We drove through a beautiful wide valley filled with fruit trees; farmers ploughing fields and small road-side stalls of apples, onions, melons and squash. The road meandered for a few miles following a dry river bed hemmed in by gentle sloping hills on either side. We eventually came across a track that crossed the river bed and stopped in a small triangular parcel of land where two hills converged.
Thoughts on Tajikistan
#1 No men riding horses (well the odd one or two but certainly nothing like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia)
#2 The Pamir Highway and the Wakhan Valley are beautiful. I recommend Autumn for travelling through them
#3 Lots of pomegranates
#4 School uniforms are terribly smart
#5 Like the rest of Central Asia and Mongolia the people are terribly friendly and hospitable
#6 In Dushanbe there are a lot of men wearing slim trousered blue suits. Very dapper looking
#7 On that note the men in Dushanbe are the sort of boys your mother would have loved you bringing home – good-looking, well groomed and polite young men
#8 Tajikistan has been noticeably more expensive than any of the other countries we’ve visited
#9 As with the rest of Central Asia there are a lot of tall mature trees in the cities and towns
#10 If a shop doesn’t have the exact change that you need they sometimes give you gum or a sweet instead
#11 There are a lot of stunning high mountains throughout the country
#12 There are a lot of 2000-era Vauxhall Astra and Vectra cars
#13 The children always wave and say hello at us as we drive through villages
#14 Again as with the rest of Central Asia driving in cities is utterly manic
#15 In the cities women wear a lot of makeup
#16 Lots of big fat shiny new black LandCruisers in the cities
#17 There are lots of huge banners and posters of the President adorning many buildings
#18 Wherever we go you can guarantee you’ll see at least one broken down lorry
#19 People carry a huge amount on their roof racks
#20 Big metal or wooden daybeds are a popular place to sit, chat and drink tea on. They are often covered in colourful traditional patterned rugs, bolsters and cushions.
The Pamir
The M41, romantically referred to as the Pamir Highway, connects Osh in Kyrgyzstan with Dushanbe in Tajikistan. It’s a road of about 1600km that rises to an elevation of 4655 metres. Much of it is unpaved or rough pot-holed tarmac; not much wider than a single lane and is carved out of the mountain sides. As it runs south from the border with Kyrgyzstan the looming mountains of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan make a dramatic appearance. The Wakhan Valley road makes a detour off the M41 and curves down to run alongside the Panj River. This river, in the valley below, acts as the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan and at times the two countries become tantalisingly close.
So you can understand why this particular road has been on the top of Captain’s list for the trip.
Kyrgyzstan: Video
Here’s the lastest installment of our country-by-country video diaries – this time from Kyrgyzstan.
Enjoy!
A blog about not going to Iran
When we started thinking about the route home we had three absolute definites: avoid the bureaucratic headache of driving in China, visit Mongolia again and travel through Iran. In fact, I would go as far as saying that Iran was at the ‘top of the list.’
Tajikistan Route
One of the ‘big ticket’ items on the drive home to Frome was always going to be the ‘Pamir Highway’ – a semi-paved roadway that starts in Kyrgyzstan and climbs up on to the Pamir plateau in Tajikistan before slowly descending to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. I can now report that we have successfully completed this leg of the journey and all expectations were easily met. Big, big mountains, cliff clinging roads and, for the latter part of the route, lots and lots of waving children. The road has a reputation for being a bit scary but, to be honest, the scariest thing was having to get the car filled up by bucket from a big unmarked tank – poor Tots!
So we are now in Dushanbe, which has turned out to be a very green, clean and friendly capital city. Not quite so friendly was the first restaurant we visited who decided to poison me by means of pizza.
As we’ve now given up on any chance to travel home via Iran, the big job whilst we’re in town is to get a Russian transit visa. Once we have this, we’ll be able to re-enter Russia north of the Caspian Sea and make the dash to Georgia. Our first embassy visit last Thursday failed on a few technicalities so today was attempt number 2. They have now accepted our application and are graciously going to give us 3 days(!) to clear 2 international borders and cover 1000km and all for the very generous price of USD127 each.
Before Russia we still have a couple more coutries to tackle – Uzbekistan in 6 days time, followed by a second visit to Kazakhstan.
Surprise, Surprise
Nine months passed between deciding that Fromeward Bound was going to happen and finally leaving Tokyo. During that time I did a huge amount of researching and planning – reading blogs and forums, pouring over maps, etc. – and created quite a clear idea in my head of how I thought things would play out.
Despite all that ‘deep’ thinking, some things have turned out a bit differently…..
Border Patrol (Night Two)
Setting
Due to the road literally being honed from the mountain side with the river raging below; small picturesque villages have settled where the valley, on occasions, widens and flattens. As occasionally happens, dusk started to fall before we had found somewhere good to camp. And so it was we found ourselves having to stop, before darkness completely fell, just off from the road in a large lay-by. It was far from ideal but at least we managed to tuck ourselves next to a small half built building.
Border Patrol (Night One)
Setting
At the moment we are driving from Khorugh to Dushanbe in Tajikistan. The road follows the Panj River as it meanders between numerous mountains. On one side of the river is Afghanistan and on the other is Tajikistan. At times the river narrows as it flits through tight canons and you come so tantalisingly close to the people and dwellings of Afghanistan. As this is a porous border there are Tajik soldiers manning several check points along the road but also keeping ‘an eye’ on any unwanted activity from ‘across the river.’
Grand Design Containers
In the west it seems it’s all the rage at the moment to build houses from shipping containers. However, throughout all of Kyrgyzstan it’s old news and we have seen shipping containers being reused in all manner of creative ways.
