оҳиста суст, жай жай...Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan- Bachor to Gunt River (Somewhere)

---

Day 14

Guisimo Home Stay, Bachor to my tent in a spot by the Gunt River

Sleeping altitude 3523m

07:00 I'm ready as per plan, no one else is (great sleep btw).

07:40 I'm still ready, so is breakfast- rice with milk, Nescafe, M and B have milk choi with bread and butter in it.

09:38 This is so funny, the reason we are still waiting is that the donkey man is trying to find his escaped donkey. Apparently it went AWOL in the night but it has been found... across in the main village. The other major delay is that our leaking gas bottle is still leaking and given that we are on the trail for 3 days we need it. B is attempting to fix it with duct tape and liquid nails. Should be interesting (I bring my 230g can, at least we can make a few cups of tea). M is shuffling around our provisions. We have 40L of clean water (just in case we can't boil, I also have chlorine tabs for this kind of just in case situation). A lot of the fruit we had bought in Dushanbe has rotted- it goes into the garden, I show M how to check the dozens of eggs (given they've been sitting in an intermittently hot car for many days now)- 4 of them are gassy, they go into the garden too. We move the contents of the supply bags around and around.

09:49 Still no donkey but Guisimo gives us 4 round breads and a bag of potatoes (fingers crossed we can boil them). We add this to our supplies. This necessitates another moving around of supply bag contents. Wander around watching the cat, watching the birds and gazing at the mountains. Guisimo comes out for a chat tells me that the cat is a bird killer (I think that is what she tells me, the cat does look well fed). This homestay is in such a lovely spot- on the banks of the river. The mountains are picturesque. Recommended!

09:55 We may have gas! B thinks he may have fixed the leak.

10:00 The donkey man and the errant donkey turn up!

10:36 With the provisions re-shuffled, re-packed and strapped onto the donkey... we are off!

I expect a hard walk, it's not, it is a really pleasant walk through the village. So pictureque. The harvesting continues. I take quite a few pics... a lot actually (I'm really glad I took so many- when looking back on them to choose which go into this blog they bring back very specific memories). We reach our first bridge- the horse isn't happy. The horse is not keen on crossing bridges. The donkey, by contrast, is very keen to get across, he starts braying loudly when he spots some other donkey buddies across the bridge. The donkey man- Chamarat, gets the horse over after about 5 minutes of cajoling. The donkey continues to bray every time we pass a new donkey. They both settle down after we leave the outskirts of the village. Time to introduce the pack animals- the donkey is called Mustang, the horse is named Pharlap (?!), I'm wondering if the horse's name changes depending on its tourist...

The terrain is predominately a rocky, dirt trail, nice stuff. I get lots of opportunity to walk alone (my preferred option). After a couple of hours M announces we should stop for lunch just around the corner. Four kms later, intermittently following the river and traversing large grassy pastures complete with shepherd huts, we reach the most beautiful riverside spot- perfect (again). Lunch is great. The thermos of boiling water M has brought looks very muddy, I had brought one too so I discretely use that one. We have very fresh bread from the home stay, cheese triangles, river washed cucumbers, jam, etc. We pass a pleasant hour at 3500m- so far so good. Back on the trail we pass two local horsemen carting pasture and supplies. They are the only other people we see all day. An oasis appears out of nowhere- I'm thinking there must be an underground spring- lots of ferns and brushy melaleuca like plants, then back to starkness again- rocks, mountains and dirt.

Just after 5pm Chamarat decides on a spot for the night, it's down near the river in amongst some trees and bushes and well sheltered from the wind. I get to put my own tent up finally, no resistance at all. M and C get the dinner ready- potatoes, eggs, onions, carrot, garlic, water and chicken stock cubes. We eat together in the rapidly approaching darkness. Really delicious. The gas bottle repair worked! Time for a fire before bed. The stars are amazing.

Into my sleeping bag at 10pm. Tired, happy. Excellent day.

---

Photos

The New Toilet
I think the home stay was to be extended so that this room and toilet separate to the main house would house the tourists