Really enjoyed the pretty villages after Ishkashim with their leafy tall trees, cereal crops and vegetable gardens.The houses looked better constructed of stone or brick with pitched iron roofs. Turat said that a lot of the men in this area go to work in Russia for about 5 years and then have enough money to build decent houses.
The fields were busy with families cutting the wheat and hay with sickles. Sometimes a bundle of hay would be bobbing up and down beside the road and on passing the load we would see a bent over person under it. Sometimes the bundle would have a donkey under it. People don't seem to use carts to carry goods.
Passed the main border crossing to Afghanistan but it is closed at present because of the recent problems caused by the Talaban.
We took a detour to visit some mineral baths at Garam Chashma. The place was really busy and a huge hotel in the centre of the square rose several stories high to cater for the numerous locals visiting and taking the spas. Music was blaring and stalls were set up in the square selling gifts and souvenirs.
There was a military checkpoint as we left the area and Turat had to buy lunch for the police and soldiers.
The river that ran alongside the road was busy with people washing clothes and young naked boys swimming or showing off their bodies to the passersby.
Got back onto the main road and headed down into Khorog. Turat had booked us into a hotel while he went to stay with a friend in town as they had no driver-rooms. John and Mark headed off to look for a working ATM to get more somoni to pay for the hotel bill. Being a Sunday they were all switched off but the hotel manager was happy for us to pay in the morning.
Across the road from the hotel in the botanical garden and park was the last day of the three day 'Roof of the World' festival. It was a cultural and art festival showcasing music and dance from Central Asia. The show was due to start at 4.30pm so we found a spot and waited but it did not start until 6. 00.We could not stay until the end because we had booked into the hotel for dinner at 7.00 and a huge group of VIPs from the festival were booked into dinner from 9.00pm so we had to be gone before then.
Turat joined us for dinner as it was my birthday. We enjoyed the vegetarian Indian curries and some Chinese beers we had brought with us. We also had a bottle of Russian bubbles that we had chilled in the fridge in our room. It was a great way to celebrate and luckily I was well enough to enjoy it.
John and Mark headed back to the park to see the last of the festival groups and saw the last act of the day. Announcements were made in English as well because a lot of the sponsors' representatives did not speak Tajik.
Our room in the four story hotel was very comfortable with tea and coffee facilities and free fast wifi. The two ground floors of the building were leased to different organisations including the Aga Khan Foundation network.
The fields were busy with families cutting the wheat and hay with sickles. Sometimes a bundle of hay would be bobbing up and down beside the road and on passing the load we would see a bent over person under it. Sometimes the bundle would have a donkey under it. People don't seem to use carts to carry goods.
Passed the main border crossing to Afghanistan but it is closed at present because of the recent problems caused by the Talaban.
We took a detour to visit some mineral baths at Garam Chashma. The place was really busy and a huge hotel in the centre of the square rose several stories high to cater for the numerous locals visiting and taking the spas. Music was blaring and stalls were set up in the square selling gifts and souvenirs.
There was a military checkpoint as we left the area and Turat had to buy lunch for the police and soldiers.
The river that ran alongside the road was busy with people washing clothes and young naked boys swimming or showing off their bodies to the passersby.
Got back onto the main road and headed down into Khorog. Turat had booked us into a hotel while he went to stay with a friend in town as they had no driver-rooms. John and Mark headed off to look for a working ATM to get more somoni to pay for the hotel bill. Being a Sunday they were all switched off but the hotel manager was happy for us to pay in the morning.
Across the road from the hotel in the botanical garden and park was the last day of the three day 'Roof of the World' festival. It was a cultural and art festival showcasing music and dance from Central Asia. The show was due to start at 4.30pm so we found a spot and waited but it did not start until 6. 00.We could not stay until the end because we had booked into the hotel for dinner at 7.00 and a huge group of VIPs from the festival were booked into dinner from 9.00pm so we had to be gone before then.
Turat joined us for dinner as it was my birthday. We enjoyed the vegetarian Indian curries and some Chinese beers we had brought with us. We also had a bottle of Russian bubbles that we had chilled in the fridge in our room. It was a great way to celebrate and luckily I was well enough to enjoy it.
John and Mark headed back to the park to see the last of the festival groups and saw the last act of the day. Announcements were made in English as well because a lot of the sponsors' representatives did not speak Tajik.
Our room in the four story hotel was very comfortable with tea and coffee facilities and free fast wifi. The two ground floors of the building were leased to different organisations including the Aga Khan Foundation network.
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