Pamir Highway trip Day 7 - Yamchun to Langar

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July 18th 2016

Published: July 25th 2016

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Jenni

Tommy and Gio

July 18 - Pamir Highway trip Day 7 - Yamchun to Langar

Not so good sleep again, but that is normal. I woke up before 7am but the others slept on until at least 8:30. We had breakfast around 9am, and again, there was a bit of a misunderstanding. Three of us had ordered porridge, with one getting fried eggs (but no sausage), but in the end, we all got everything. Not bad, though.

We left a little after 10am and I got the front seat for a change. Good views. We were supposed to stop in Yamg first, but the driver passed it and we ended up in nearby Vrang. Here we hiked a short distance up to see a Buddist stupa. The views from up there were really good. Next we headed back to Yamg. Here we went to a museum that was similar to the one from yesterday, but this guy was able to do the tour in English. He also gave us a good explanation of the design of a classic Pamiri house from the 19th century. Outside there was also a solar calendar, which he was able to explain a bit. Seems it's good

Wakhan valley

for equinoxes, especially.

Our plan was then to stop at a homestay in Zong and do a hike up for some more views, and then in the morning tomorrow, we would walk 2-3 hours to the next town, Langar. But the only person home in the homestay was a young teen that we had to practically kick to wake up. So we decided to drive on to Langar and go back tomorrow for both hikes.

Our driver took us to a homestay that feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's really pretty all around. We spend the afternoon relaxing, and playing with the kitten, and then set out at 4:30pm to find some nearby petroglyphs. We had an idea of where to look, and it basically required us to scramble all over this rock face, all the while looking for old drawings in the rocks. We didn't have much luck until we looked in the Lonely Planet and got some better information. We found the school, the power lines and the cemetery and from there we could see the right direction. And it helped that we could see some other people over in the distance.

Scrambling up the rock face

It was quite the hike over there, over uneven terrain, especially with the altitude taking its toll. At one point, I felt like my whole life had just been trudging up that hill. Like I had never been anywhere else. And it was so dusty - my shoes, my clothes and I were just covered. But we made it and it felt like a real accomplishment to get there. There were many recent carvings from people who live or visit here, but it was cool to see the old ones.

Afterwards we came back for dinner. We had a veggie dinner as we decided it is usually far better than the meat dishes we've been having. And it was very good - eggplant and potatoes and all kinds of yumminess. Gio asked for some watermelon for dessert, and out it came, fresh from the fridge. So good. I had a shower to wash off all the dust. I guess I could have done better because my towel is now covered in dust. But to be fair, the shower part didn't work so I was just splashing myself with water.

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