It is impossible for a foreign tourist to drive without a police escort in the south of Pakistan. The Pakistani government believes that the possibility of abduction is high and gives therefore the tourists a police escort. A police car drives in front and the tourist has to follow with his own car. This has led many times to hilaric situations. It is not possible to explain to a Pakistani that you have to stop because you need to pee. So I just stop the car. The police car in front of me discovers after several kilometers that I am disappeared and the car comes back “to my rescue” with flashing lights and siren.
Often they are staggered to see me peeing with a big smile on my face. Or if I just need to take money out of the ATM, I am standing there with four men inside and four (armed) men outside. And when I recently entered a shop for buying a small bottle of water, the store owner almost wet his pants by seeing my armed escort.
Sometimes it feels like I am the king of Pakistan.