#2: [27-May-07]

10-Sep-2004 -- This is the 13th out of 29 confluences on our tour from Germany to China, the story continues from 29N 68E

On the twentieth day of our tour we started in a village near Kandhkot, about 220 km south-west of the confluence. Joko, our fellow traveller, traveled together with us to the confluence in his Jeep. How he managed to drive from Switzerland to India by his Jeep is best read by his own amazing story 'Joko goes to India'.

We had a long exhausting drive (Joko used to say 'mühsam') from Kandhot to the city Dera Ghazi Khan. A lot of traffic at different speeds made the trip so tiresome. Trucks are sometimes lumbering along at 20 km per hour and if you don't want to stay behind, you have to overtake them. With such a heavy traffic and driving on the wrong side, it is a risky task. The turnoff to the confluence was at a distance of 8.7 km and from that side road there was another turnoff at a distance of 1.5 km. Even this road is sealed and the approach was a fairly easy drive to within 120 m. These last 120 m consisted of sandy ground. Joko eagerly showed the potential of his Jeep and drove directly to the point. He was so happy to have reached his first confluence before me, an experienced confluencer.

Although the confluence is on sandy ground with nothing else around other than tussocks, the wider area is densely populated. The Indus River is not far away (10 km) and the area is in its floodplains. All around are villages, but within 500 m in any direction there is not a single house. We didn't stay long at the confluence, because soon a lot of spectators approached and with the lack of a good explanation of what we were doing in their native tongue, we preferred to move on.

In the evening we reached the historical city Multan, about 55 km from the confluence (picture #8 and picture #9). We rested one day there and we found it worthwhile to visit the old city, the fort and the bazaar.

CP visit details:

• Time at the CP: 14:00 a.m.
• Duration: 40 min (until we were back on our route)
• Distance of car parking: 0 m
• GPS height: 115 m
• Description: Floodplains of Indus River, sandy ground with tussocks. General area is densely populated.
• Given Name: Joko's Confluence

Story continues at 31N 74E.