Tajikistan Highlights and Lowlights

The country of Tajikistan is a haven for natural beauty with towering mountains of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush.  The country's neighbors include Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east.  Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. 

Highlights:

• Sleeping at homestays instead of hotels and spending time with the locals
• Witnessing the beauty of the Pamir Mountains
• Successfully communicating with our hands due to the language divide
• Seeing ruins and forts from by gone years
• Nan, Sharchai, homemade (butter, yogurt, milk, jam)
• The Badakshan hospitality
• Tajik music
• Caveman paintings and the isolated but magnificent surroundings
• Drive from Khorog to Dushanbe

Lowlights:

• Almost losing our life on the Pamir Highway
• Getting stuck on no-man's land for 5 days
• Almost getting thrown out of a car at the Tajik/Kyrgyz border over a money dispute
• Leaving Kyrgyzstan and then having to turn back around due to the condition of the car and icy roads
• Dushanbe (capital city)
• Soviet style hotels

Tajik Towns

Getting around the "Stans" isn't always easy as there aren't any buses and only private cars will go once they are full.

We caused a small argument when the driver that we had agreed to the day before couldn't leave due to lack of passengers, so when we returned tne next day another driver tried to pull us into his car, which resulted in a punch getting thrown and some pushing and shoving from the drivers. Luckily it was broken up quickly and we slipped into the car with our driver.

The towns that we visited during our time here were:

• Murgab - The first town from Osh, where we did a homestay with Gulnara's family.  Drove deep in the Pamirs to Shakthy to look at cavemen drawings of a buffalo hunt.
• Khorog - The heart of the GBAO with lots of Aga Khan NGO work going on and a young population with good universities.
• Ishkashim - Village town, had a chance to attend a Tajik wedding.
• Langar - On the drive stopped at Khakka and Yumchun Fortress, Vrang, Bibi Fatima Springs, and Abrashim Qala.
• Namadgut - Did a wonderful home stay with Bibimo and her father Ivan and family.
• Darst - Neighbouring village from Namadgut where we often took our daily walks.
• Varzob - Neighboring town from Dushanbe with nicer people and better scenery.
• Takob - Took a nice walk from Varzob to explore the mountains and the many waterfalls.
• Dushanbe - Capital of Tajikistan with lots of Soviet style monuments, expensive restaurants/hotels, and nothing too extraordinary.

Arrival into Tajikistan

The arrival into Tajikistan was emotional with almost dying on the Pamir Highway, getting stranded at the border for 5 days, almost getting tossed out at the border, and having to push one very old Soviet car across the ice.

The people of the Badakshan have to be some of the most hospitable and generous people we've met so far.  We were invited into people's homes, stayed with local families, attended a wedding, volunteered at a school, all for starters.

You go to Tajikistan for the scenery and it is breathtaking with Afghanistan just across the raging Panj River, which provides a natural barrier between the two countries and of course the mountains, which are the Pamirs, Alay, Tian Shan, and the Hindu Kush.

Kyrgyzstan Highlights and Lowlights

Kyrgyzstan is all about natural scenery and the interaction and stories we have are too many for this blog, so here are the highlights instead for brevity:

Highlights:

• 14 KM hike back from Altyn Arashan through knee deep snow with possibly a chance to see a bear or wolf
• Million year old petroglyph boulder field of archers, animal hunts, and human figures all to ourselves
• Endless rounds of green tea
• No tourists
• Lake Issakol
• Burana Tower
• Hospitality of Osh
• Receiving a Kalpak as a welcome gesture
• Eating Lagman

Lowlights:

• Being forced to drink vodka in a car packed full of strangers
• Getting kicked out of a Kyrgyz hotel after agreeing to the price and conditions
• Constantly being hassled to show our passports
• Soviet style hotels

Scary Pamir Highway

The Pamir Highway is one of those road trips that you're supposed to do before you die. Its simply raw scenery at its most beautiful with towering mountains bordering Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China. The road is one of the highest in the world with many passes exceeding 4,000 meters.

We are on this road to get from Kyrgyzstan to Tajikistan by way of Osh to Murgab. Our trip to leave for Tajikistan was a bit of a scramble as at the last moment our friends from Osh Guesthouse arranged a car for us to head out. The car didn't induce any confidence building as it was an old Volvo but with visas in hand and time expiring decided to take our chances.

The trip started out unassumingly enough, communicating with hand gestures and our broken Russian sharing the car with us, the driver, and his friend. The plan is to head to Sary Mogul spend a night with the drivers friends and then make the remainder of the journey to Murgab to avoid traveling at night. A few hours into the trip, heavy snow started to come down on a narrow pass shared with a few passing Chinese trucks. Our driver tried to pass one of these trucks and in his haste got the car stuck in snow. That wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for the low visibility, night time, and the fact that the truck that he tried to pass was pulling something big. As the truck went by, the last few feet ploughed into the car and our car went careening off the side of the mountain. Our lives flashed by and I didn't even realize that I was screaming.

Some good deed paid off and the car ran into a huge snow bank that stopped its fall. The truck kept going. We were now literally stuck in one of the remotest places on earth with heavy snow falling, darkness, and not a shovel in sight.

After trying to flag down a few trucks one did stop and with a rope tied to the front of the car, it was finally freed from the snow's grip.

The house at Sary Mogul was warm, had lots of blankets, and a bed prepared on the floor. We were served a delicious meal of fresh butter, nan, chai, and biscuits after which we turned in for the night with the sounds of the family nearby.

Mountain Springs

Getting around Central Asia isn't very easy since public buses don't exist and the only way to snag rides are via private taxis.  Such was the case coming into Karakol, a mountain town with a few churches and a small hotel that looked haunted from the inside and out.  The hotel was manned by an elderly gentleman who showed us to a large but spooky interior with old Victorian furniture, creaky stairs, and doors that would lead to different parts of the house.  The place was a maze and we were the only ones here.

We slept well in the old house with the sound of the wind, melting icicles hitting the ground, and a few barking dogs.

In the morning an ancient Russian truck picked us up to go to Altyn Arashan, a set of hot springs deep in the mountains.  The driver didn't look like he was all there.  He looked like he had been working on a farm and might have had manure stains on his overalls.  He was completely disheveled, looked hungover but had a smile and cracked jokes in Russian.  The scenery along the river was either jagged snow covered peaks or deep dizzying valleys. 

The jeep only got so far before we had to foot it to the hotel near the springs to meet Valentin.  There were just a few of us at the hotel, two guys from Poland who had come to snowboard the backcountry, a couple from Holland, a quiet bearded hotel helper, and us.  The little lodge provided simple meals around a woodstove.  During the day, we would soak in the amazingly hot springs and then go for hikes around the valley with massive 10,000 feet and above peaks all around.

The Himalayas

The Himalayas for such massive mountains are often hidden behind clouds and we were afraid we wouldn't see them at our arrival in Pokhara, a town with views of the Annapurna Range. We arrived on a clear warm day with paragliders above and shimmering waters of the lake that surrounds the town.  Our first attempt to see the Himalayas was to hike to the Peace Pagoda, a temple built along a mountain. We talked to a few locals and started off on the trail, which soon disappeared into the jungle. Dismayed we turned around just as the clouds rolled in and started raining, which would last for a few days...this is the dry season by the way.

Pokhara does busy trade in the tourist business due to many excellent trekking opportunities and is thus a little bit more expensive, which is still a bargain and overall Nepal is an extremely affordable country. Our breakfast away from the touristy hotels would consist of a small bowl of vegetable curry, few poories, milk tea, ghalabi, and a samosa or two.

As the rains let up and chances of seeing the roof of the world improved, decided to do a sunrise on Sarangkot, a town high above. Even in the morning darkness, we could make out the massive peaks close enough to touch, while behind us the town valley below was shrouded in clouds. As the sun rays broke over the hills, the mountains were lit up with their snow covered hulks and finally witnessed the beauty and awe of these giants.

The country has a sizable Tibetan population, many of which left the country after the Chinese takeover and now have refugee status. As such, visiting a few of them is very different from the rest of town with prayer flags strung above, the gompa with it's kora performing devotees spinning prayer wheels, and artisans weaving Yak wool carpet, and the oldest of oldest women you could ever imagine hunched over but still able to climb the hills, give you a friendly smile, and look at you with curiosity. We stayed around just as the monks were gathering for prayer with horns, drums, cymbals, incense, and chanting of the sutras, which was haunting with the mountains around.

Nepal is a trekking country so while we decided we would rather appreciate the mountains from a distance, decided to do a different sort of trek in Bardia National Park to walk on foot and look for wild animals.

A Steady Northernly Direction

We have both learned that we don't care much for big cities and instead prefer the village life. As such, we made a route for Nongkhew, a small fishing village set on the Mekong River. The place is surrounded by majestic jungle covered karst peaks with numerous caves, waterfalls, and treks. The road to our destination was twisting and turning and our driver almost took out a few poor chickens that somehow always move away just in time to avoid squashed. We checked into a simple room with mosquito netting and went walking around the one main street with some vendors selling goods, chickens and dogs running around, and the laughter of children. Clouds often descend on the town, which give the mountains an even more mysterious look with the mint green river flowing down swiftly. 

The place may be small but the food options are international, so ate Indian food every night with generous portions and got little bamboo baskets stuff full of sticky rice for breakfast and Bamboo soup. 

The next day asking around the hotel about some caves to visit on foot, started off down the quiet road, while coming across other villages where the children would come running yelling greetings and asking for pens.  We passed farmers working in the field and hopped a fence to what we thought was a waterfall but instead found a pretty riverside bank with mountains all around and lilies growing on ponds.  We spotted four girls washing their days catch in the river and exchanged greeting and lots of smiles. As they left to go up the hilly dirt path, they continued to look back smile and wave at us.   

The cave that we ended up at was used as a shelter during the American bombing campaign and was massive with a few chambers. We tried walking to another cave but the path was too steep, muddy, and slippery so took a leisurely stroll back to town. Not having any banks around, we just barely have enough money to take the bus to Luang Namtha in the far northwest of Laos, so bid goodbye to out pleasant time here. 

A Taoist Mountain

China has many religious mountains and Heng Shan happens to be one of them located in the town of Nanyue. All religious mountains are based on Taoist belief that there are five basic elements (wood, fire, metal, earth, and water). All that aside, we really wanted to climb and see the beautiful scenery. The mountain tops out at 4,200 feet at Wishing Harmony Peak, where there is a simple pagoda containing a monastary to Confucious. The mountain was a playground for the emperors who used to come there to hunt and make sacrifices.

We took a 21 hours train ride from Changsha in the Hunan province to get to Nanyue, a small town but even by Chinese standards boasts a KTV (night club and karaoke), boutique shops, and of course the fruit market. Upon arriving, we were able to stay at a hotel run by a Chinese woman who came running and beckoned us for lunch and when we asked, offered us the hotel room at the requested bargained price. The place was in a great location, close to the mountain but since the owner along with the rest of the town spoke no English getting around was an adventure and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Chinese version of hiking is to build stairs that sidewind their way to the mountain, so while efficient it is murder on knees both going up and down. Truth be told, we got a little lost going up Heng Shan, maybe on purpose and ended up walking through farms with some barking dogs but some very friendly farmers who pointed us the way to Zhurong Peak. The climb to the top took us about 5 hours on a cloudless picture perfect day, we stopped to eat, snap pictures, so could've done faster but why rush when the views were so bewitching with knotted pine trees, pagodas, waterfalls, and monastaries. Part of the hike we had to do on the road shared by tourist buses on their way to the top, so that was a bit unnerving as the horn is the defensive measure used by all drivers who all drive way too fast, meaning get out of the way quickly.

We have been working our way south, so the sensible thing to do was to head south to Hong Kong but the challenge was communicating and figuring out the timings and location for the bus. We tried using our book, which contained some useful phrases but weren't getting too far. We had been pantaomiming a lot of our conversations, mostly about food, which surprisingly gets conveyed pretty easily but this was more challenging. So Sabeen, said the closest town's name and the hotel owner understood and replied with a time and we agreed to meet her downstairs where she would hail the proper bus going to our destination. She met us promptly at the agreed upon time and walked us to the bus station, spoke with driver who initially seemed hesitant but talked him into dropping us off to our proposed destination. We got on the bus hoping for ther best as we had no idea if we really were headed in the right direction. As the bus arrived into town and emptied out, the bus driver motioned us to stay put and after parking, personally escorted us down the road to get on a local bus in the direction of the train station, where we were able to buy a ticket to Shenzhen on the way to Hong Kong.

The booking was simple enough and there was a train leaving that day but the downside was that it was 11 hours later, so we had no choice but to wait it out at the public square watching people. The time actually went by quicker than we thought as we found a good Muslim place to eat, watched men write caligraphy using water and oil on the square, and a weird form of Chinese exercise dished out to both modern and traditional music with women all lined up and waving their arms and bodies in sync. Sabeen tried out her hand at caligraphy at the behest of the locals and wrote her name in Urdu, which the locals at first found interesting and then quickly lost interest and went on their way. We got in our hard sleeper and slept off an exhausting day.