The 'Stans - Pamir Highway: Murgab to Osh (13 August 2019)

In Murgab we say goodbye to our smiley Tajik driver and his Tajik 4x4 and it is replaced with a miserably stout Kyrgyz driver and his decidedly worse 4x4. This 4x4 was small, much smaller than our previous car. And to makes matters worse the Kyrgyz driver asks if his nephew can jump into the car to Osh with us. We say no, much to his disgust, unless the nephew pays his way. Obviously the nephew had no intention of paying a single Somoni for the journey, so off we go without him. Pissing off our driver for the next 9/10 hour journey may not have been the smartest move.

But alas, onwards to Osh, and the most painful journey of the roadtrip so far. Only 417km to go...

After

As we depart Mugrab we get closer and closer to the Chinese border (or at least the border fence). The Chinese have erected a fence along what looked like the entire Tajik-Chinese border. It is a very remote region with hardly any people let alone border guards and the border fence is almost immaculate. Apart from the odd sections of fence that have been run over, with fresh tyre marks left in the dust.

After an hour or so of driving we reach the highest pass of the the Pamir Highway, the Ak Baital Pass at 4,665m above sea level.

Just to be sure, the iphone compass gave an unofficial reading of 4,630m above sea level.

We passed another spectacular mountain top lake - Karakul Lake:

We reach the Tajik - Kyrgyz border by midday and have a relatively short wait at the Tajik side. We park up and are told not to leave pour vehicles by the Tajik border guards, who slowly take their time reviewing passports and stamping them.

 As far as borders go, this was pain-less with minimal waiting time. There was a small search of the car, but nothing invasive.

We trundle along for some distance in the no-mans land zone between the two border posts, at least 15 or 20 minutes passes.

In the middle of no mans land there are a couple of houses, both offering accommodation. Due to the high altitude and the mountain climb, traveller cycling through sometimes cannot make it from one border post to the other before it closes. Therefore, they have the luxury of this accommodation on hand:

Eventually we arrive at the Kyrgyz border post which seems a lot more friendly than the Tajik side. The Kyrgyz border guard see my British passport and immediately lists all the Premier League players he can think of - Liverpool players seem to be the Central Asian go to currently, especially Trend Alexander Arnold.

We are stamped through and told to wait in a car park until all the formalities are completed by our driver. We somehow manage to jump the queue of cars and bikes waiting, and head off inot Kyrgyzstan.

The initial thing that struck me heading into Kyrgyzstan was the greenery and the animals. There are animals everywhere. It's amazing how drastically the scenery can change after going through one border post.

Tucked away into the green pastures are Yurts popping up out of the green, each with its own collection of nomadic animals; buffalo, goats and chickens seems to be the popular choice.

We stop off at the first town after the Kyrgyz border - Sary Tash. At this point we leave our Portuguese car mate at a petrol station as he attempts the journey east into China. The Belgian and I grab lunch at a small Kyrgyz restaurant busy with traveller and Kyrgyz alike. One Kyrgyz uncle strikes up conversation in English asking us if we like Kyrgyzstan, we reply in the positive. The uncle is happy.

The driver into Osh never seems to end. We are seven hours in at this point and the journey slowly moves from natural beauty to motor way (or Central Asian motorway) and more built up by the kilometre.

I would guess that it took 10 hours, but we had finally made it to Osh. I said farewell to Simon, the Belgian chap, and we dropped him near to his hotel. We then set off to find my hotel, the driver was becoming more and more desperate to just drop me off whether near to my hotel or not. Narrowly missing being rear ended as the car behind us was.

After navigating the chaotic streets of Osh, which seemed like the polar opposite to the Pamir Highway that we had just traversed, I finally found my hotel.

I had been smart and booked up the nicest hotel that I could find. Unfortunately there was no restaurant in the hotel and no working ATM nearby. That meant a desperate dinner of almonds and dried apricots for me - two things i was sick of after snaking on them for 5 consecutive days. I got into my room and collapsed on my double bed and got the best night sleep I'd had in days.

The 'Stans - Pamir Highway: Langar to Murgab (12 August 2019)

Another early morning start, though this time we head to a museum that this chap made about his great great grandfather who was a poet and a musician in the local area. Here is the home-stay owner playing a musical instrument that was invented by his great great grandfather:

After that Tajik cultural gem, we again hit the road for another 7 hour car journey. But just down the road, or at least it was probably only an hour away, was a large hill featuring 600 bronze age petroglyphs.

Three Tajik kids joined us at the bottom of the hill for the walk up. We all struggled up the hill as the altitude grew and the air became harder to breathe. The kids were nailing it, one of them was only wearing one and half sandals and still outpacing me.

Suitably sweaty and breathless, we made our way down the hill with the Tajik kids still in tow. When we reached the car, on cue, the kids demanded their payment. I gave them a load of sweets, but they looked at me like I had deeply insulted them. Instead, I resorted to some sweaty rolled up Somoni. Still they looked pissed off. But alas, that's all they would receive from their short walk up the hill that morning.

As we made our way onto Murgab, we finally veered away from the Afghan border and started to head in-land to the west of Tajikistan and edging closer to the Chinese border. The Panj River was soon traded for vast open desert:

Away from the stunning scenery of Afghanistan, this new scenery was fairly monotonous and the 7 hours in the car began to actually feel like 7 hours in a car.

A lunch break is a tiny mountainous village broke up the journey. This village defined remote living. There was barely any greenery, and what looked like a handful of outside toilet for the entire village to use.

Somehow, we were served a lunch of fish in a little home-stay whilst watching an English language documentary of Che Guevara. A bizarre lunchtime stop that juxtaposed the remoteness of the village. Life must be hard in this village - the winters savage, the journeys long but it is home to a number of people, just going about their daily lives.

On the drive to Murgab, the landscape changes from dusty and expansive to green and lush, even heading passed a vast lake (this must be where our fish lunch came from!).

The never ending journey continues, as the road deteriorates and becomes more and more potholed. We are soon in the single digits of mph, trying not to wreck the 4x4 before we reach Murgab. Roads like this suddenly become dreamlike:

Finally we arrive in Murgab. It has a busy vibe about it, and feels like a stop over town for travellers. The hostel we are staying in is packed (for central Asian standards), heading along the Pamir Highway in both directions. We stay at the Pamir Hotel, a basic lodgings but comfortable enough for the journey with a good food selection, which felt far more Chinese in its offerings.

Another unusual site was the Chinese armed forces, again in large numbers in Murgab. At one point a number of solider were in our hotel trying to negotiate some rooms for the more senior looking members of their party. A Chinese Humvee is the last vehicle you expect to be parked outside a Pamiri hostel.

The 'Stans - Pamir Highway: Khorog to Langar (11 August 2019)

Today's leg is Khorog to Langar which is one the more brutal parts of the journey:



We had breakfast and left early doors to climb the mountains leaving Khorog behind:

We continue to follow the path heading to the Panj river, against straddling the Tajik - Afghan border for the remainder of the day. Again, the views are breathtaking:

We reached one of the shallowest part of the Panj River, just a small stroll across into Afghanistan. As we were travelling in the height of summer, the water levels were particularly low:

After a number of hours we reached Ishkashim, which has a bridge connecting it to the Afghan town of Eshkashim. There is sometimes a border market on the island in the middle of the Panj river, but it was unfortunately closed.

We reached a small town and our driver went in search of food. We would stop by groups of locals asking for the nearest restaurant - and by restaurant I mean a family house that will also sell hot meals. After circling this small village for a substantial amount of time, we ended up in the ground of a large farm, with day beds scattered around.

Eventually an old Tajik man appeared with his grand kids and told us that his wife/daughter would be able to knock up some Plov. This may have been the most tranquil lunch I have ever had, in the remote Tajik countryside and the Plov was outstanding - especially after many hours in a 4x4.

After lunch we continue to Kakaah Fortress which overs a vantage point across the Wakhan Valley in Afghanistan. The fortress is a stone ruin at the top of  a hill, which is a fairly tiring climb due to the altitude.

At the top you get spectacular views, so much so that Tajik border guards still use this fort as a vantage point across the river.

 The Wakhan Valley was definitely one of the best views that I had in the trip around the Stans. Truly awe-inspiring.

At the bottom of the fort there was a for gift show, or at least a selection of goods being sold by an entrepreneurial Tajik family. There was one souvenir that I had been looking for and finally found - a Pakul. An Afghan hat. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it now and it will be instantly recognisable. I bartered a reasonable price for two Pakuls, for the Belgian and I, and we set off again. Not too long after we stumble across a Tajik volleyball game in a small village:

Our final stop of the day was at the Bibi Fatima Hot Springs - a sulfur spring, which from the outside looked like two porta-cabins perched onto the mountainside. We made our way in and were greeted by a number of bollock naked Tajiks, include our driver getting in money's worth from the spring. I joined for a relaxing dip, but called it a day as the number of bollock naked Tajiks grew by the minute.

We finally make it to our accommodation for the night - although reminiscent of the fort ruins from the Wakhan, it turned out be comfortable enough for the evening:

The 'Stans - Pamir Highway: Kalai Khum to Khorog (10 August 2019)

The second day of the Road Trip was Kalai Khum to Khorog:


The first day was relatively easy - nice roads, only five hours in the car. The second day I had read would be a slog with the deteriation in roads and more like a 6/7 hour journey.

We begin our day still following the River Panj, keeping Afghanistan in touching distance:

This is one of my favourite shots of Afghanistan, for me it shows the country as I imagined it:

As we drove on the views continued to be stunning, and the hours melted by. My fears of surviving 6/7 hour car journeys were put to ease with this amazing scenery on loop.

We came to our first GBAO checkpoint 0 the first of around 10 as we made our way through the Pamir Highway. I had read about bribes having to be paid at certain checkpoints, but we passed this one with ease. At each checkpoint we had to provide our passports, visas, GBAO permits and photocopies to hand over. There were no computers a the check points, instead our details were written down and our photocopies stored away. This creates a considerable amount of admin and paperwork to get prepared before setting off - 10 x passport, 10 x visa and 10 x GBAO permit photocopies!

No matter where in the world you are, you can always find a football pitch:

After a good 6/7 hours we finally arrived in Khorog. As we drove in we went past Khorog Airport which was being guarded by Chinese soldiers. In fact there were large makeshift barracks, full of Chinese soldiers - some playing frisbee, some giving sweets to Tajik children. It was a very odd site to see the Chinese army deployed in Tajikistan.

Our driver took us to a very nice, modern house (well above the standard of home stay expected) and we dropped our bags and went exploring the town. Khorog is fairly big and affluent for a mountainous town in Tajikistan. Khorog is heavily Ismaili and is home to the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre.

I bump into the Portuguese chap on my walk and we decide to take a bus out of town to the Tem - Demogan Bridge, the bridge connecting Tajikistan to Afghanistan. There is also an Afghan market that takes places near to the bridge, but unfortunately it was closed. We instead took some photos and got shouted at several times by the Tajik border guard for getting too close - must have provided some excite for what looked like an extremely quiet border.

Surprisingly, right at this point there is a luxury hotel. Perfect for a weekend getaway into Afghanistan.

We then hitchhike back into town. A Tajik man and his small child stop and drive us into Khorog whilst refusing to take any money. We go on the hunt for food and pass some Khorog classics:

On a recommendation we head to Delhi Darbar, an Indian restaurant, but to our dismay it is fully booked all evening. Me and the Belgian instead head to a nearby rooftop restaurant for a burger and a beer.

The 'Stans - Pamir Highway: Dushanbe to Kalai Khum (9 August 2019)

We set out early from the City Hostel to start our five day car journey that would eventually end up in Osh, Kyrgyzstan:

My expectations of the journey were long miserable hours in a car, run down homestay accommodation and a definite case of the runs. How many of these were true will become apparent over the next five posts...

Me, the Belgian and the Portuguese chaps set off in our 4x4. It was less spacy than the Land Cruiser in Turkmenistan - usually 4 people do the tour in these cars, that would be unbelievably cramped for five days. With just the 3 of us it would be far more bearable.

The Portuguese guy started speaking about his trip to Turkmenistan and made it sound like he was an intrepid explorer discovering untouched lands, he was suddenly deflated when both me and the Belgian told him we had done the exact same route through Turkmenistan. I could tell being trapped in a car for five days with this chap would be trying...

We had only been going for an hour before a pit stop at the top of a mountain, looking over Nurak situated on the Vakhsh River:

This toilet break offered incredible views, only an hour or so into the journey. This was a good omen of just how spectacular the views on this road trip would be. We were stopped just long enough to be guilted by this cheeky kids into purchasing some second rate pistachios.

Just a little further down the road (still roads at this point), was the memorial to victims of the terrorist attack on 29 July 2018, in which four cyclists were killed.

As we snaked our way south we started to see our first glimpses of Afghanistan which was just beyond the Panj river - only a few metres in length at some parts. At a particuarly narrows and shallow part of the Panj river our guide told us not to wade across, as we would most likely be shot.

As we drove along the Tajik/Afghan border (and we would for the next 2.5 days), there were a corresponding track on the Afghan side, with the occasional bike or walker as the main means of transport. It was surreal seeing Afghans and exchanging waves across the water - a country that everyone at home knows about for war and suffering, to be so close and to look so tranquil.

Our first view of Afghanistan:

As we descend down, we get closer and closer to Afghanistan:

After around 5 hours of driving for the day, my stomach takes a turn for the worse. I know we're very near to Kalai Khum (thanks to Mapse.me), but I can't take it anymore. I asked the driver to pull over and make a bee-line to a large rock. After a few minutes, everything is back to normal and make the final crawl into Kalai Khum.

Kalai Khum is an odd place. It is a village with reasonable home-stay and local shops, and then a massive five star hotel called Karon Palace, presumably catering for the groups of Chinese tourists that may venture this way. 

I headed out to buy a coca cola to settle the stomach (it actually worked), then sat at our home-stay terrace to eat dinner. The home-stay was located right above the tributary of the River Panj - the water flowing through was crystal blue:

The lights went off at 10 and the drivers started snoring, so I hit the decks for a reasonable sleep.