The Great Roadway Bazaar
- Thread starter Scott Brady
- Start date
franeuro
Observer
Realised this was a german Pajero and not your Disco...didn't know about that other rally either...
Thanks anyway.
Scott Brady
Founder
We are safe and enjoying one of the most spectacular roads in my life. The people are wonderful, the scenery is epic and the road is a blast to drive. We are in Khorag for the night. We camped last night near a 10,000' pass.
We will likely take an interesting route south from here, staying along the border, but there are rumors it is washed out. We will see.
Oh, and we hear that wives are for sale along that stretch too, so Charlie will be on the lookout, and has taken additional cash from the ATM
We will likely take an interesting route south from here, staying along the border, but there are rumors it is washed out. We will see.
Oh, and we hear that wives are for sale along that stretch too, so Charlie will be on the lookout, and has taken additional cash from the ATM
franeuro
Observer
Wonderful people, wonderful scenery, and working internet! A little taste of paradise, isn't it?We are safe and enjoying one of the most spectacular roads in my life. The people are wonderful, the scenery is epic and the road is a blast to drive. We are in Khorag for the night. We camped last night near a 10,000' pass.
We will likely take an interesting route south from here, staying along the border, but there are rumors it is washed out. We will see.
Oh, and we hear that wives are for sale along that stretch too, so Charlie will be on the lookout, and has taken additional cash from the ATM
The Jimny might be small and light enough to go through any route, don't you worry!
Ah, and don't forget to put a special "OK" sign on SPOT in case you have to stop for Charlie' s encounters, otherwise we may worry for wrong reasons ;-)
Cheers,
esh
Explorer
Oh, and we hear that wives are for sale along that stretch too, so Charlie will be on the lookout, and has taken additional cash from the ATM
Lol! Teaser pics of epic views needed!
Glad you guys are enjoying the trip and are well.
miolnir
New member
Great trip you guys are on! I know you were headed east but did not realize how far until I talked with Patrice at his shop in France last week. We drove from St. Brieuc in Brittany to Avignon to Paris, sailing smoothly at 130-140 kph in an Alfa Romeo 156 on the Autorute. Put that in context of your trip and I immediately understood the scale of your journey! wow. Look forward to more short stories.
Travel Safe!
Travel Safe!
LC4Dakar
Adventurer
They are taking the route along the Afghan border instead of the M41 main road. That is hard core! They've gone about 105 KM in 4 hours.
Right about now they are looking at this bridge and thinking about running across it just so they can say they were in Afghanistan :sombrero:
I know I would.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/542471
Right about now they are looking at this bridge and thinking about running across it just so they can say they were in Afghanistan :sombrero:
I know I would.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/542471
Last edited:
Scott Brady
Founder
Safe through the Wakhan Valley. Osh is next...
Some of the most beautiful scenery in any of my travels. Had the little Jimny at over 14100' today. Needed low range just to make enough torque. Significant water and rock crossing. Many vehicle could not make it without assistance.
Some of the most beautiful scenery in any of my travels. Had the little Jimny at over 14100' today. Needed low range just to make enough torque. Significant water and rock crossing. Many vehicle could not make it without assistance.
FourByLand
Expedition Leader
Sounds like you could do a pretty legit slideshow at HQ sometime. Glad neither of you have had any illnesses thus far.
Safe travels.
:ylsmoke:
Safe travels.
:ylsmoke:
Scott Brady
Founder
Running the Gauntlet
Tajikistan is stunning. The Pamir highway and Wakhan Valley are some of the finest exploration I have experienced. A true remote adventure with some incredible cultural submersion (the home stays are wonderful).
Running the Gauntlet. . .
We have safely run the gauntlet across the Kyrgyzstan border (where they basically ignored us at the gate for hours, stuck in no man's land), through Osh (where riots and civil unrest as a result of the coup has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months, and a demonstration of 3,000 occurred today) and a tense night in Jalalabad (even the hotel staff had guns) before making Bishkek this afternoon.
We are both pretty tired after two 12+ hour driving days, so a rest day is in order. We just went to a crazy ex-pat bar (Metro) and restaurant and shook hands with the bouncer from Idaho and rubbed elbows with a room full of Army personnel, Russian waitresses and a Brit singing 1970 cover songs out of tune with a Kyrgyzstan quartet.
More images and updates tomorrow. I am whooped
Tajikistan is stunning. The Pamir highway and Wakhan Valley are some of the finest exploration I have experienced. A true remote adventure with some incredible cultural submersion (the home stays are wonderful).
Running the Gauntlet. . .
We have safely run the gauntlet across the Kyrgyzstan border (where they basically ignored us at the gate for hours, stuck in no man's land), through Osh (where riots and civil unrest as a result of the coup has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months, and a demonstration of 3,000 occurred today) and a tense night in Jalalabad (even the hotel staff had guns) before making Bishkek this afternoon.
We are both pretty tired after two 12+ hour driving days, so a rest day is in order. We just went to a crazy ex-pat bar (Metro) and restaurant and shook hands with the bouncer from Idaho and rubbed elbows with a room full of Army personnel, Russian waitresses and a Brit singing 1970 cover songs out of tune with a Kyrgyzstan quartet.
More images and updates tomorrow. I am whooped
Last edited:
SafariPacific
Adventurer
Awesome! :victory:
c.nordstrom
World Traveller Extraordinaire
Central Asia really does not seem to like bloggers. Blogger is blocked here in Kyrgyzstan as well. Here's my new post!
"I apologize for another prolonged period of blog silence. Our time in Tajikistan was quite busy and an internet connection could not be found.
It's been at least a week since I posted an update - we've covered a lot of mileage since then. We spent our last night in Samarkand on the hotel terrace. Instead of paying for an entire room, we paid 20 dollars for access to the rooftop terrace instead. It was quite comfortable - we slept on the elevated, pillow-covered table-platforms we saw all across Uzbekistan (obviously the correct name escapes me). Not only was it cheap and comfortable, but we also got breakfast and wi-fi access included.
Our next destination: Dushanbe, Tajikistan. We hit the road quite early (our usual policy when crossing a border) and drove the 60 or so kilometers to the crossing. Again, our expectations were defied: the Uzbek/Tajik crossing near Penjikent was incredibly easy. After hearing about all the bureaucracy and red tape present in other travelers accounts, it's extremely refreshing to find that some things have changed.
Exiting Uzbekistan was simple, all we had to do was fill out another customs form. Entering Tajikistan had a few more steps (we find entering a country tends to be more complicated then leaving, especially with a vehicle) but a very courteous border guard made things quite easy for us. We did have to pay a 40 dollar importation fee however.
After officially entering Tajikistan, we picked up our first hitchhiker! A young Russian backpacker needed a lift to Dushanbe, so we strapped some bags to the roof of the Jimny and made room for her. She proved to be quite interesting: she was a Spanish teacher back home in Irkutsk and was hitchhiking around Central Asia. Later that night we would find out hitchhiking seemed to be the preferred method of travel for many Russians.
As we left Penjikent, the scenery gradually increased in elevation and beauty. The Fan mountains surrounded us and we immediately understood the allure of Tajikistan. The first part of the drive was mostly uneventful. We got to know our new passenger, admired the scenery, and stopped for lunch. It was very nice to have a Russian-speaking traveller with us, as the majority of the populace is fluent in Russian.
Lunch consisted of sashlyk and bread. This was also one of our last kebabs. Fresh mutton became harder to track down as we entered poorer regions of Tajikistan. The food has been quite good in Central Asia, but this lunch introduced us to the one item we both refused to finish. The food in question was a small round ball of hard, compressed cheese with an extremely salty and sour flavor. Our Russian friend informed is that the old men eat them with vodka and beer, which they compliment nicely. That may be the case, but we found that they went extremely poorly with lunch. She also informed us that they are traditionally made by compressing them in your armpit but that this is not common anymore. Wonderful.
I'm not sure I can communicate how unpleasant that dish was. The flavor was bad enough, but it proved nigh-impossible to rid my mouth of the aftertaste.
We motored along for several more hours, our jaws agape at the scenery. The mountains were jagged with little foliage, resembling the Alps more then the Rockies.
Our passenger knew Dushanbe was close when we entered an eight kilometer tunnel. Unfortunately, it would be quite some time before we exited the tunnel. For an unknown reason, traffic came to a halt about midway through the tunnel. We spent the next hour and a half chatting with truckers, attempting to entertain ourselves, and listening to drivers honk their horns. The tunnel appeared to be in bad shape. It was humid and some parts of the tunnel had water streaming down the walls. Imagine my surprise when I found out the tunnel was opened in 2008!
We finally escaped the tunnel after 90 or so minutes. The descent into Dushanbe was quite thrilling - road construction was occurring everywhere and cars were dodging and weaving through traffic.
The delay in the tunnel set back our timetable. It was almost 9 PM by the time we arrived in Dushanbe. Trying to find a hotel at night can be a real pain, but luck was on our side. Our Russian traveler invited us to stay with her at a local house. The house was a sort of hostel/commune/house. It was free to stay, but people were expected to donate time, money, and food. All of the fellow lodgers were quite interesting. The majority were Russian and practically all were hitchhiking their way through Central Asia. The only other foreigners were a French couple cycling their way to China. Everyone was extremely hospital.
The next leg of our journey was Dushanbe to Khorog took two days to complete. I cannot overstate how beautiful Tajikistan is. We spent most of the time avoiding potholes and admiring the mountains.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but anyone curious about why I haven't posted any photos should know that my camera was stolen several weeks ago. I hate to be a tease regarding the scenery.
The highlight of the day was driving up an 10000 foot pass and finding a beautiful campsite not far from the road. We used our stove and cooking utensils to make some pasta and we were both sacked out before ten. It had been a long day on the road and we were camped about 30 kilometers out of Khalikum.
The next morning we broke camp and headed for Khorog. Khorog is considered the jumping off point for the Pamir Highway and is the last town of any significance until Murgab.
Most of this day was spent driving along the Afghan border. I don't know what I was expecting, but the border was very quiet. Only a few dwellings dotted the landscape across the river. Scott and I attempted to throw rocks onto the Afghan side of the border, but we failed miserably.
In addition to the usual amazing scenery, we saw two noteworthy events. The first was a tanker that had barely missed plunging off the road and into the river below and the second was a car accident outside of Khorog. A shared taxi driver locked up his breaks and hit the back end of a truck. His van was empty and no one appeared to be hurt.
We found a rather nice, inexpensive hotel in Khorog. We arrived fairly early (5:30 PM) so it was nice to spend some time lounging rather then hustling to grab some dinner. We ended up lounging a bit too long - everything was closing down by the time we made our move for some food. What we thought was a restaurant was an ice cream parlor, which ended up hitting the spot.
Around 9:30 PM, as we were relaxing, a Russian man entered our hotel and asked if anyone here was on the Mongol Rally. We gave him confirmation and he led us outside to meet some teams that had recently arrived in town. We were pleasantly surprised to meet the Beer Bongolians, whom we hadn't seen since Turkmenistan! They were also accompanied by the Swedes we met in Samarkand and a third team of two English girls. We hadn't expected to see the Swedes or the Bongolians again - they had left Dushanbe a full day or two before us!
It turned out that the southern route they took (we took the northern direct route) had taken quite a toll on their vehicles. Several wide water crossings had damaged the Bongolians ambulance suspension. What was supposed to be an early night turned into something much more fun as everyone raced to secure hotel rooms, and copious amounts of lager. We spent much of the night playing cards, sharing stories, and trying to figure out where to go from here.
That's all I have for now. The next update will contain: the Wakhan Valley, Murgab, and Kyrgyzstan."
"I apologize for another prolonged period of blog silence. Our time in Tajikistan was quite busy and an internet connection could not be found.
It's been at least a week since I posted an update - we've covered a lot of mileage since then. We spent our last night in Samarkand on the hotel terrace. Instead of paying for an entire room, we paid 20 dollars for access to the rooftop terrace instead. It was quite comfortable - we slept on the elevated, pillow-covered table-platforms we saw all across Uzbekistan (obviously the correct name escapes me). Not only was it cheap and comfortable, but we also got breakfast and wi-fi access included.
Our next destination: Dushanbe, Tajikistan. We hit the road quite early (our usual policy when crossing a border) and drove the 60 or so kilometers to the crossing. Again, our expectations were defied: the Uzbek/Tajik crossing near Penjikent was incredibly easy. After hearing about all the bureaucracy and red tape present in other travelers accounts, it's extremely refreshing to find that some things have changed.
Exiting Uzbekistan was simple, all we had to do was fill out another customs form. Entering Tajikistan had a few more steps (we find entering a country tends to be more complicated then leaving, especially with a vehicle) but a very courteous border guard made things quite easy for us. We did have to pay a 40 dollar importation fee however.
After officially entering Tajikistan, we picked up our first hitchhiker! A young Russian backpacker needed a lift to Dushanbe, so we strapped some bags to the roof of the Jimny and made room for her. She proved to be quite interesting: she was a Spanish teacher back home in Irkutsk and was hitchhiking around Central Asia. Later that night we would find out hitchhiking seemed to be the preferred method of travel for many Russians.
As we left Penjikent, the scenery gradually increased in elevation and beauty. The Fan mountains surrounded us and we immediately understood the allure of Tajikistan. The first part of the drive was mostly uneventful. We got to know our new passenger, admired the scenery, and stopped for lunch. It was very nice to have a Russian-speaking traveller with us, as the majority of the populace is fluent in Russian.
Lunch consisted of sashlyk and bread. This was also one of our last kebabs. Fresh mutton became harder to track down as we entered poorer regions of Tajikistan. The food has been quite good in Central Asia, but this lunch introduced us to the one item we both refused to finish. The food in question was a small round ball of hard, compressed cheese with an extremely salty and sour flavor. Our Russian friend informed is that the old men eat them with vodka and beer, which they compliment nicely. That may be the case, but we found that they went extremely poorly with lunch. She also informed us that they are traditionally made by compressing them in your armpit but that this is not common anymore. Wonderful.
I'm not sure I can communicate how unpleasant that dish was. The flavor was bad enough, but it proved nigh-impossible to rid my mouth of the aftertaste.
We motored along for several more hours, our jaws agape at the scenery. The mountains were jagged with little foliage, resembling the Alps more then the Rockies.
Our passenger knew Dushanbe was close when we entered an eight kilometer tunnel. Unfortunately, it would be quite some time before we exited the tunnel. For an unknown reason, traffic came to a halt about midway through the tunnel. We spent the next hour and a half chatting with truckers, attempting to entertain ourselves, and listening to drivers honk their horns. The tunnel appeared to be in bad shape. It was humid and some parts of the tunnel had water streaming down the walls. Imagine my surprise when I found out the tunnel was opened in 2008!
We finally escaped the tunnel after 90 or so minutes. The descent into Dushanbe was quite thrilling - road construction was occurring everywhere and cars were dodging and weaving through traffic.
The delay in the tunnel set back our timetable. It was almost 9 PM by the time we arrived in Dushanbe. Trying to find a hotel at night can be a real pain, but luck was on our side. Our Russian traveler invited us to stay with her at a local house. The house was a sort of hostel/commune/house. It was free to stay, but people were expected to donate time, money, and food. All of the fellow lodgers were quite interesting. The majority were Russian and practically all were hitchhiking their way through Central Asia. The only other foreigners were a French couple cycling their way to China. Everyone was extremely hospital.
The next leg of our journey was Dushanbe to Khorog took two days to complete. I cannot overstate how beautiful Tajikistan is. We spent most of the time avoiding potholes and admiring the mountains.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but anyone curious about why I haven't posted any photos should know that my camera was stolen several weeks ago. I hate to be a tease regarding the scenery.
The highlight of the day was driving up an 10000 foot pass and finding a beautiful campsite not far from the road. We used our stove and cooking utensils to make some pasta and we were both sacked out before ten. It had been a long day on the road and we were camped about 30 kilometers out of Khalikum.
The next morning we broke camp and headed for Khorog. Khorog is considered the jumping off point for the Pamir Highway and is the last town of any significance until Murgab.
Most of this day was spent driving along the Afghan border. I don't know what I was expecting, but the border was very quiet. Only a few dwellings dotted the landscape across the river. Scott and I attempted to throw rocks onto the Afghan side of the border, but we failed miserably.
In addition to the usual amazing scenery, we saw two noteworthy events. The first was a tanker that had barely missed plunging off the road and into the river below and the second was a car accident outside of Khorog. A shared taxi driver locked up his breaks and hit the back end of a truck. His van was empty and no one appeared to be hurt.
We found a rather nice, inexpensive hotel in Khorog. We arrived fairly early (5:30 PM) so it was nice to spend some time lounging rather then hustling to grab some dinner. We ended up lounging a bit too long - everything was closing down by the time we made our move for some food. What we thought was a restaurant was an ice cream parlor, which ended up hitting the spot.
Around 9:30 PM, as we were relaxing, a Russian man entered our hotel and asked if anyone here was on the Mongol Rally. We gave him confirmation and he led us outside to meet some teams that had recently arrived in town. We were pleasantly surprised to meet the Beer Bongolians, whom we hadn't seen since Turkmenistan! They were also accompanied by the Swedes we met in Samarkand and a third team of two English girls. We hadn't expected to see the Swedes or the Bongolians again - they had left Dushanbe a full day or two before us!
It turned out that the southern route they took (we took the northern direct route) had taken quite a toll on their vehicles. Several wide water crossings had damaged the Bongolians ambulance suspension. What was supposed to be an early night turned into something much more fun as everyone raced to secure hotel rooms, and copious amounts of lager. We spent much of the night playing cards, sharing stories, and trying to figure out where to go from here.
That's all I have for now. The next update will contain: the Wakhan Valley, Murgab, and Kyrgyzstan."
c.nordstrom
World Traveller Extraordinaire
More words:
"The newly arrived Mongol Rally teams were in dire need of some repair work, so they planned to spend several days in Khorog. The Jimny has been holding up incredibly well (we spent quite a bit more then the average Mongol Rally team and it has proven to be a wise investment) so the decision was made to leave them and the M41 for the Wakhan Valley. The Wakhan Valley loop leaves Khorog and heads south. It continues to follow the Afghan border for quite sometime and is absolutely stunning.
The morning began with a bit of chaos as we rushed around the Khorog bazaar in an attempt to find some water without gas (carbonated water is the drink of choice in Europe and Asia). We did manage to get some fuel and I snagged a pair of sunglasses (my old pair went missing with my camera).
Not long after hitting the road, we emerged from a forested area into a wide open, arid valley. The Hindu Kush mountains were on to our right for the entire trip. They were some of the most spectacular peaks I have ever seen - almost totally covered in snow and it was the middle of August!
We had lunch in the village of Ishkashim, where we were finally able to obtain plov. For those who don't know, plov is rice pilaf, vegetables, and a bit of meat cooked in lamb fat and oil for several hours. It's supposedly the national dish of Uzbekistan, but I was unable to find any. Our plov was worth the wait - that meal still ranks as the best on the trip. A fellow traveler informed me that the long cooking time prevents most restaurants from serving it - it's a dish most people cook at home.
We hit the road again after lunch - our goal was the village of Langar. We gained some elevation and stopped to visit Yamchun Fortress. Yamchun Fortress sits on a bluff over looking the Wakhan Valley and the Hindu Kush mountains. Scott took some amazing photos and the view was one of the best we have seen.
We continued onward toward Langar and made the decision to try our first homestead. We found one tucked back away from the main village and it was a perfect choice. If anyone reading this visits the Pamirs, homestays are a fantastic lodging choice. They are usually clean, comfortable, and a great way to help the community. We stayed in an extra room and they set up rather comfortable mattresses and blankets on the floor for us. The price also included dinner and breakfast. It was a great way to actually enjoy some relaxation time.
We dined with some other homestay guests - a young couple from Taiwan. They had been teaching English in Dushanbe and were excellent conversationalists. We ended up spending several hours after dinner drinking tea and chatting with them.
The next morning it was off to the dusty village of Murgab. We continued along the river and mountains for an hour or two, but soon began to climb up and away from the river. We encountered an impressive water crossing - runoff was spilling down the side of a hill and washing out the road. It was a significant amount of water and increasing as the temperature rose. Naturally, the Jimny handled it with no problems. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for some of the Tajik vehicles headed the opposite direction. A marshrutska attempted to tow a vehicle up the crossing, but in the end sheer manpower was the key. Almost everyone milling around the crossing got out to push.
We climbed up a spectacular mountain pass and saw some amazing saltwater lakes. It has been rumored that travelers frequently swim across the river to Afghanistan, touch the opposite bank, and swim back to Tajikistan. We spent a lot of time looking for the perfect stretch of river to attempt this, but the water was just too high.
Not long after, we rejoined the M41 and motored to Murgab. The road was strangely empty - we could count the number of other vehicles we saw on one hand. The highlight of the afternoon was eating a late lunch in with a Kyrgyz family in their yurt. We feasted on yak yogurt, bread with yak butter, and a dumpling-like dish containing potatoes and onion (obviously served with more yogurt). The yogurt was interesting - it initially had a sweet flavor, which turned into a sour flavor. Quite pleasant with a bit of sugar actually. The butter was really delicious!
We checked into a homestay in Murgab and headed to the town's dusty bazaar, where we purchased traditional Kyrgyz felt hats. It's always fun to chat with fellow travelers - we had a group of older Italians and a young Italian/Finn couple as company. The younger folks had just come from Kyrgyzstan so it was good to get some up to date information.
We hit the sack early, as we needed to motor from Murgab to Jalal-abad the next day."
"The newly arrived Mongol Rally teams were in dire need of some repair work, so they planned to spend several days in Khorog. The Jimny has been holding up incredibly well (we spent quite a bit more then the average Mongol Rally team and it has proven to be a wise investment) so the decision was made to leave them and the M41 for the Wakhan Valley. The Wakhan Valley loop leaves Khorog and heads south. It continues to follow the Afghan border for quite sometime and is absolutely stunning.
The morning began with a bit of chaos as we rushed around the Khorog bazaar in an attempt to find some water without gas (carbonated water is the drink of choice in Europe and Asia). We did manage to get some fuel and I snagged a pair of sunglasses (my old pair went missing with my camera).
Not long after hitting the road, we emerged from a forested area into a wide open, arid valley. The Hindu Kush mountains were on to our right for the entire trip. They were some of the most spectacular peaks I have ever seen - almost totally covered in snow and it was the middle of August!
We had lunch in the village of Ishkashim, where we were finally able to obtain plov. For those who don't know, plov is rice pilaf, vegetables, and a bit of meat cooked in lamb fat and oil for several hours. It's supposedly the national dish of Uzbekistan, but I was unable to find any. Our plov was worth the wait - that meal still ranks as the best on the trip. A fellow traveler informed me that the long cooking time prevents most restaurants from serving it - it's a dish most people cook at home.
We hit the road again after lunch - our goal was the village of Langar. We gained some elevation and stopped to visit Yamchun Fortress. Yamchun Fortress sits on a bluff over looking the Wakhan Valley and the Hindu Kush mountains. Scott took some amazing photos and the view was one of the best we have seen.
We continued onward toward Langar and made the decision to try our first homestead. We found one tucked back away from the main village and it was a perfect choice. If anyone reading this visits the Pamirs, homestays are a fantastic lodging choice. They are usually clean, comfortable, and a great way to help the community. We stayed in an extra room and they set up rather comfortable mattresses and blankets on the floor for us. The price also included dinner and breakfast. It was a great way to actually enjoy some relaxation time.
We dined with some other homestay guests - a young couple from Taiwan. They had been teaching English in Dushanbe and were excellent conversationalists. We ended up spending several hours after dinner drinking tea and chatting with them.
The next morning it was off to the dusty village of Murgab. We continued along the river and mountains for an hour or two, but soon began to climb up and away from the river. We encountered an impressive water crossing - runoff was spilling down the side of a hill and washing out the road. It was a significant amount of water and increasing as the temperature rose. Naturally, the Jimny handled it with no problems. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for some of the Tajik vehicles headed the opposite direction. A marshrutska attempted to tow a vehicle up the crossing, but in the end sheer manpower was the key. Almost everyone milling around the crossing got out to push.
We climbed up a spectacular mountain pass and saw some amazing saltwater lakes. It has been rumored that travelers frequently swim across the river to Afghanistan, touch the opposite bank, and swim back to Tajikistan. We spent a lot of time looking for the perfect stretch of river to attempt this, but the water was just too high.
Not long after, we rejoined the M41 and motored to Murgab. The road was strangely empty - we could count the number of other vehicles we saw on one hand. The highlight of the afternoon was eating a late lunch in with a Kyrgyz family in their yurt. We feasted on yak yogurt, bread with yak butter, and a dumpling-like dish containing potatoes and onion (obviously served with more yogurt). The yogurt was interesting - it initially had a sweet flavor, which turned into a sour flavor. Quite pleasant with a bit of sugar actually. The butter was really delicious!
We checked into a homestay in Murgab and headed to the town's dusty bazaar, where we purchased traditional Kyrgyz felt hats. It's always fun to chat with fellow travelers - we had a group of older Italians and a young Italian/Finn couple as company. The younger folks had just come from Kyrgyzstan so it was good to get some up to date information.
We hit the sack early, as we needed to motor from Murgab to Jalal-abad the next day."
Scott Brady
Founder
Quick image to compliment all the updates. More to come - connections are slow here
This is along the and of the Pamir Highway, at a major washout. A Mercedes had ripped out its sump on this section and was abandoned on the side of the road.
This is along the and of the Pamir Highway, at a major washout. A Mercedes had ripped out its sump on this section and was abandoned on the side of the road.