Thursday 27th June 2013
Pamir Highway – nearly there
6am wake up. Can see the scenery now, sheer cliff faces rising above us. Clear morning air. Text from Mike, things from Mum’s house collected. Thanks to all involved. Have hot shower. Sue and Nigel, my birthday present came in very handy. Felt refreshed, and stomach a lot better today. Sit on balcony above river. Watch mountain goats run across ledges high above. Eat breakfast. Green tea, bread, eggs and sausages. Family fuss around us. Marco Polo sheep statues looking out over village. Spit toothpaste down nearly pristine tee shirt from yesterday. Nice look. Some of our clothes may not make it home.
This area very poor. A lot of European aid has been sent, and the Aga Khan Foundation has given money to stave off starvation. It also ensures that traditional music is kept alive. Also, many projects to bring fresh water here. Ten years ago, Tajikistan was the 30th poorest country in the world.
We are just over 9,000km from home. Nobody feels homesick, but we think about you guys from time to time!!!!! Tim asks for water ina large plastic bottle, but his Russian is not very good, and our host take it and keeps it. Oh, well. Villagers gather as we pack and prepare for another hard day’s driving. Our host wants pictures, Internet. Cross eyed boy stands entranced. He is wearing a jumper 2 years too small. We reveres on to road, and loads of people yell at us. Wrong way. Set off well before 8am. We still have over 200km to drive before the start of the Highway and border is over 700km away.
Feel a few spots of rain. Road full of people starting their day. Little girl blows a big pink bubble of gum. Sun trying to break through cloud cover. Don’t try too hard. See Afghan school. Children all sitting under two big tarps. Lens not big enough to see If one was for boys and the other for girls. Do girls go to school in Tajikistan? Must find out. As the journey continues I begin to realise something. When Tim and I were in London arranging our visas, we went to hear Michael Palin talk about his travels. I was incensed that there were only two photos of women and girls in his whole presentation. I have done exactly the same. Not through lack of trying, but because they are more reserved, and don’t come running forward for attention. Bet they are still curious though. Really glad I didn’t embarrass one of my heroes at his talk. He had even said hello to me as well.
Two foreign cyclists come towards us. They have cycled the Pamir Highway. Respect. Boy carrying painting easel. Get into 5th gear. Pass a faux Hummer. Wouldn’t really want to be driving in that so close to border. Glad ipad in protective casing. It is covered in dust, and the road so bumpy that ever few words I type it asks Undo? Don’t you dare. A few new houses built out of beautiful local stones. Older ones have plastered wall which have been painted.
Tim says we should get into the habit of flipping up the Landy steps. Road seems to be narrowing. Water in tributaries is glacial green. Water in main river looks muddy, but is full of minerals. Funny how we see more expedition cars coming towards us, than we see going our way! They have all been hermetically sealed package tours, paying passengers who are driven in air conditioned cars, who don’t smell the smells or taste the dust. I am not criticising, they will have travelled the same exhilarating route, and will go home with life changing experiences. And that is where all this started for Tim and I, on our first organised trip to Morocco, looking at the snow capped Atas Mountains and saying “We are coming back under our own steam”. And we did. Met Atle and Hilde, loads of other incredible people, and the rest is history.
No left or right on road, just travel on the best surface and pass to the right of on coming vehicles. Chinese registered lorry. Today, due to meandering borders, we are not too far from Pakistan. Connection to ipad charger a bit loose. Will keep an eye on it.
Disputes between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan centre largely to do with Samarkand. It used to belong to TJ, but was partitioned off to Uzbekistan by the Russians. TJ wants it back. Most of the people living there now are Tajik.
Petrol fro sale from plastic barrels. More spots of rain on windscreen. Some form of wagtail. Think the Riley/Williams’ will be travelling their respective ways through France by now. Small rocks fall just ahead of us from cliffs. Although Tim washed windscreen before we set off, he doesn’t want to turn on wiper. It will just smear dust all over. It would be a shame if we travel the highway in the clouds. Discussing Land Cruisers last night, Tim said he had considered buying one, but didn’t. Hilde said ” But you wouldn’t have smile when you got in, and the car wouldn’t have smiled”. Radio will be to be
rescrewed into its housing. Just lost satellite reception as we go through gulley.
Tumble Weed rolls across. Rain drops electrify bare skin, when it comes in through window. Wind blowing sand into river and into car. Over take bearded western cyclist. Where’s Rachel? At home there are lorries with the random slogan Eat More Chips. If you were to cycle here, that would be a good thing to do in preparation. Undo command appearing every few seconds now, and battery running low due to dodgy connection. Will turn off and try to find other one. Back again.
Road check. Soldier asks German, no English. Ok, auf wedersain. Can you believe it? At next check point, as Tim and Atle sign their own papers, a TJ policeman opens the driver’s door, jumps in and drives the Landy. I ask if I can take a picture of him doing so, fair swops. He says no. Man in office talks to Tim. He worked at British Embassy in Moscow in 2004. He has a Pajaro, and doesn’t like it. He asked Tim to drive back to Dushambe, sell him our Landy, and fly home. Fair swops? Atle pleased we are keeping up a good speed, 34kph. We realise we need to crack on, as their visa runs out on 29th and we don’t want this once in a lifetime experience being spoilt by anxiety.
Previous landslides we pass would have blocked this road. Tried to take picture of little girl, she looked upset. It didn’t come out very well, but she will never know that. Hope I didn’t cause offense. Delete it anyway.
Sun trying to break through again. Roads so rough, Atles’ hazard warning lights are shaken on. Three young recruits, walking along, all carrying semi automatic rifles. Thankfully they salute with a smile. Youths playing volleyball. Many more Red Cross cars going other way. We have not heard news for several days now, what is going on? Blow nose on a regular basis, otherwise can’t breathe. Also need lashings of lip balm. One good thing though. Dust keeps oily hair at bay. So no bad hair days for me.
Found it, the name of the river. Panji. Pee stop, hide in trees. Round corner there are toilets. 11am alarm, Malarone tablets with crusty bread. Reset alarm. Land Cruiser backs up for us, tanker driver pulls over. Text from bank informing us we are overdrawn. Never mind, they can’t repossess this holiday. Must have been those dollars withdrawn in Samarkand. When got Internet, we will transfer funds. Too many What the Hell Days. Many armed foot patrols this side of the river. The West have supported TJ in order to stop drug smugglers.
Gradually climbing, over 1,900m in big hills. Less than 100km to our first destination point Churog. Last chance to stock up on provisions. Must remember to eat water melon. River widening out and looks more sluggish. Coming to immense Rushon Lake. Border runs through middle. Surrounded by all this water reminds me. If I am ever on Desert Island Discs my favourite book would be Water Log by Roger Deakin. When stranded on my fictitious island I would luxuriate in the wild swimming of familiar surroundings of home.
Realise one of the issues of taking pictures of girls, they never seem to play with the boys. They are looking after younger siblings or doing household chores with their Mum. Also, school aged children of both sexes are seen throughout school hours. In general, large groups of people tend to be single sex.
Press UNDO by mistake. Only deleted one sentence. Phew. Lost the river now. Drive through prosperous village boasting a college, pharmacy and bank. All looked closed. One house had shower tent in garden with solar heated water tank on top. Just passed an airport on map, no sign of it from road. You wonder how pilots can negotiate the treacherous terrain.
We climb to over 2,000m getting closer to the snow. Worryingly, the highest peaks are in cloud. Road wet from recent rain here, so not dusty any longer. Back to the river, so lovely temperature to drive in. 19 degrees, the lowest since we left home. Maybe our air conditioning has kicked in at last!
Give Tim a loaf shaped mint to suck ( avoiding brand names here), and I have a much nicer bum hug. Tim spies a spiral water pump. Sky leaking a bit more now, so wind window up. Ineffectual blobs of tarmac dumped into potholes. Passing vehicles squeeze it all out again. Seen over a dozen touring cyclists today, and two bikers. Old man collecting nuts into his hat. Four UN cars appear in Atle’s mirror. We let them pass and they tear ahead.
Is it coincident that on our two big trips so far I have had a damaged knee. I did not drive on the first one, and have not driven so far on this. To be fair, I am waiting for an operation which I deferred in May. Tim says the throttle is very heavy, and the vibrations from the road will really set my knee back. I would be nervous driving the Beast. But looking on the positive side. What an achievement for Tim at the end of the trip, when he will have driven halfway around the world.
Atle’s attitude has helped us all through some scary moments. He never admits there is a problem, there is only a challenge. OK, we are rich westerners who can sometimes throw money at it. But also, he trusts people are good and willing to help. He is collecting new best friends in each country. He also is not daunted, outwardly. We came to do the Pamir Highway, so we are doing it. If we overstay our visa, we will get someone to help us sort it out. He carries us all along with him, outwardly. Sometimes we may question and doubt. Thank goodness for beta blockers.
“Keep Distance” orders an eagle on the wheel cover of the car in front. All the UN cars were rushing to catch a plane, at the large international airport of Sheghnan to our right. Next stop Kandahar? Nope. They speed past us a little later.
Heating up again. Diesel costing 90p a litre. Tim pays in local Somoni, £40. Atle asks how much in dollars $400. Nice try Mr TJ. Disaster. One of the large bottle of beer in their fridge has sprung a leak. Khorog is reached in time for lunch. A large town with a Youth Centre. Try to find Tourist Information, have to drive through Central Park. Don’t find it,so drive on. Eat on the go again, nuts and dried fruit. 530km to border, so know we will have at least four more hours driving today. If we get up early tomorrow, we may make it by nightfall. Less pressure on Saturday 29th, visa day. Next trip, we will all apply for the longest visa possible for each country. This had brought real pressure.
Didn’t stop for provisions as discussed, so will look out for bread shop. Still haven’t decanted honey from original pot, so fridge will be sticky. Photo opportunity for the first vehicle to make it over the Pamir Highway. This is it, the real highway. Stuff of dreams.
We have moved away from Panj River and Afghan border. Turn north towards Kyrgyzstan. Large tunnels built as protection from landslides. Looking for a picnic spot, need a bio break. But get stopped by another road check. One guy says we have not got this province on our visa. We counted seven, and we have seven on our visa. He then didn’t like the number plates being so high up, but they have always been there. He told us we face a fine of 100$ further on because of the missing province. So why didn’t he give us an on the spot fine? Oh, maybe the 10$ bung helped. C’est la vie.
The map shows that we will climb steadily from here, running along the base of several mountain ranges and over some spectacular passes. The highest point looks to be 4655m. Need to look our for any altitude issues.
Especially for Will. The river running to our left is the Gunt River. Huge towering cliffs loom ahead. We see large overland vehicle from Germany, the first proper foreign registered car since Turkey. This area is very impoverished. Stooks of grass drying on rooftops. Shells of cars by road side. One enterprising boy had set up a car wash, with a hose pipe, squirts it towards Tim and laughs. 2425 m, nearly as high as the highest mountain in Norway, we are reliably informed from behind. Must be getting cooler, Tim winds his window up.
The road surface here is better than we have had before, but it has to be good enough for the large lorries using it. Start painted on the road, start of what. Lady signals for us to move out and not drive over her soapy carpet. Precarious little wooden foot bridge spans river. UN office in a wagon. First yurt in TJ. Must be carpet washing day, or new carpets need washing before they are ready.
9,400km. No they are going too fast. We don’t want this journey to end too soon. We all discussed this last night. Mountain hare? Very pale, large ears and black stripe along its tail. They had been saying our CB reception was lousy. May have just found the reason – the top of arial is missing. Wonder when that happened? They have a small one which we can use. 53 lorries, several cars and us are held up by excavations ahead. Wonder how long we will be here? Haven’t see 53 lorries pass us, so they must have been waiting for ages. Guys at the front say come and join us. Mums placating young children, toddler banging stones together, man with huge purple growths all over one side of his face. Everybody is wearing coats.
Have to move back for car coming down. Tim walks ahead, to find a collapsed bridge. Even the Landies could not get through. All get out of cars. Many Chinese lorry drivers bringing trade through on the old Silk Route. One tip toes to car, nods a lot, touches it and puts thumbs up. A local van tries to get up, but he slithers down. Someone puts a brick behind his back wheel. We all mingle. Two of the women with children walk in front of car taking pictures on phone. They take a sneaky one of the Beast, and I burst out laughing, and wag my finger at them. They laugh too, an international language. I point my camera at them, they pose.
Gradually their children shyly creep round. I ask if I can photograph them, then all the cousins arrive. A Dad starts talking in English. He tells me his daughters can speak. He is very proud of them, and we start a conversation. Good job I know what questions and answers an EAL child will know. We swop email addresses, but I am not sure theirs is correct. The older girl attends the Lycée Aga Khan.
Finally the men at the top beckon us. Low range and first gear we forge a track over. It is a shame the people who have been waiting the longest will not get through yet, and the lorries will be there even longer. Good old Land Rover.
So much for our plan of stopping at 6pm. We could camp, we have provisions for a meal, water and more importantly toilet paper. But we need more km under our belt today, and at the moment it would not be dangerous driving this road in the dark. So we press on. Hold our breath as we go over each subsequent bridge. I wonder if the bridge was just washed away, it looked more like it had collapsed under the weight of one of the lorries. Hope no one was injured.
Another digger is on its way. Surprisingly, nothing overtakes us for a long time. (I might quantify how long later. It is now 18.30). Smacman lorry trundles past. My neck scarf has dried out and gone all crispy. Gorge flattens out. Now at 3,900m. Some serious climbing ahead, round twisty bends. 4,000m. Now this part here might be a bit dodgy to drive in the dark. Would want the Hildefender with its battery of spotlights to lead. Man on a donkey, probably the safest form of transport in the terrain.
Look at the snow, so close we could get out and touch it. But no time. That is the pity. We were held up, so now are on catch up.No visible habitation or livestock up here. No birds even. Keep stopping for photo opportunities, wind nearly snatches door off. Chilly 8 degrees outside, so heater on inside. Press on. We have been up for 13 hours, driving for 11 with a little rest for collapsed bridge. But adrenaline is a wonderful thing. Due to turn left in 12k, so there may be somewhere to stop then.
Amazing to think people drive this route every day in a wide variety of vehicle-for work or to visit family. To them it is just another road in TJ. An Aga Khan Foundation vehicle comes towards us and flashes. He does a lot of good for the people in the Pamir. This road must be closed due to snow during the winter. How do goods and people get transported then?
The road off to our right leads to the Chinese border, another spine tingling moment. Quite weird being the only ones on the road. Dusk. Big step up onto tarmac. A solitary car approaches. 20.00 and no one overtaken yet. Pass two cars, one broken down. Stop and ask if they ok. They put thumbs up. Someone is underneath the lead car, which looks as if someone has needed to work on it since the soviet days.
Sign says we are 10k from somewhere. Never see it. Drive past a salt lake, no city and no Mormons in sight. Where is Donny when you need him? Next we should pass Stinking Lake. Trying to head to Alichur, where apparently there is a very good fish restaurant. Won’t be locally caught then. There seems to be a Home Stay 16km away, so we head for that. Atle leads with the more powerful lights. That would be the Stinking Lake to our left then. Poor Tim is feeling rough today. Wonder if he will force himself to eat dinner?
Forgot about the wet clothes we put Ina dri bag yesterday. They won’t be dry, but they may be stinking. Again we drive in the dark and arrive in the dark. Get out our Alpaca jumpers from Peru, and Tim waers his hat from the shores of Lake Titikaka. Find another Home Stay – Shoira Homestay in Alichur. Shoira, her husband and daughter own and run it. If you are ever passing, do drop in. We had a large room, five beds and a large area which we thought was a bed, but we were offered dinner on it. We ate in the dining room, salted fish, finally got to try Plov, soup and bread. None of us was feeling great. We ordered breakfast and headed to bed. Noticed the clock on the wall. I thought it had stopped, but somewhere yesterday we had lost an hour. Had to reschedule breakfast. Climbed into very springy beds with the heaviest, most beautiful blankets.
Oh! The lorries from the collapsed bridge? They started trundling past in the middle of the night.
