Khorog,Tajikistan

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.

Ishkashim, Tajikistan

After a nice breakfast of porridge, which we now prefer to fried eggs, we packed up and headed through the valley and small villages that all run together.

All along the route people try to flag us down for a ride and one old man at a bump in the road motioned for cigarettes which Turat gave him. He took advantage that all vehicles had to slow down for the bump.

We encountered balloons along the road and a police checkpoint at Namadgut. Turat was not sure if it was a festival or a wedding. Lots of people were dressed in red and white traditional clothes and the country road was amass with groups heading for a museum and a small park.

At the police checkpoint Turat had to pay a bribe because he had an old style number plate. Even though it was valid they still hassled him about it and he was due to get a replacement at the end of our trip in Dushanbe. We would ask if he had paid the police enough money for lunch or dinner to work out how much he had paid. Every day he had to be sure he had enough small change to pay the police.

We parked up and saw a sign advertising the festival for endangered animals especially the Marco Polo sheep , Ibex and the snow leopard.

Ready to listen to music, dance and watch archery competitions.

Snow leopard onesies

Crafts for sale

A military post nearby a derelict fort shows that this place is important as it is the only border crossing to Afghanistan currently open. Some of the Afghan markets have been closed because of an attack by the Talaban but they were soon chased away by the American military.

We drove on another 15 kms or so through more poplar lines streets and irrigated fields of cereals to check into a Soviet style guest house in Ishkashim.

The bazaar

Managed to connect with our mobile data to the internet and send birthday greetings to our grandson and read messages for my birthday. Found some of the shops open in the local bazaar but several had closed to attend the festival. Bought some snacks and a couple of beers which the owner was happy to refrigerate for us. Meet some travellers from Hong Kong on their first trip outside the island. There was a huge group of motorcyclists and a support car. Most of them were from Germany and Switzerland and hired the bikes from a company in Osh.

Also chatted to a lady from the Philippines who is working 20 minutes from Kabul for the American military and DHL. She loved her work and was on her holidays.

We enjoyed a nice clean hot solar heated shower and a western toilet again. The evening meal was served in a huge room at long tables where all the guests met up. Soup, tomato and cucumber salad and plov for dinner followed by watermelon. They grow some of the biggest melons we have ever seen.

Darshai,Tajikistan

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.

Yamchun, Tajikistan

Set off after a restless night up and down to the toilet and some took some loperamide. Most of the water in the home stays comes straight from the river but anything can cause an upset gut. Some of the cooking uses a lot of oil and my gut doesn't like that either.

Turat drove us up above the town to the giant sandhill in the middle of the Langar where John and Mark headed off to look at the petroglyphs. They found the trail difficult to follow through the cemetery and it was difficult to work out which were petroglyphs and which were modern grafitti. On the way down John slipped and skinned his arm so I had to clean him up and patch him up. Mark lost John so was a bit anxious when he came down as he had been looking for him. It was a pretty hot morning in the 30's so on the rocks would have been even hotter.

I sat in the car with Turat and some of the local children came by and stopped and said hello and stared.

Views to the peaks in the Hindu Kush

Fields of wheat. .

We tried to buy bread and water in the village of Zong but there was no fresh bread and the only bottled water contained gas which was not so nice when you are thirsty. We had bought 10 litres of water at the start of the trip but Turat's wooden tool box managed to jump up and pop our last five litre bottle drenching Mark's pack. Turat chatted to an old man and he gave us a huge round of home made bread.

Drove onto Yamchun then zigzagged up to the 12th century Zulkhomar fort and had a picnic nearby.

Drove up past a very smart looking sanatorium from the Soviet era and checked into a hotel near the Bibi Fatima Hot Springs. The hotel owner is a doctor and make me a heated electrolyte drink of water sugar and salt and instructed me to drink 500mls in one minute. I did  my best but it was yuk. All I wanted to do was sleep so she kicked a guest out of a room and made it up for us.

My bed of roses

The bed was an old spring base from an old Soviet hospital but I was so tired that I managed to sleep while John and Mark went to the pools. John couldn't swim with his bandaged wounds so left it to Mark. One hour the women bathe and then the next hour is for the men.

For dinner the doctor had made a beautiful vegetable dish with stuffed peppers and rice. I managed to eat some of that and she defrosted some smelly cow yoghurt which I also tried my best to get down to restore my gut bacteria. For breakfast we had semolina porridge and she insisted I have more yoghurt. 

Langar, Tajikistan

From Bulunkul we drove up to Lake Yashil kul which means Green lake but it was more a blue colour on the day we were there. John and Mark walked along the side of the lake while Turat had a warm shower in a small shed that had a pipe plumbed in to a hot spring. I took the chance to wash my dusty hair under the pipe too. Where the warm water ran into the lake were lots of small frogs sunning themselves on top of the long grass. Turat said they ate frogs but these looked too small for eating.

We had to pay for a permit to visit the area as it is in a national park. Sadly the locals who visit it light fires and leave their plastic and glass rubbish behind.

Stopped at the Khargush military checkpoint near Afghanistan and Turat had already got a permit to pass through this area. This was a lonely 70 km stretch with only two houses along the way.

Lots of serrated snowy peaks looming above the grey rocks on the way.

The only green where there is enough moisture for small plants and grasses to grow.

Where the two rivers, the Pamir and The Wakhan meet at Langar.

We could see camels across the river at a small caravanserai on the Afghanistan side.

 

Ruins of the fort at Ratm that had been guarding the Wakhan Valley for 2300+ years.

Lots of fruit trees growing in the valley, cherries, apricots, pears and apples in the fertile Wakhan Valley.

Summertime is the time to do carpet washing jobs

and renovating the house walls that have been damaged by the snow.

Our homestay was built in the traditional Pamir style. As they can grow a lot of tall birch trees in the Wakhan Valley there is a lot of timber for construction. The four levels in the ceiling represent the elements of earth, fire, air, and water.The centre is covered with a glass pyramid window that can be opened to let out heat.

Mattresses sit on platforms that surround the room and are given as wedding gifts.

Tea time.
There was a huge garden around the house with eggplants, zucchinis, cabbages, different kinds of lettuces, corn, and potatoes.

I ended up with vomiting and diarrhoea so thank goodness for a solar shower and western inside toilet! 

Bulunkul ,Tajikistan

Turat had to buy a permit for today's travel to Lake Bulunkul which he had to present at a check point just outside Murgab. This was also the first checkpoint on the Pamir Highway where we had to handover our special permit for the area- GBAO Gorno Budakhstan Autonomous Oblad.

After a couple of hours of driving we detoured into a desert like area to view some petroglyphs. They were easily identifiable as Marco Polo sheep, yak and ibex.

We never saw any other 4x4s on the track at all.

   

                                                                       

  

Ibex horns

   
Further up the valley we headed up to a deserted Soviet era observatory site with abandoned accommodation block, outdoor bread oven, observatory, portable telescope, and machinery. Both John and Mark poured over the workings of the rusting equipment.

We headed back through the valley where we stopped at a grazing camp of Turat's relatives. Turat owned 17 yaks and several goats that he paid his relatives a monthly fee to look after for him here on the farm. The relative also had about 100 yaks. A yak costs $US 500. Three yaks were saddled up for us to ride up into the valley led by a young man and a 13 and 11 year old.

It seemed much easier riding a yak than a horse as the back moves in a solid mass and you don't feel the sway when the animal's legs go up and down.

They boys led then with a rope through their noses. Mark's yak was keen to run which unnerved him so he walked down rather than risk it taking off with him in the saddle.

We walked to the top of the valley where the boys chased their herd of small yaks to better pastures and away from another herd higher up the mountain. We could see three Marco Polo sheep through the young man's binoculars grazing with the neighbours yak herd up high.

We had rice and yak meat with yak butter and yak cheese with the family for lunch. Mark was given some hard dry yak cheese to take away. They dry it over the summer and then add it to boiling stock in the winter to make a thick soup.

Much of the way we have seen marmots but they run so fast back to their burrows and are so hard to photograph. They are a beautiful golden colour and they stand up like meercats and gophers and shriek a high pitched squeal warning their neighbours before they disappear underground. There are so many that I was surprised that the locals don't eat them. The fur would make warm winter coats too and be much better than the acrylic clothes they wear now.

We drove through the small village of Bash Gumbaz where Turat was born and stopped at an old caravanserai site where there was a Chinese tomb and also where Turats's grandparents were buried and where he prayed.

 

A bleak place where the China to Pakistan trading route crossed.








A couple of women were weaving on a grassy area outside and we managed to snap a shot of them on the way out of town.











We travelled across the high altitude desert on a really rough road to see a thermal spring. The water gushed up erratically every few minutes and the pool felt cold but looked and sounded as though it would be hot.

It was a long busy day and we arrived at Bulungkal about 7pm to a hot meal of plov and boiled eggs at our homestay.

Bulunkul is a small place with about 20 mud brick dwellings, some painted and some not. It is the coldest place in Tajikistan getting down to -55 DegC in winter. The lights were solar powered. During the day the rooms are quite cold with few windows and mostly small ones but at night the heat is released through the mud walls and keeps the room pretty warm for sleeping.

In the morning we could see what a desperate place this is to live in. The people had quite fair hair and green eyes. One of the children had peeling skin and lots of scars from sunburn on fair skin.

This boy was playing with his sister in the cars that looked like wrecks outside the house.

A worker from the Aga Khan Foundation Network was visiting the family in his Foundation land cruiser that was parked outside.