AFGHANISTAN TRIP 1969 and our Escape from QUETTA

[@rantinprogress]

Thank you for sharing the details of this adventure. A fellow Industrial Chemistry student at City University (1968-72) and I did a similar trip in 1970, but we took busses from Istanbul to Erzurum, across Iran to Mashhad, Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, and Jalalabad to Peshawar. Our final destination was to be Kathmandu, but, unfortunately, my travel companion got suspected cholera (it turned out to be gastro enteritis). The British High Commission in Peshawar arranged his repatriation to an isolation hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, from where he made a full recovery. Feeling unwell, I was repatriated a few days later. Our passports were marked in red ink "Valid for return trip only" and were confiscated by Customs until we repaid the cost of the journey home. My fondest memory of the entire outward trip is the friendliness of everyone we met, especially in Iran and Afghanistan.

[@peterprest1222]

Very interesting. In 1967 we went from Istanbul to Erzerum by bus. It was quite a frightening journey. The train was quicker and less scary. Pity about the Cholera scare.😅

[@philallin5071]

Fantastic adventures Peter from a time long past. The pair of you had an absolute blast I'm sure. Your recollection and naration of this quite epic journey is superb, and brought to life with the inclusion of your original photographs. Thank you sovery much for sharing this with the world.

[@toberwine]

My parents drove from England to Bombay via Afghanistan and Iran in 1970, and my Dad made a 16mm cine film of the trip. Fascinating to hear about the Bab. I have met many Iranian Baha’is who were exiled to the UK from Iran after the Shah was overthrown in the cultural revolution. They are the most humble, kind people.

[@Luddite-vd2ts]

What wonderful quality photographs. They are very sharp, unfaded, even after all these decades.

[@peterprest1222]

My camera was a Zeiss Contaflex and I used Agfa transparency film. On later trips I used a Kodak transparency film which had slightly better resolution. I digitised the transparencies a few years ago using a Canon Powershot G9 camera.

[@muazzamimran8631]

Thank you for this video. I am looking forward to your visit to Pakistan in next episode.

[@fandangofandango2022]

Most Interesting and Wonderful / Cultured People.

[@LouiseMannigel]

Hooray! Thank you for this upload

[@lisajohnson2070]

Thanks, Pete! I’ve been waiting for this, and can’t wait for the next one. X

[@dreamsofhaegum]

Such an interesting account of your journey, we're loving it! We thought we'd had a great adventure driving down to Southern Spain in 1971in an old Morris van.

[@mccloryjim]

Thank you again Peter , thoroughly enjoyed it ❤

[@ptonpc]

Thank you for this.

[@ianspeechley7652]

The days when travel was interesting and real adventures.

[@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834]

you 2 are so brave, or were. On the other hand, you both seem very capable and generally know what your doing. Regards from South Australia.

[@ColinCarFan]

Yet another lovely and interesting video - 20 minutes long followed by about 2 hours of fascinating 'research' to understand more about where you went and what you saw - things have certainly changed! Pleas could you explain why you applied antiseptic cream to the back of your knees in particular?

[@ambient5]

Thank you

[@HarveyJohnWillmott]

Crazy to think you couldn’t do this trip in 2024 😢🤦‍♂️ Some progress.

[@stephransley4371]

Very enjoyable

[@peterprest1222]

Perhaps I should say that the modern Amir Kabir I have shown is in Iran but not in Tehran. It is actually in Arak, South West of Qom.

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

What a change in 60 years..at least in Iran....

[@armandobond7736]

In turkey too, the areas around Ankara are now full of large commuter developments and high rise buildings, criss crossed by highways and high speed rail lines. You would never dream of seeing someone drying dung or mud brick houses!

[@peterprest1222]

In the 1980s we did trips to Turkey with our children. For example in 1983 we drove to Istanbul, left the car in the Opera car park just off Taksim and then went by train to KARS. From there we went to Ani and then by buses. Van, Bitlis, Martin, Diyarbakir, Kayseri, Konya etc and back to Istanbul. Things hadn’t changed much then.

[@jamesmc1272]

(17:00) Music banned and female complete body covering. Oldham 2024