Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHECKPOINTS
If you're travelling to or from the Pakistan or Afghan borders, or from Bandar Abbas, you're likely to have to stop
at checkpoints designed to catch smugglers. In some cases a customs official or policeman will get onto the bus and
walk up and down, presumably looking for obvious smugglers or 'illegal aliens', before waving the bus on.
However, searches can be much more thorough and time consuming.
Taking the bus from Zahedan to Bam we have witnessed both the reasons for and effect of such searches. Each of
our bags had our ticket number written onto it, just in case we tried to deny it later on. Before departure a couple of
men used a knife to pry open the underneath of several seats and stuff contraband within. At the checkpoint we got
off the bus and, with everyone else, took our luggage to a table. As travellers we were waved through with barely a
glance at our luggage, but they spent 45 minutes opening and searching everything else on the bus and sniffing
around inside. Apparently they didn't find whatever had been secreted inside the seats, as the grinning smugglers re-
trieved it soon after we moved on.
TURKEY
The main road crossing to/from Turkey is at Gürbulak (Turkey) and Bazargan (Iran),
where there are hotels, moneychanging facilities and regular transport on either side of the
border, though staying in nearby Maku is more pleasant; see the boxed text (
Click here
)
for details.
Foreigners can also cross at Esendere (40km from Yüksekova, Turkey) and Sero, near
Orumiyeh in Iran. There is nowhere to stay on either side and transport can be infrequent;
see the boxed text (
Click here
)
for further information. Motorists usually cross at Bazar-
gan.
Bus
Travelling by bus you have two options: long haul or short hops.
Buses between Tehran and İstanbul and/or Ankara cost about US$45 (about 36 to 42
hours). They leave from Terminal-e Jonub and go via Terminal-e Gharb; several bus com-
panies offer the service, but usually it's just one bus that runs (
Click here
for bus depar-
tures). Those in the know swear it's better to take the Ankara bus, which is full of students
and embassy workers, rather than the İstanbul bus, which is full of traders and therefore
more likely to be taken apart at customs.
Alternatively, take it more slowly and enjoy eastern Turkey and western Iran along the
way. By taking a bus to - but not across - either border you'll avoid having to wait for
dozens of fellow passengers to clear customs. It's usually possible to cross from Erzurum
(Turkey) to Tabriz (Iran) in one day if you start early. It takes longer in winter when high
mountain passes near the border can be snowbound.
