Continued down the Wakhan Valley through its small villages of tree lined streets to Darshai. We were set for a hiking day in the Darshai Gorge so we checked into a home stay and got settled in. The house was enormous and owned by two local teachers. The grandfather lived with them and their two children and he spent most of the day outside on a daybed sleeping with the children. The wife did the household chores and the husband worked on concreting the outside walls of the house where the fsnow had damaged the mud brick.
They had built a new building with pvc double glazed windows from a German company and put Mark in a room there and wanted to charge him $US 25 a night but Turat said being new did not warrant such a charge. The toilet was a long drop outside the main wall of the house over a stream and through some trees while the shower was in a room with a dirt floor. A boiler heated the stream water and a bucket of cold water had to be mixed in a bowl to get a bath that would not scald. She did however have a small plastic electric washing machine next to the bathroom.
As I was still not a hundred percent I stayed in and did some laundry while John and Mark set off to walk the gorge. They walked for an hour or so but found some of the trail had slipped away on a particularly steep section and did not want to risk any falls so came back.
There are no mosques as such and the people worship at these shrines that are covered with ibex horns
.
Inside the shrine
Looking up the gorge
Looking at the fort down to the village
A local who wanted his photo taken.
The room we slept in was in the Pamiri style and had a concrete hearth in the middle of the room. We saw the firebox outside and were told it would go back inside during the winter and attach to the chimney in the ceiling. The room would be big enough for cooking, eating and sleeping in.
For dinner we had a nice chicken noodle soup with some vegetables and set for a good night's sleep.
They had built a new building with pvc double glazed windows from a German company and put Mark in a room there and wanted to charge him $US 25 a night but Turat said being new did not warrant such a charge. The toilet was a long drop outside the main wall of the house over a stream and through some trees while the shower was in a room with a dirt floor. A boiler heated the stream water and a bucket of cold water had to be mixed in a bowl to get a bath that would not scald. She did however have a small plastic electric washing machine next to the bathroom.
As I was still not a hundred percent I stayed in and did some laundry while John and Mark set off to walk the gorge. They walked for an hour or so but found some of the trail had slipped away on a particularly steep section and did not want to risk any falls so came back.
There are no mosques as such and the people worship at these shrines that are covered with ibex horns
.
Inside the shrine
Looking up the gorge
A local who wanted his photo taken.
The room we slept in was in the Pamiri style and had a concrete hearth in the middle of the room. We saw the firebox outside and were told it would go back inside during the winter and attach to the chimney in the ceiling. The room would be big enough for cooking, eating and sleeping in.
For dinner we had a nice chicken noodle soup with some vegetables and set for a good night's sleep.
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