The next trip to the province capital Khorugh was one of the hardest. We came to the Pamir highway which you actually can’t call highway. The highway through the Pamirs was constructed by the soviets as a military road in the beginning of the 19th century. But with the time this highway became more and more interesting for transporting goods from China to the Central Asia area. Since them not that many had changed on the streets and with the weather extremes the road turned very bad at some parts. Sometimes you can walk faster than you drive because you have a heavy truck in front of you or you have to wait until the truck from the other direction passes you. And then you have military checkpoints and again the travel police bothering you. They had a problem with my black toned window so I show my German car check certificate and they were somehow okay with it and we didn’t had to pay another bribe.
The landscape at the other hand was just brilliant and spectacular. We enjoyed it allot.
We spent one day in Khorugh to save some energy for the next days. These offered an even more beautiful landscape than what we’ve seen before. We went to some hot springs and let the hot water heal our muscles.
After 100 KM we came to the Wakhan-Valley. Again and again we spotted some high mountains (5000-6000+ meter altitude) of the Hindukush. These stage was one of the most beautiful of the journey.
We again spent a night in a home-stay – a typical Pamir house – in the village of Hizor. From the outside it doesn’t seem special but inside it has an area for the guest, a big common area for eating and a small area for the family itself where they cook and live. If I would have wings it would only be 320 Kilometer from this place to India. But because all the border situation I should have another 12.000 Kilometer road in front of me…
Great stories thanks for sharing. Greetings from México.