Tajikistan, the Beginning

nameless-berk (60)in #travel • 6 years ago

11/11/17

In the early morning I left Osh and everything was going well enough almost until the border with Tajikistan.

I've been waiting for ~1.5 hours, trying to hitch a car (and even a horse) that was going to that direction. It turned out, trucks do not go by this road. And nobody does except always full taxis with locals and tourists (now it's not the right season though).

That day, there were only 2 of those taxis, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Finally I got to the frontier post with a kyrgyz border guard on his car. And that's it. They stamped my passport and let me go through the gates where a neutral strip of land lies, 18 kilometers populated only with wolves.

I walked a couple of kilometers and stopped by an abandoned house. Around it I've seen animal footprints, maybe even those of wolves, but I'm not certain.

4 hours I've been waiting for a car, trying to stay warm as much as I could, but all cars were going in the wrong direction and were full of locals obviously surprised to see a strangely dressed dude with a huge backpack in the middle of nowhere.

When the sun touched the moutaintops (only ~4 pm), it became cold enough to be concerned. Keeping in mind the bitter night cold and fierce winds, I decided to use my tent as my last resort and went back to the kyrgyz frontier post to wait in more comfortable conditions. They let me in, but there were no cars whatsoever. However, I got invited to spend the night in the room of local veterinarian inspector after he finished the last namaz (salah) for the day.
Border guards were very friendly, almost everyone wanted to make acquaintance with me, one by one. They accepted me as a guest, gave some food and drinks, etc. It was interesting to observe their life in such a remote place. I was especially impressed with 2-hole toilets: invite a friend and get a bonus, I guess?

Anyway, in the morning I was crammed into an already full truck, which gave me a lift to tajik side - Kyzyl-Art pass (alt ~4300 m).

Border guards checked my GBAO permit, stamped the passport and lazily asked if I carry any drugs and weapons. I never mentioned my big-ass nepalese kukri and was let through.
Another 2 hours I was bumming around on their post, where they treated me tea, while I was waiting for a car, which took me all the way to Murghab.

Which turned out to be an absolute hole without even one ATM, only a bank which of course was closed for weekend. I never bothered to acquire local currency and that's left me with 4$ and 1080 kyrgyz som (~16$).
To add insult to injury, local "hotels" didn't have showers at all. And no internet, of course. Even electricity comes from a diesel generator for a few hours in the evening. The rooms are warmed by stoves.

Naturally, all this situation made me a bit frustrated. But at least I was able to negotiate a cheap transportation to the only public bathhouse in town, where I could at last wash away the grime of the last few days. The bathhouse is powered by diesel as well.