Blogs from Kalikum, Tajikistan, Asia

Day 10 Kalai-Kum (Qal'ai Khumb) to 3rd Village Jizeu/Gizeiv, Bartang Valley Driving Distance- 200km Sleeping altitude 2500m Up early and repack from my big backpack into my small backpack for an overnighter in a home stay in Jizeu/Gizeiv Village in the Bartang Valley. The courtyard by day is even prettier than last night. Breakfast arrives- a rice porridge with salty milk, cherries, bread, biscuits, sweets and condensed milk and apricot tea. I love this stuff! M and B rock down 20 mins later and we're completely out of there by 0830. Back up the lane way and a quick "Orbit" Supermarket stop to buy sweets and chewing gum to share. We resume on the bumpy, dusty road across the river from Afghanistan, Gigantic looming hills and cliff faces. Afghanistan alternates between mountains/landslides and green oases with ... read more

July 13 - Pamir Highway trip Day 2 - Kalai Kuln to Vanj No water in the homestay in the morning, so we had to use the bathroom in the hotel next door. We also ate breakfast there. We had another long drive today, starting around 9:30 am. At 2pm we had lunch in a town called Vanj after another super long police check. While the check was going on, we were eating cherries off the trees outside. There are so many cherry and apricot trees just dropping fruit on the ground here. Amazing. Lunch was good and only cost about $1.5, with water and tea. Tea is everywhere and we have it all the time. Our van started developing overheating problems after lunch, and eventually the water tank cracked wide open. Not good. We were ... read more

No sooner are we over the border and into Tajikistan than we are off route again - yes I know, we should have learnt our lesson by now. This time the expedition was successful and at Hissar, only 5km off-route, we find the gateway of an 18th century fortress. Why was this worth the effort? because it appears on the back of the 20 Somani note. We have a whole days R&R in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Its a strange place which seems to consist of one main street with a few grand pre-soviet buildings interspersed with drab concrete buildings and lots and lots of parks. The guide book describes “pastel coloured buildings and tree lined cafes”, that conjurers up a totally different image to what I found. It seems too small and quite to ... read more