Introduction
So - you probably thought I had been kidnapped by mujhadeen! I have met a few and they are al very nice and polite and definately not into kidnapping (well - the anti Russian tajik type anyway).
I hope that you are sitting comfortably - because this is going to be a long one and may even cost me 1 USD (good thing it is cheap here!).
I am in Osh in Kyrgyzstan. More about Osh at the end if you have not fallen asleep by then.
When last we left our intrepid hero - he was dangling by one fingernail over the abyss of the Pamirs The last full message that I hope that you received I was in the process of leaving Dushanbe. After the obligatory 10 circuits of the town to gain momentum an gather permits and personell - we managed to depart.
First - a list of charecters for the following - all contained in one Land Cruiser (which is the magic carpet of the Pamirs - the main form of transport being Lada Niva and Russian Uaz jeeps).
Your Hero - a dashing, good natured brit of the Kim mould (hah!)
Ruslan - the guide. Young Pamiri whirlwind who speaks about 10 languages and - litterally - knows everyone in the Pamirs and is related to most of them. His grandfather managed to be both a folk hero and the first comander of the KGB in the area and has a street named after him on Khorog. His father was the only Doctor for the Pamir region in Soviet times - his brother died (on the winning side) during the civil war. Studied in Belfast (well - it was probably quiet after Tajik).
Hafiz-djan - the driver, cook and real boss. Steely eyed and very quite Tajik/uzbeck. Doesn't talk much but when he does - it gets done.
Scott the American - good natured young american working through his Intel windfall by travelling for about 3 years (grrrrr!)
Rick the Bore - 74 year old Estonian American and the worlds biggest and most pompous (?) bore. He will not appear much because t would be as boring for you as for us ("They would not do it this way in Estonia ... ", "When the Russians invaded Estonia they murdered the women and took the pigs ..." etc).
Asis - Ruslan's cousin who has a bit part as a passenger. One of many. he is on his way home from army college.
The first day involved a huge loop into southern Tajik because the direct pass to Khorog was not yet open. First we headed for Kholob in the area that is known as the transoxus to Alexander fans. This is a fertile area of rolling hills covered with grass and wheat fields that at this time of year are covered with popy and other flowers to make a patchwork of colour. Before any one says it - not THAT type of popy - didn't see any of that!). This part of the journey goes well and we get to Kholob for lunch.
After lunch we head for a road that is marked as about c-class on the maps. This is the only all-weather route to Pamirs. Before times this was not important - but now this is Tajik's link to china and therefore is suddenly important.
Neither hajiz-djan or ruslan have been this way before and this is the first trip this year into the Pamirs. So after lunch there is a much asking of the way - the principle being to ask everyone you meet and see if they all agree. The way leads from a back street in Kholob - out to the mountains and over a low and dry pass covered in mines and burnt out tanks - an old rusian base. The russians have only pulled out of the Pamirs last year - although there has been peace in this area for about 5 years - the anti-comunist being the winners.
Over the pass we descent to the Panj valley. The panj river forms the border with Afghanistan for most of the Pamirs and we shall follow it for about 4 days. At this part of the journey - the valley is wide and the river is deep and strong. The road becomes a farm lane through the valley - all the bridges have been washed away so we have to find our way through the rivers and across the wide stony river beds. As we head north - the valey becomes a gorge. On the Tajikside the road is being rebuilt as a highway by the Turks and therefor varies between farm lane and riverbed - contruction site and brand new blacktop. All very strange. On the Afghan - there is an amazing and probably thousands of years old horsepath that threads its way across shear rock faces and through waterfalls.
There is about 200km of this - 150km being the Pamir equivalent for an easy 5 hour drive!. We finally arrive in Kalaikhum - our stopping point - about 22:00 after 12 hours driving (some people in the same day took about 21 hours!). Tired and dusty - we drop into our electricity-less homestay (the only accomodation in the pamirs) have a quick meal in the communal room and settled down to sleep on the mats - the standard bed in the Pamirs is a mat in the comunal room with a wonderfuly warm duvet.
Highlights of the day were NOT when we discoverved that Rick the Bore had forgotten to bring a copy of his permit and Ruslan had to blag his way through about 10 checkpoints to get him to Khorog where there is an Internet connection - in the Russian times he thinks we would be in prison - but he could have been joking? Also NOT a highlight is discovering that you have the runs when the only toilet is a unlit squat hole in the ground at the end of the garden and it is about 0C! However - the toilet had a good view of the river and afghanistan.
Day two. We leave early for the about 300km to Khorog. The scenary is still stuning and undescribable - so I won't try too much. The route is pretty much more of the Panj gorge - the river slowly gets smaller and more violant and the gorge gets more rugged. It is pretty arid and rocky except where rivers come down from the mountains on each side - then there is a 'fan' of farmland and a village. This land is inhabited by he Pamiri - who are startlingly european looking and have villages that look very Greek. The story, which is probably not true, is that this is where the part of Alexander's army that got left behind ended up. From the look of it - you can see where the rumour came from.
Ruslan has persuaded us that Khorog is a horrble place (which it is) and we should stay in a village called KhasKhorog about 27 km further on the road to Ishkasim - this happens to be Asis' village he has been sitting on the jump seat amongst the luggage for the two days. So we stay in Asis' house and get a truely wonderfull greating from his mother (I dont think she knew he was coming and threatened to kill a goat - luckily ruslan (this is one of his many aunts and the house where his father was born) dissuaded her). No 'leccy here since last October and the houses (which are made of mud) have been disolving in the recent extreme rains but they are all very happy. We go to bed early - the rest of the village parties till 0100 on beer and vodka that I am sure appears on an expense sheet as drunk by the passengers (not that I begrudge them anything as long as they dont kill a goat - I might get the head!).
Day three - Ruslan spends the morning on 'business' and giving all the woman a lift to town for the market (transport is fairly rare on this road). This gives us time to be pressganged by the local english teacher and time to be shown the old water mill that they want to convert to microhydro if only they can find someone to help.
This is a very energetic village. It was entirely destroyed in a firfight between the Mujahadeen on the Afghan side and the russians - they tell Vietnamish tales of helicopters and freefire zones. 10 years ago - during the civil war - this area suffered total famine and was only saved by the Aga Khan (they are all Ishmaili and he is their prince and runs the main aid organisation). But they have managed to rebuild the village and are very enthusiastic. Education across the Pamirs is also amazing - this is one of the most remote regions on earth but everyone goes to school until 17!.
The afternoon we head the comfortable distance to Ishkashim. This route is not the Pamir Highway - which takes the easier route from Khorog - but is a c-class road diversion. There is a hot spring on the way - so we get our first real wash for 3 days. The valley here is wide, sandy and arid and villages are fewer. There is the first of two ex british forts - this is the real valey of Kim and The man who would be King and the northern extetend of the Empire.
Ishkashim was a Russian HQ during the Afghan War and everyone here is very pro Russian and sad that they left last year.We stay with the local ex-colonel. This is also the start of the Wakhan corridor (a 100km strip of Afghan between Tajik and Pakistan and a Great Game Relic). Impressve views across the corridor to the Hindu Kush mountains and the Pakistan border.
Day Four and we head up the valley to Langer. Much the same as yesterday except the landscape gets more arid and the villages fewer. There are some remains of Zoroastrian worship, a Sufi tomb and more hot springs (Bibi fatima). We pick up a couple of Pamiri going to Langar (a woman named Roxelana squeezes in next to me - just so The man who would be King!) - I think the waiting time for a lift around here is about 2 days if you are lucky.
Day Five. Langar is the end of the Panj - it splits into the Pamir and Wakhan rivers ruled over by a british fort on a rocky promontory We follow the Pamir river and the border into an uninhabited wasteland of rocky gorges and muddy roads as we head over the pass to the main highway and Murgab. This pass has only been open for about 1 week and we are probably about the first people over this year. There is a checkpoint on the way and the car gets totally searched for opium - but after about 1 hour we get through and over animpressively rough pass at about 4200 (that is about 14000 feet) driving up river beds and through one section christened "farewell my youth" by a russian truck driver.
On the other side of the pass we are on the Pamir plateue (no -still cannot spell that word) - between 3800 and 4200m - totally arid, very cold. Nothing much lives up except a few scrubby bush and some Yak!. After about 200km we finally reach Murgab.
This is a Soviet era town at about 3800m. It is impressively cold and snows while we are there but quite cheerfull. We still here for 2 nights at a very cheerfull homestay - we even have hot water for washing and a very feeble electric light for the first night (second night was "Nyet Electic"). During the day we slob and visit some Hot springs - (about 4000m and near the snow line - very cold outside - too hot inside). I sent some postcards from here (it took about 30 minutes to find out if there was actual a post service at the moment) so if they arrive keep them as rarities. There is also a local fairtrade type hand woven thingies shop so I brought a few presents.
Murgab is also about 200km as the crow flies from Kashgar and close to the Khunherab pass in the Karakorum.
Finally day involved a mad daah for Osh. The main road for China heads south from Murgab and I think that this must be the only road that they care about as the "main" Pamir HW heading north is a mess. We head across the AkBaytal pass at 4650m the highest point of the journey (that is 15000 feet) in the snow after an impressive 4WD drive up to the pass. We drive a couple of hundered km past the Karakol lake at about 4000m and then over the incredible muddy (I talking about 12" of thick red mud) Kyzel-Art pass and into Kyrgyzstan. As is becoming traditional - this crossing took place in snow and took about 1 hour. This means that the only we get of Pik Lenin - highest peak in Central Asia - is a cloud
After the pass - there is an incredibly fast transition to the type of Swiss/Welsh lanscape that I described before. We descend rapidly and start to see grass and marmots - then trees and cows and horses. I think that Kyrguzstan must be the true land of milk and honey - it is so green whilst being surrounded by arid wastelands and they all eat so much milk and honey!
It is about another 200km/5 hours across Kyrgyzstan to Osh - making the whole journey from Murgab about 14 hours across the worst roads you can imagine and a bravura performance by hafiz-djan - especially since he was constantly being hastled by the Kyrgyzstan police since we had Tajik plates on the car.
Osh is a very pleasant town on the fertile Ferghana valley - famed for millenia for it's horses and unfortunate source of conflict and ethnic violance thanks to Stalinist border changes. This town has existed for at least 3000 years as a silk road stop - but little remains of history in the town. Mohamed is said to have visited and prayed on the hill above the town that is also supposed to have been visited by Solomon. The first night i was bunged into the worst type of Soviet Intourist place - no leccy even - but tonight I have found a homestay that should be better.
Tommorow I will try the Uzbeck border - they claim that is open - and make a mad dash through Tashkent to Samarkand. The next message wil probably come from there.
