September 28th

B - reporting

Visa Day! We assembled our paperwork, photos and dollars, and headed to the Uzbek embassy. After being let in by the guard, who wrote our details in a ledger in his tiny hut, with rumpled bed and a large gun propped in the corner, we were allowed in.

We joined a queue, and after everyone had pushed past us eventually handed our paperwork over then waited...and waited...and finally were given our passports with the shiny new 30 day visa!! Yay! We celebrated with coffee, scones & jam from a nearby cafe then spent the rest of today sorting out the car and doing laundry.

Scones!

good food and real coffee

The aftermath of dinner

September 27th

G – Reporting

So I think because of the stressful camping location we were on the road at 6:30 by 7 we had done 2 checkpoints one police and one army strangely 100m apart?

[conversation between B and a young army man, while G was in the office:

YAM: hello

B: hello

YAM: I love you

B: no, no you don’t

YAM: goodbye]

The rest of the day was thankfully an easy drive to Dushanbe with the GPS flawlessly getting us to the Hostel which had a room for us, plus wifi and clean clean bathrooms (I’m easily pleased these days!)

So we pulled up our email and found our Uzbek Letter of Invitation had arrived, so quickly stuck it on a USB drive along with the application form and headed into town to get it printed, that done we scoped out the Uzbek embassy location and went back to the hostel, over a few beers we got to meet our fellow guests which included a couple of very affable aussie guys who along with a French guy joined us for dinner at a local chinese restaurant - a good day.

Dangerous load! - Yes there is no red flag on the end of the wood!

Checking underneath to make sure nothing is falling off.

Dushanbe's Reservoir.

September 26th

B - reporting

Had a delicious fried egg breakfast in the hotel, then set off. Small children continued to excitedly shout 'hello' as we passed.

We reached the end of the Whakam valley, and turned north towards Dushanbe. We had left the Pamirs, which felt very strange in a sort of  'end of holiday' feeling, though we still have thousands of kilometers to go...we had been talking about the Pamir Highway for years, and now it was behind us.

The road was pretty good as far as the final police checkpoint, then deteriorated badly. At one point it was just a single lane rocky track under an extremely unstable slope, rocks tumbling down as we drove past. As the sun sank out of sight we decided to stop for the night. G asked a woman in a village if there was a hotel, but she fell about laughing so we decided to camp, and eventually pulled into a grassy area after a small river crossing.

We ate cold tuna, peas and mayo under the romantic glow of the Afghani search lights, and went to bed early.

Left over from Afghan war

and another!

Take your pick

Lending a hand

Suckers for a camera!

September 25th

G – Reporting

Not much to tell today we both felt worn out and so as the Pamir lodge was full tonight plus its toilets where really not nice we packed up and drove 2Km to a local hotel which was clean comfy and had an English news channel spent the rest of the day sorting pictures and watching TV.

Khorg

Top Photoshop work!

September 24th

B - reporting

We woke early...but how early? We think we have crossed a time zone, but are really not sure. After a strange breakfast of cheesy rice pudding, we headed off along the valley, towards Khorog. The road led along the Whakam valley, with Afghanistan on the other side of the river.

It all seemed very peaceful in the bright sunshine. Villagers in both countries were busy with the harvest, making pyramid-shaped haystacks, threshing corn, and doing other farm-y type things. We kept getting exciting glimpses of the Hindu Kush mountains, towering over us all snowy and majestic.

We tried to do touristy things and see an ancient fort, but true to form we couldn't find it. But the scenery was so fantastic we didn't mind.

We arrived in Khorog around 5-ish, checked into a guest house, and one of us was frightened by a gigantic spider in the loo.

Whakan Valley

He shouted Photo Photo - so we did!

Hindu Kush

Afghan Village

More Whakan Valley

September 23rd

G – Reporting

After the somewhat stressful events of the day before woke felling quite excited that they were all behind us, so after a tasty fried egg breakfast in our home stay, a quick check of email at the local intent café! (see pic) we hit the road for almost 2km before we came to a our first Tajik checkpoint which are notorious for trying to get a little money for their troubles, but not this time as usual all our details where painstakingly written in a ledger and then after a few handshakes we were on our way, nice!

To try and set the scene the Pamir Mountains which you may have not heard of are basically the very western end of the Himalayas so it’s safe to say they are big! With some very high passes, after yesterdays 4600m we crossed a couple of smaller ones and then on to the 2^nd highest at 4200m celebrated with a cup of coffee (we know how to push the boat out!) the landscape is stunning if a little barren as not much grows at this height, we passed though one town mid way thought the day which I find surprising as I have no idea what they do up here?

Around 4ish the weather started to turn and it got very cloudy and very cold and as we headed down toward the Wakhan valley we came to our 2^nd checkpoint of the day this time an army one, again all our details were entered in a ledger only this time it was done with an AK47 on the seat next to me then they asked for petrol and food kind of odd and not sure if this was bribe time but they both looked pretty cold and miserable so we gave a litre in an old coke bottle and some apples which they seemed very happy about and sent us on our way.

We carried on descending meeting an English and Swedish cyclists on the way so after chatting and wishing them luck and with the weather getting worse we made a B-Line for Langar, a small village at the start of the Wakhan valley and its homestay which when we arrived we found it had flushing loo and a hot shower - result.

Abandoned Truck outside home stay

Murgab Internet cafe

On the M41(Pamir Highway) Roof of the world!

September 22nd

B - reporting

Border Day! We woke early, to find ice on the inside of the windscreen, and the eastern flank of the mountains turned pink from the sunrise. After coffee and porridge, we headed for the border.

The Kyrgyz border post is not actually on the border, but about 25 km north. Leaving Kyrgyzstan was straightforward...for us. There were 3 people stranded in the border post: 2 Russian women hitchhiking, and Gary, an American man (also hitching) with serious visa problems. He had been stamped out of Tajikistan but not allowed into Kyrgyzstan (he thought he had a double entry visa, and discovered far too late there was a mistake on his visa). The Tajik border is too far to walk to (and up a mountain besides), and he now had no Tajik visa.

The Russians said they'd translate for him, with the Tajik officials, as he had to get back into the country before he could obtain a visa to leave!

So we agreed to take all 3 of them to Murgab, about 200 km into Tajikistan, the first town with any kind of traffic for hitchers. Assuming Gary was allowed in.

After a lot of fannying around we all got into our car, which only has 2 seats.

Mine and G's entry into Tajikistan was straightforward, after we understood that the man searching our car wanted souveniers from Canada. We shook the hand of a bomb disposal officer who chatted to us. And then we waited, under the blue blue sky in the thin air of this very chilly border post, while an unfeasible amount of people argued Gary's case.

We eventually took 2 Russians, 1 American, and a Tajik border official to Murgab. Not wanting to prejudice Gary's case, we gave the border official the passenger seat and I crammed into the back, on the sleeping platform, with the 3 others. All four of us reclined, our backs against the bed roll, in the manner of astronauts in a rocket. And the crappy condition of the road made it feel like we were re-entering the atmosphere. It was a looooong drive.

Murgab is a small, white town nestled in the high brown mountains under the intense blue sky. Nothing green, no grass or trees, but it had a stark beauty, all angles and silhouettes. The temperature plunged the instant the sun sank behind the western mountains, while we waited outside the cop shop to see if Gary would be free, or locked in there overnight. And then he was free! (I think money might have changed hands...)

G and I found a Homestay, shared a beer, and after a brief look up at the jewel-bright stars we crashed out.

Cold start to the day

But what a view

Heading towards the wall of mountains

Airing down the tires to cope with the bad roads

1st Pass

2nd and Highest of the trip.

At the top with our Russian hitch hikers

Room for the night.

September 21st

G – Reporting

So last day in Kyrgyzstan, and a little sad to be leaving but also excited about the upcoming Pamirs, speaking of which was why we stared our day in Osh Bazaar buying a duvet and a flask for hot water as with passes up to 4600M(15000ft) it was going to be cold.

Shopping done it was onto Sary-Tash the last town before the border and our camping location for the night, the trip there was stunning with ever higher mountain passes and one point a 3km tunnel with no lighting and by the smell very little if any ventilation!

Sary-Tash its self was a tiny barren windswept place set against the stunning back drop of the Pamir Mountains which looked like a wall on the horizon, Using the last of our Kyrgyz som to buy gas we headed out of town for about 5km find a place to camp in a dry river channel which got us and the truck out of the wind.

Then it was just a case of cooking the last of sausages, eating and then getting into bed as soon as possible as we were at 3000m (10,100ft) and the temperature was dropping fast lucky im happy to report our new duvet was fantastic and once in bed we were toasty!

September 20th

B - reporting

We had asked for breakfast at 7am, as Fatima had to be at school by 8. What would the exciting local breakfast be...egg and chips!

We headed out to explore, stopping gobsmacked at the first sight of the enormous snowy mountains, hidden yesterday behind clouds. We walked past ducks dabbling in a stream beside the road into the centre of town, then towards a small waterfall, then to a panoramic view of the walnut forest which turned into a long walk round the village, nowhere near the walnuts.

The village seems very prosperous, though all the roads are dirt. Most houses are concealed behind whitewashed walls, over which fruit trees hang, and brightly coloured flowers peep out of the gates. We passed many patient donkeys, a few outraged chickens and hundreds of schoolchildren, all of whom shouted 'hello' 'how are you' 'what is your name' 'bye bye' without wating for any reply.

After a chai and more 'what is your name's' in the village, we asked the way to the panorama (we had taken the wrong turn at the waterfall)  and found our first wild walnut!

After inadvertently purchasing a kilo of apple jerky (it is the size of a carpet) we headed for Osh. It was a slow journey, due to goats, sheep, cows and crazy drivers.

We booked into the Taj Mahal hotel where the secure parking was literally in the hotel courtyard. The landlady moved a few tables and their occupants, G drove through, the tables were replaced and normal drinking resumed.

View from out front of the homestay

Rural Arselan Bob

Looking down the valley

end of a long day in an almost tiki bar!

September 19th

G – Reporting

It’s not every morning you find yourself locked in your hotel but thats  how this day started so after finding and waking a member of staff to let us out we started out on the road to Arselan Bob our fantastically named destination for the day, the dive was good through pleasant scenery and villages, while stopping for lunch a random farmer appeared as if from nowhere and gave us a bottle of milk seems that how nice people are in the “stans”

We arrived in the Arselan Bob at about 4 and parked right in the town square of this small hillside village but I think we only stood out a LOT! For a few minutes we wandered around trying to work out where the home stay office was when a man came up and said “hello” do you need a home stay why yes we said, turn out he was the man were badly trying find, so after a quick look at the options back at the office we picked a home stay near the village and he took us down to it.

Introducing us to our host that didn’t speak English he disappeared leaving us a little bewildered but we were soon sat down with piles of fruit bread and tea in front of us, I could get used to this.

After a while the host’s 16-year-old daughter arrived who could speak pretty damn good English, which made everything way easy so telling her we would be back we did a quick walk through town returning for dinner which was a huge plate of Plov (a very tasty traditional rice dish) plus roast veg and meat, gallons of tea as usual and more fruit.

Totally stuffed we chatted with Fatima who was very charming and wants to be an English teacher and I have no doubt she will.

Room with a view from the night before.

Donkeys are the new Horse in the "stans"

Arselan Bob from the main square

Dinner at the guest house - yum!

September 18th

B - reporting

We are finally ready to leave Bishkek, about 4 days after the original plan!

Up early for porridge, then ran around Bishkek picking up sausages and photographing Lenin. It was a very slow drive west as apparently today is market day for every small town, and the venue for these markets was the highway.

At Kara-Balky we picked up a couple of mystery samsas and petrol (from different places) and headed towards Toktogul, our first stop en route to Tajikistan.

The road led up tight bends, switchbacks, crazy overtaking, a 3km unlit, unventilated tunnel and over our first mountain pass: 10,000 feet. We had read so much about altitude sickness, one of whose symptoms is paranoia, that I am not sure if I imagined feeling tightness when I breathed. It could also have been due to the fuminess of the tunnel, now I think about it!

We then crossed a very broad flat plain, with herders moving horses and cows down to lower lands. Circular patches of gravel beside the road were the only indication that this plain had been home to many gers.

We reached Toktogul after another pass, and amazingly managed to find the hotel we'd picked really easily! It was right by the highway...

Our room had no curtains, only nets. And our view was of the petrol pumps just outside our room. We resolved to always ensure the presence of curtains before agreeing to take rooms, in future.

We ate strange noodles in the hotel's cafe, chosen at random as they had no menu. Lucky we are adept, even expert, at ordering bread and tea. We then retired to our goldfish-bowl room for the night.

Crazy mountain roads

We let him Lie.

Scary Tunnels

September 17th

G –Reporting

The travelers curse returned so stayed close to the loo with a quick trip to the chemist!

September 16th

B - reporting

We were both ill today - enough said.

September 15th

G – Reporting

Quiet day after feeling so rough the day before, just went over to the Kyrgyz visa office to see if we could get a 2nd visa if we draw a blank on a Uzbek visa in Dushanbe… the answer was NO!

So had coffee and headed back to the hostel, in the evening we went to Vis-à-vis a café which is a attached to the aussie butcher and had my 1st western-size meal (Bacon cheeseburger and fries) in some time and couldn’t finish it, and that was about it you know it’s a quiet day when a burger is the most exciting thing that happened.

September 14th

B - reporting

Visa Day! We got to the Uzbek consulate, clutching all our print-outs, by 9:30, plenty of time for our 9:50 appointment...only to find a mass of other people with 9:50 appointments. The doors opened at 10am, and a uniformed man read out names in the manner of a school roll call. We were about 4th on the list. We were all told we had to wait in the street, outside the gates, until it was our turn. So we didn't mess up their lovely courtyard with our presence?

When we were finally allowed in the little mustachioed man behind the counter refused to give us our visa, as it said on our Letter of Invitation (LOI) we'd pick it up in Almaty. Argh!!!! We even asked 'is there anything we can do to get one here?' but whenever you need a corrupt official there aren't any!

After a furious walk round Bishkek, consulting travel agencies, we came up with Plans B and C: obtain a new LOI with Dushanbe on it, and get another Kyrgyz visa in case we are refused the Uzbek one. We rolled up at the Kyrgyz office just before noon, only to discover it is closed on Wednesdays!! Argh again.

And more argh, as in the afternoon G felt very unwell. And any more 'i' would definitely be 'tm'.

September 13th

G – Reporting

Late start partly due to feeling more than a little hung over but also because we really didn’t have anything to do which was a nice feeling so spent a lazy day in the garden of the hostel blogging and then later went downtown to get a few printouts for visa applications, in the evening we went out for dinner with Lex (a fellow guest from America) at a local Kyrgyzstan restaurant which was tasty and stupidly cheap at under $6 each! All in all a nice lazy day

Lunch time menu - Beef Botti anyone?

September 12th

B - reporting

Visa day! We were up early and drove to the Tajik embassy, arriving before 9. It was another lovely sunny day, and today we actually saw the huge mountain range to the south of Bishkek before they were hidden by heat or shashlik haze.

This was our easiest yet - in and out with visa handwritten by the nice mustachioed Consul in less than 30 mins, most of that time spend by us filling in the forms. So we headed back to the guesthouse feeling as if we'd done a successful day's work!

We treated ourselves to a massive breakfast - 'The Full Monty' from Fatboys Cafe where we saw someone we knew! Lex, who is staying at the same guesthouse. Sustenated, we walked round the city for a while then returned to the guesthouse to fill out the Uzbek visa form on-line. The landlady phoned the Embassy for us to make an appointment. If you phone and speak English, the staff just hang up on you! We have an appointment for Wednesday, 9:50am.

After lots of walking and some delicious stuffed Samsas (chicken in filo pastry today) we had a rest and beer before heading out for some fantastic Lebanese food with Lex.

Man with a cell phone Statue?!

Leafy streets of Bishkek

Main Square

September 11th

G – Reporting

Woke early so decided to make the most of it and go down to the lake and get some pictures of the sunrise, sunrise was beautiful not so good was the 60 year old Russian who came down said hello then stripped off for a swim, he could have warned me!

After breakfast which we assume was included with the room as no one asked us for money in the restaurant, we packed and checked out and slowly drove back to Bishkek as I really didn’t want any more speeding tickets.

We had found a guesthouse/hostel online and had our fingers crossed that they had space for us, which when we got there they did and it just got better from they as the room was simple but spotless, plus a guest kitchen, free laundry and wifi all for $20 a night a real result when staying in a city.

After unpacking we headed downtown for some food and drink at “Fatboys” an expat place in the downtown core which had great food and was pretty cheap, as for the city it was like a smaller Almaty with the same leafy streets but with a more relaxed vibe all in all very nice, after we returned to the hostel and chatted with fellow travelers something you don’t get with a hotel.

Sunrise worth getting up for.

Yes it was cold!

Donkey at a bus stop

Hat shaped bus stop!

Safe load?

Love the golden lenins