train the following morning.
6.11 I was again picked up by an escort and transfered to the train where I was introduced to my guard. The guard was a few compartments away and switched occassionally. I was told to always notify him when I exit the train and he got slightly upset when I didn't...
7.11 Arrived in Pindi at around 1pm. I'm now in Mansehra, and again, I have an escort at the hotel I'm staying. To be able to do any hiking without being forced a guide it seems I have to wait with checking into hotels until after Ive completed the hike...
You can have a look at my photos and more of my experiences in my Road to India Facebool album. Just skip ahead of Turkmenistan and Iran.
Good luck!
