Our Round-the-World adventure

[tacototheworld]

Tajikistan and the Pamir Highway - Part 1

Driving the Pamir Highway, Tajikistan

Tajikistan embodied all the greatest aspects of overlanding adventure for us. It had vast open country, stark majestic mountains, a culture and history that was different and new for us to learn. Tajikistan provided remote and wild terrain, we could not wait to explore its high desert mountains and fulfill a lifelong dream of driving the Pamir Highway.

As with the neighboring countries of Central Asia, the Tajik people were warm and welcoming, but outside of the bigger cities tourism infrastructure was surprisingly limited. Family run homestays were the norm along the Pamir highway with groceries hard to find outside of very small convenience stores carrying dry goods, soda and cookies. ATM’s were scarce but gas stations were common enough to get us by with some planning.

Our 2100km route through Tajikistan

The first place we explored was the gorgeous Fann Mountain region.

Sun goes down on camp while Dawn (with Andy's encouragement) poses a little awkwardly on the hood

The road was narrow - we were glad we only met one vehicle

Passing through villages, school children always beautifully dressed in black and white, the girls with huge white bows in their hair

Some with beautiful designs in the walls

Each of the seven lakes a different, glorious blue

People, especially children, in Tajikistan went out of their way to welcome us as we passed through their villages. Children would run out and wave and call out “hello” or “welcome!” We always felt safe, whether in the city or in a really remote area.

The next drive we ventured on was into Alauddin Lake near Sarvoda. It was another area steeped in beauty, rural village life side by side with spectacular hiking and scenery.

More donkeys than vehicles on the road to Alauddin Lake

Carved door at a village home

Sunset view from camp

That's a lot of sheep and goats in the road! Shepherds still moving the flocks before winter.

Our souls enriched with mountain scenery and air, it was time to head to the big city to pick up our son, Nicholas. We were thrilled that he would be joining us on the road for a month. It was also an opportunity to re-supply the truck before we headed out on the Pamir HIghway.

Dushanbe was not our favorite city. It was easy to navigate with wide tree lined streets, orderly and clean. But it also felt inauthentic somehow. The downtown buildings were new and ornate, many displaying giant posters with pictures of the president who has been in power for 33 years and has a questionable human rights record.

Monument to Ismail Somoni, a revered leader of the Samanid dynasty which included what is now Tajikistan in the early 900's.

Pamir Highway - Tajikistan Section
We kept detailed notes from our trip as we found it was relatively hard to get specific information about routes, timing, places to stay, etc. Below is our day by day breakdown in case it is useful to others.

Map of the Pamir Region and routes from the Caravanistan website, which we found to be an extremely helpful resource.

The classic Pamir HIghway Dushanbe, Tajikistan to Osh, Kyrgystan. But there are a number of variations and side routes that people incorporate.

The first decision point upon leaving Dushanbe is whether to take the northern, Tavildara route (more remote and over a 10,700 ft mountain pass) or to go through Kulob which is a better road, slightly shorter in time but longer in miles (if you believe Google). As our weather was good and we always love the mountains, we took the northern route to Kalaikhum.

From Khorog, you can choose to take the direct Pamir HIghway route (M41) - the red route above - or head south along the border with Afghanistan for a more remote route. After speaking to locals and fellow travelers, we opted to take the southern, Wakhan Valley road - the brown road above - which locals commonly refer to as “the real Pamir.”

We took eleven days to go from Dushanbe, Tajikistan to Sary Tosh, Kyrgystan. We did not continue driving north to Osh at this point, but peeled east to enter China. We were traveling the Pamir route Sept 11- 20, 2024.

Day 1 - 165 km, 4.5 hours of driving
We left Dushanbe at 11:30am, arrived at camp about 5pm. (We were using iOverlander to find wild spots to make sure we didn’t accidentally camp somewhere we were not supposed to. ) The more northern route (blue road on map above) was mostly decent, but at times deteriorated to gravel and forced us to reduce speed to about 15kph.

In general, along the route we drove, road conditions were rough enough to slow you down (gravel, if asphalt then potholes to watch for) but never severe enough that you needed hardcore 4x4.

Throughout this first day, the scenery got better and better as we approached the mountains and started passing through canyons.

Day 2 - 178km, 7 hours of driving
On the second day we drove over the mountain pass and through Kalaikhum (shown as Qalai Khumb on map above). A big challenge for overlanders during this time was massive construction delays on the Pamir Highway stretching from south of Kalaikhum to Khorog. Someday, maybe in a year, the road will be smooth going, but for now traffic is stopped for anywhere from 2-6 hours intermittently along the way as construction crews blast out the rock cliffs to widen the road. Locals advised us to get up early and try to get as much of the road as possible before crews showed up at 8am.

The Tajikistan military were very active along this section. There were regular military check points (just friendly passport checks), frequent military bases and patrols.

Regular military patrols along the border with Afghanistan - the border is the river

Construction delay - everyone just sits and waits

Day 3 -144 km, 5 hours of driving
We managed to get out of camp early - 6:15am and get through the rest of the construction zone with no delays. Having spent a couple of long hard driving days, we headed to Jizeu Valley for scenery and hiking.

Looking across the river to villages on the Afghanistan side

Scenery across the road

Bhartang Valley road - along a glacial river

And who should pull up to say "hi" but a French overlander with a Toyota Tacoma with a 4 Wheel Camper!! He ordered both from the US.

Stay tuned for part 2!

 

[the deputy]

Excellent report!

 

[Tennpenn83]

Stunning scenery in these last few updates! Absolutely breathtaking.
Also Greece? Beautiful, I love the Mediterranean coastline.

 

[tacototheworld]

Tajikistan and the Pamir Highway - Part 2

Day 4 -Jizeu Valley hike, 90km and 3.5 hours of driving
In the morning we headed across the REALLY long suspension bridge to hike into Jizeu Valley - we hiked 9 miles roundtrip, making it to the first village and lake.

Suspension bridge access to Jizeu Valley - the villagers do this regularly, coming out to the road when they need to access outside supplies

Traditional village home. People were busy preparing for winter, piles of dung drying for fires, fruit and corn being dried on rooftops.

Although monochromatic, the scenery was stunning

Guesthouse view in Khorog - we booked a three person room at Hotel Zarya - received a warm welcome from the host and had a beautiful breakfast the next morning ($60 for the three of us). Average prices for guest houses along the Pamir seemed to run about $20-$25pp

Day 5 - 138 km, 6 hours of driving
We left Khorog at 11am after re-stocking a few groceries. We were already seeing a lot fewer food options than we had in Dushanbe (no surprise). Meat in the supermarket was limited to a huge variety of sausages and hotdogs (we chose not to buy meat from the local stalls hanging huge hunks of mutton and beef from outdoor hooks). Cheese was non existent, fruits and vegetables limited to bell peppers and apples we bought from local women on the street.

From Khorog we continued south on what becomes the Wakhan Valley road, not officially the “Pamir HIghway” but still a Pamir road. This meant we would be continuing to hug the Afghanistan border for 100s of kms.

More gorgeous scenery

The fort was built into and around the natural rock formations

View from camp, uphill from the river so far away from the border that the military was not concerned

Day 6 - 60km, one hour driving
This day was one of our favorite days on the drive incorporating a scenic hike, iconic old fort and hot springs.

We left camp at 9:45 and drove to the Darshai Gorge trailhead. This gorge hike is famous for its construction - villagers built a ledge by sewing branches rocks together. It allows them with access to winter hunting grounds and it provided us with a lovely hike. Two and a half hours round trip got us to the most famous part “the ledge.”

Standing on "the ledge" at the Darshai Gorge

The next stop was Yamchun Fort, an ancient Silk Road outpost. The setting was awe inspiring but we were slightly sad to see that the fort was in the process of being fully restored, with new brick walls being erected on the old foundations.

Yamchun Fort, originally built in 300 BC

Day 7 - 100km, 4 hours of driving
Despite the rain this day (our first!) we were up and out by 9:30am, arriving at a 4th century Buddhist temple in the village of Vrang by 10:30am.

Village girls who accompanied us

From Vrang, we drove an hour to the village of Langar and found the trail up the steep hill to the petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs on the hillside above Langar

That's one big Ibex, a type of mountain goat

After a lunch break cooking up some noodles in the truck, we continued our way along the Khargush Gorge and eventually pulled into camp about 5pm. This day was one of our favorites scenically with far away views of the Hindu Kush range.

Driving the Khargush Gorge road

Day 8 - 175km, 6 hours of driving
This was another one of our favorite scenery days. We completed the Khargush Gorge road, re-joined the M-41 (Pamir HIghway) and drove out to visit an abandoned Soviet observatory.

Mountain views with the previous night's snow along the way

All of our supplies were dwindling so we were happy to visit the village well in Alichur and Nicholas manned the pump so we could re-fill our water tank.

Downtown Alichur. We had been hoping to buy some fresh groceries but no luck.

Abandoned truck at the Soviet observatory. full of Marco Polo sheep horns

Old solar telescope building

Day 9 - 50km, 1 hour of driving
The next morning, we left the observatory camp, stopped by some ancient cave paintings and made our way to Murghab. At this point we were pretty much out of food, having eaten garbanzo beans and couscous the night before. (Getting down to the end of our dried good storage).

Side trip to see cave paintings

Murghab guest house, typical interior decor for Pamiri home. Home cooked Tajik dinner! See grandma chef at window. We were joined by a French cyclist and climber, riding 200km a day to Nepal.

Day 10 - 210km to Tajik border, 4.5 hours driving
We left our guest house with cheerful goodbyes and continued on our way to the border with Kyrgystan. (Another side note, known as the Kyzyl-Art border, this border requires a pre-registration for all travelers, we used a service, Destination Pamir, to do this for a cost of $15 per person.

The security check point on this route was the only one where the military tried hard to get a bribe. We did not have copies of our passport and they told us that we would have to go back to Murghab and make copies for them.

Crossing the pass at 15,300 feet - we were getting accustomed to being at high altitudes

We crossed the border into Kyrgyzstan with no issues and continued our journey to Sary Tosh we camped at the base of Peak Lenin then eventually headed east to China.

A few lessons learned on the Pamir Highway:

• Come prepared with plenty of food and supplies! For travelers, this area is infamous for minor stomach issues. As visitors we are not used to the spices and microbes in the local foods, although we mostly cooked our own food, we all got grumbly stomachs after eating at local establishments. We also ran out of our own fresh food (limited by our refrigerator space) and were unable to resupply for over a week.
  
  
• Don’t count on cell coverage - we had minimal cell contact for about seven days we were glad that we had pre downloaded plenty of maps.
  
  
• To make check points easier, bring some copies of your passport picture page and your GBAO permit.
  
  
• There is no garbage service. People are using personal burn barrels and recycling container waste. We went several days without finding anywhere to drop off our garbage - mostly food related from cooking.
• 
  
• Be prepared for sustained, high altitude driving and camping. May want to consider getting a prescription for Diamox

That’s all we have!

 

[joxeph]

Trip Costs

Sure thing! So far we are 3 1/2 years into our five year driving around the world adventure where we have put on 125,000 miles so far.

We spent our first year and a half on the road traveling the US and Baja, Mexico (our eventual goal is to visit every US national park, right now we are at about 45 out of 63) It started out as a way to kill time as the global pandemic had sidetracked our plans a little. Turns out the truck was the perfect isolation vehicle and visiting lesser known national parks was great fun. We also got to work out all the kinks of life on the road, getting our systems organized, in a country where we spoke the language and knew how to find things. As soon as the post COVID world opened up in 2021, we drove across the US and put the truck on a ship to Liverpool, England.

Our 32,000 mile, 370 day route around Europe

We spent over a year traveling Europe. We decided to add in a month in Iceland which was not on our original route and we are so glad we did! it was a travel highlight for us). We had visited Italy Spain and Switzerland fairly recently so mostly skipped them this time round.

Daily costs for the two of us in Europe averaged $101 a day with gas being the highest expense at $46 per day followed by groceries at $19. We could save by buying cheaper groceries but at this point in our lives we do like our luxuries (beer, wine, chocolate, meat) so we eat well. The next biggest budget items were restaurants at $9 a day average (which really meant one meal out every few days or visiting a bakery, our favorite European treat) and hotels at $4 a day - which really means a big city hotel a couple times a month. This line item is also supplemented by using the points from our Chase Sapphire Visa card to book hotels at no cost.

Other costs:
Camping - 5
Other - 9

Please realize this is for two people driving in a Toyota Tacoma that averages 14 or 15 miles per gallon and we travel about 100-150 miles a day. We tend to drive a lot, our restlessness combined with a constant eagerness to see the next thing means we usually move on daily (although we try to drive less than 2-3 hours a day).
We also mostly cook our own meals.

Our final Africa route 31,000 miles in 377 days

In December 2022, we ferried from Spain to Morocco and began our year in Africa. The main change in our planned-to Africa route was due to the war in Sudan. Knowing that we could not travel north through Sudan as planned, we decided to ship from Kenya to Oman. Unfortunately this meant we would not be driving through Ethiopia and Egypt, two countries we had really been looking forward to. But they are also two countries that are extremely difficult to bring your own vehicle into so we saved ourselves significant bureaucratic hassles and expense by avoiding them. It also allowed us to add in the Arabian Peninsula which we were excited to explore.

In Africa the average cost for the two of us was $117 a day. Once again, gas was the biggest line item although the cost was much less than Europe, at $26 per day. The biggest surprise for us was the second largest budget item - an average of $22 a day for travel documents for 30 different countries. This includes visas for the two of us, and vehicle permitting (we don’t use a Carnet de Passage).

Other costs:
Groceries - $16
Hotels - 10
Camping - 10
Restaurant - 6
Other - 5


Hopefully this is informative

Wow, that's a big difference in gas prices between Europe and Africa! I was also planning a trip to Italy next year, so I'll have to consider that in the daily expenses. I may also try a private car tour in Rome from https://gowithguide.com/Italy/rome/guides, where I read it's a challenge to drive because of traffic and crowds. It's very impressive that you've traveled so far in your Tacoma—125,000 miles is a huge accomplishment, @tacototheworld!

 

[tacototheworld]

Kyrgyzstan

Driving the empty mountainous roads of Kyrgyzstan

Our journey across Kyrgyzstan was actually split into two parts - but we describe it as one contiguous trip here. We entered the northern part of the country from Kazakhstan, then exited through Uzbekistan to Tajikistan. Then we re-entered Kyrgyzstan briefly from Tajikistan to access the border crossing open for tourists to cross a piece of extreme western China. Planning border crossings in this region is critical as access is limited for foreign travelers. There is only one border open between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and only one border from Kyrgyzstan to China open to foreigners. Our son Nicholas was traveling with us for the latter part of the trip in Kyrgyzstan and for crossing China.

Our route through Kyrgyzstan and China - gap in between on the map is when we were in Tajikistan

First wild camp in Kyrgyzstan - Jyrgalan Valley

As soon as we entered Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan, the geography changed wildly. No more flat empty steppes. Instead, there were mountains everywhere we looked, beautiful rugged peaks. Cold rivers flowed through green valleys and dense forests. Villages were small and rural, many people using horses as their main form of transport. The roads were empty, most of them gravel but in decent shape.

The Kyrgyz people are welcoming and kind although communication was a challenge for us. As the country was part of the USSR until it declared independence in 1991, most of the people spoke Russian as a second language. We tried to learn how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Kyrgyz, people laughed at our pronunciation but our bumbling was a good ice breaker.

Most of the country is rural and over half of the land is in agriculture (wherever it is flat). Although 90% of the country is Muslim, it is rare to hear the call to prayer, it is loosely banned. The Kyrgyz government takes the official stance that religion should be a private matter and listening to the call to prayer should not be inflicted upon non-Muslims. In general we missed its beautiful haunting sounds, but maybe not the 4:30am call when we were sleeping near a minaret.

Setting off for a hike from camp

After a few days in the beautiful Jyrgalan Valley, we made our way to Karakol, the fourth largest city in the country. Karakol was easy to navigate, with wide open streets. It was an easy re-supply point.

Trying the local staple - noodle soup or Ashlan-**** typically about $1 in a cafe.


We really enjoyed the food in Kyrgyzstan - lots of flavorful noodle and rice dishes, definitely spicy! The food was not as heavy as in some of the neighboring countries (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan). We loved, (what seemed like to us and our ignorant palates) the mix of Arabian, Chinese and Central Asian flavors.

Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Karakol, completed 1895

In a crazy coincidence we ran into a group of young Kazakhs who had seen our truck in Almaty and now we were all reunited in Karakol. They were on a self organized tour of their neighboring country. Typical for their generation they spoke perfect English so it was fun to have a conversation with them.

In addition to green valleys and rugged mountains, Kyrgyzstan had geologically interesting desert areas with fantastical rock formations.

Colorful sandstone cliffs in the “Fairytale Canyon” locally known as Skazka Canyon

The spine of the fairytale dragon - legend has it he froze after the princess he loved did not return his affections

Then we were off to find our next wild camping spot. Like the rest of Central Asia, wild camping was easily accessible and finding stunning spots to spend the night and enjoy the scenery was simple.

Found a flat spot with a beautiful view!

Never far from a mountain view in Kyrgyzstan

Not often do you get mountain, lake and desert views in one spot

One of our favorite aspects of being in Kyrgyzstan was the stunning and varied hiking - there was never any shortage of interesting places to walk.

Heading in to hike Ak-Sai Canyon, a beautiful canyon hike with narrow walkways

Spotted our first yaks!

Camping in the high mountain plateau at nearly 10,000’

In one of those happy travel moments, our next mountain pass drive was our favorite in Kyrgyzstan. (It was not on Andy’s famous planning spreadsheet but we stumbled upon along our route after a few Google mis directions along non existent roads.)

Heading up the mountain pass to the Kowe Cheleng Buwajingan area above Song Kul

Andy was pretty happy about it

Beautiful mausoleums common for the area

That was the end of our first trip through Kyrgyzstan, exiting to Tajikistan, excited to pick up our son in Dushanbe for our Pamir Highway adventure. After our trip through Tajikistan (separate blog) we re-entered Kyrgyzstan via the Kyzl-Art pass, the only border between the two countries that is open for foreigners to cross. It requires free pre-registration through a Kyrgyszstan government site. We had heard of travelers having trouble with the pre-registration process working, which meant showing up at the remote border and waiting a day or two for the paperwork to get sorted out. To avoid this we paid a private operator, Erali through Destination Pamir, $15 a person to register us and our vehicle. It worked beautifully, he sent us proof by Whatsapp and we had no trouble at the border. (And we felt compassion for the two French cyclists camped outside the border gate waiting for their registration to come through.)

The road was a little rough over the pass

We crossed the 15,000 foot pass and had a couple of days to take a side trip in Kyrgyzstan to the Lenin Peak Base camp before entering China.

Wild camp with a view of Lenin Peak - 23,406’ tall, on the Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan border

Glad to have our son Nicholas with us for this leg - and his tiny grey tent bedroom. Last night in Kyrgyzstan before crossing the border into China

 

[tacototheworld]

Western China

China is one of the more difficult countries to drive through as an overlander. Foreigners are required to be accompanied by a guide. There are a few Chinese companies that specialize in organizing travel to key destinations, like the Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan route we wanted to take. (The alternative for us would have been to cross Afghanistan which we did not feel comfortable with as US citizens in a US plated vehicle.)

We chose to do the trip with Drive China and they were fantastic, very professional, communicative and helpful. They provided all the documentation for the three of us to present at Chinese embassies to secure tourist visas (Nicholas got his in San Francisco, Andy and Dawn in Yerevan, Armenia). They bundled a group of 10 vehicles (6 motorcycles and four campers) together so we could share the cost of a guide. The total fee for our five day trip for two of us and the truck including four nights accommodation was $1272. When we added Nicholas into our vehicle it was an additional $300 (including a single room occupancy fee).

Drive China also provided critical pre-trip information - links for the app we would need to pay for things in China, the mapping program, and the VPN so we could communicate with friends and family back home. Our itinerary was to spend one night in Wuqia, near the border, two nights in Kashgar and one night in Tashkurghan.

It quickly became clear how critical our guide was - we met Hedy on the China side of the border at Irkeshtam. She jumped into communicating with the border guards for us, efficiently herding us all through. She got us through customs (despite the fact that many of us did not have our VIN numbers engraved on our vehicles which was a huge point of consternation) and after a few hours we were in China, meeting our fellow travelers in the group (all awesome!) and seeking out a lunch of the first of many delicious noodle dishes.

Our first caravan journey, our guide riding in the lead vehicle.

Our group of intrepid travelers - no surprise that everyone was fantastic - they were all long term overlanders, everyone else was from Europe or the UK.

The accommodations were all basic but clean, comfortable hotel rooms with wifi, hot water and a hearty breakfast included (luxury for us).

With the administrative help of Drive China, Andy was given a Chinese driver’s license and the truck Chinese plates.

Stopping for gas, our guide Hedy had to register us with her passport so that we could buy gas as foreigners

We immediately had fun exploring the wide range of food and drinks available - so much! (Our last stretch on the Pamir highway and through Kyrgyzstan there had been very minimal groceries available.)

The next two nights we spent in the historic Silk Road city of Kashgar. Our guide Hedy took us to see the sights one day but we were also free to explore on our own.

Military parade in People’s Square

Kashgar was fascinating but definitely felt a little bit like Chinese cultural Disneyland. The old town had been completely torn down and re-built with cafes, bars and a myriad of souvenir shops.

Many women posing in for photo shoots in traditional clothing

All of the fellow tourists we saw were Chinese nationals so we were an obvious oddity - many requests for photos

In addition to exploring the old town, our guide took us to the “tomb of the fragrant concubine” - Xiang Fei - a woman who reportedly smelled so amazing that she became the concubine of the Emperor.

Welcome ceremony to the mausoleum site

Although we deeply enjoyed our guide Hedy and her insights, we did have the sense that our visit and what we were allowed to see was being highly regulated. The mosque in the photo above was open for visitors to enter with a purchased ticket. But like many other mosques in China, it was closed for worship. The local Uyghur Islam population has not been able to pray there except for on a few restricted holy days since 2016.

Wondering the back streets of Kashgar

Stocking up for our next remote journey through Pakistan - lots of noodles on the menu. Not surprisingly the instant noodle mixes and spices in China were fantastic - and cheap.

Our favorite style of local restaurants - hot pot dining, you are given a pot of hot broth and oil and pick your items to cook from an enormous buffet

After our two nights in Kashgar, we left to drive to Tashkurghan along the Karakorum Highway.

Back on the road - Chinese camels!

Nicholas had fun using Google Translate on his phone to figure out how the frequent billboards and signs were instructing people

Along the way were many police check points, typically requiring at least an hour stop. When there was not an official stop there were many pretend reminders that we were being watching.

Spectacular scenery along the Karakorum Highway

Our last hot pot in China - this one started with 5 lbs of yak meat

Dawn saying goodbye to our guide, Hedy

After a couple of hours of paperwork being signed out of China, we are on our way

But to ensure we do not get out of our vehicles before Pakistan, Chinese customs stickered our doors closed

Our experience in China was mixed. The people were fantastic, friendly and welcoming, wanting to take pictures with us and helping us communicate even though we did not share a language. The food was tasty and spicy. We learned to enjoy noodles and rice for breakfast. Travel was slow as a foreigner because of the multiple police check points and need to be registered to buy gas. We appreciated the information and background provided by our guide, but also enjoyed wandering on our own when possible - once we were booked into our hotel in a given town. The area we were traveling is troubled with conflict between the Chinese government and the local Islam Uygher population. We were not given opportunities to have real conversations about this and were very aware of our status as outsiders and visitors to the country.

We will be crossing China again with Drive China, on the Nepal to Laos route through Tibet and look forward to another efficient and well organized experience, along with the opportunity to develop friendships with fellow travelers.

Thank you for reading!