PAMIRS

I’ve been a lot of pretty cool places in my short life. But the Pamirs, Wakhan Corridor and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in general may be the coolest places I’ve ever been. If I wasn’t already convinced that Tajikistan was the best place I could have chosen to spend 9 months of my life, I would have been convinced by the Pamirs trip (note: I was already convinced).

Incredible view of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, from the Wakhan Corridor

The trip featured early morning hikes at 12,00 feet, tiny languages isolated in mountain villages, incredible views of the milky way and shooting stars, baths in hot springs, ancient Zoroastrian forts, Ismaili shrines, YAKS and so much more. Keep reading, and you’ll hear all about it. I’ll warn you, however, that this post will be massive. As such, if you’re just looking for some light monday morning reading, I recommend days 4 and 5- those were the coolest.

Day One- Dushanbe to Kalaikum

Climbed up on some rocks over the Panj

Day one involved a lot of driving and a lot of sitting by the road waiting for Iranians.We left Dushanbe at 6am, and hit the open Tajik rode. However, when we stopped for lunch we were informed that the road ahead was closed because an Iranian crew was “blasting the mountain,” presumably to make a better road. So we drove up to where it was closed, and stopped and sat. For about 5 hours. Really, it was not so bad: it provided a great chance to teach the drivers how to play UNO. UNO, in case you were wondering, is now called “YEK,” because we are in Tajikistan. They responded by teaching us “Durak” a crazy Russian card game, later in the week.

When the road was reopened, we drove to Kalaikum, a small Shughni speaking town along the Panj river. (Fun fact: I can now count to three and say “yogurt” in Shughni.) Kalaikum was the first place on our trip where I saw real stars… although the stars were better later on, there is something magical about seeing the milky way again after a long time.

Day Two: Kalaikum to Khorugh

This picture was actually on the 4th day. Deal with it, chronology.

Khorugh is the capital of Badakhshan, and with a population of about 30,000 people, the urban center of the region. We spent most of day two in the car getting there, although we made a number of very scenic stops along the way, and enjoyed delicious dates, pomegranates, figs and dried mulberries in the car.

Khorugh is basically a small mountainous provincial capital, although the Aga Khan has a large presence, and there are lots of somewhat lost seeming backpackers there, going interesting places and struggling to digest Tajik food.

Day Three: Khorugh to Iskoshim

Jumping in Iskoshim

We spent the morning of day three exploring Khorugh; checking out the bazaar, trying to find a statue of Lenin that was moved to the outside of town recently, and hunting down coke-a-cola light. Perhaps the most exciting part for me was meeting the mother of a United World College student in the bazaar. We’re everywhere!

In the afternoon we drove to Iskoshim, which is near the southern tip of Tajikistan, also along the Panj. We met a group of children who took us climbing to a cave. Running and jumping over creeks and pulling myself up over rocks… this was the moment of the trip when I realized how spectacularly awesome it everything about the Pamirs is. The Pamirs are spectacular.

Day Four: Iskoshim to Langar

Incredible view during a car-break... note the snow-capped mountains in the background!

Day four was when the trip got awesome. We woke up at five to go for a hike along the main road, passed some small towns (one of which was home to a tiny language spoken only by that village) and a lot of gorgeous scenery. Even though it was 5am and we were dealing with a small bit of altitude, I felt very energized. I even ran a little, although the altitude and my weak lowlander lungs conspired to make that unpleasant. We hiked to an ancient zoroastrian fort (our first of two for the day)… we couldn’t climb all the way to the top because the Tajik military had a watch-post there, but from the place we climbed to we had fantastic views across the river as well as of snow covered peaks in the distance.

After the fort, we checked out a museum of the Wakhan, and bought some books on the region (The translation from Tajiki to English in the Wakhan book is quite unique and provided a lot of entertainment in the car). We then headed off to another ancient fort, and afterwards to hot springs! After a morning of hiking and climbing around old forts, a bath in hot springs was exactly what I needed. Also, note: hot springs are actually really really hot. I could only stay in for about 10 minutes.

View of the Fort

The afternoon involved another museum and an ancient buddhist stupa, although by that point, I was ready to get to the home-stay and take a very long sleep. That night, we stayed in the Wakhi speaking village of Langar, a tiny town that no longer has much left in their shop, as we bought it all. Langar was the best spot on the trip to see stars: we spent the evening gazing skyward in absolute awe. I can’t describe it… imagine a planetarium, and then multiply it by 10.

Day Five: Langar to Khorugh

This is my new pet yak. His name is Babur. My host family is thrilled.

Day five closely edges out day four as my favorite day of the trip, mostly because of the exceedingly large amounts of Yaks involved. We once again set out around 5am, and this time, the hike was significantly more desolate and isolated- we hiked for about 4 hours on the main road, and not a single car passed by… we only saw a few shepherds, who seemed to think we were a little silly. We also saw incredible views of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, all the way across the Wakhan.

Our car/Boren scholars/soon to be DC-based Central Asian band. Note the bactrian camels behind us.

When we met up with the jeeps we drove until we reached the Rabbit Pass to the high Pamir plateau. Along the way we saw Yaks! and Bactrian Camels! and Kyrgyz caravans headed to China! across the river. Bactrian Camels are apparently very rare and endangered and not supposed to be found in the wild anywhere except Mongolia. But there they were, right across from us.

Freezing, desolate sun-rise

The Plateau was the most desolate place I’ve ever been. Have you ever been no where? The Pamir Plateau is no where.  It is huge and freezing and grim and absolutely incredible. We drove through nothing for a long time, and then suddenly, there were glacial lakes! And then shortly after that, we came to a Kyrgyz village, complete with yaks and yaks milk yogurt and butter and and general feeling of being at the last place on earth.

Yummy! Yak yogurt!

After the Kyrgyz village, we turned back towards Khorugh to prepare for the long trip home to Dushanbe.

Days Six and Seven: Khorugh to Dushanbe, via Kalaikum and the Rasht Valley

Days six and seven were slightly less interesting than those that preceded them, simply because a lot of time was spent in the car, and we had seen much of the scenery before. However, we did spend the sixth night happily relaxing at Kalaikum, and on the seventh day drove through the Rasht Valley on our way home. None of the roads on the trip were particularly great, but the Rasht featured the worst. If any world powers are looking to make friends in Tajikistan, I recommend coming to pave there: you would have at least one friend in Tajikistan- me.

These are the kind of incredible views I got all week. I want to go back.

Home Again

So that was the trip… abridged, obviously. Although getting to the Pamirs requires a lot of special paperwork and some minor inconveniences, I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for an incredible place to travel.

While the trip was fantastic, coming back to Dushanbe also felt great.  I think when people think of Dushanbe (if they think of Dushanbe) they think of a small, dusty, Central Asian backwater. But its really quite  cosmopolitan, and I’ve been enjoying that this weekend: Iranian and Georgian food, runs in the national botanical gardens, international cafes with their fancy restrooms, and especially, my host family. I’m pretty lucky to have all that here.

Before I sign off, people and things that deserve thanks for making this week awesome include my stomach and dramamine, for forming a cooperative partnership; my car-mates, for making the trip relaxing; our trip leader, for knowing way more than any person should ever reasonably know about Tajikistan; and our driver, for generally just being the most strong and silent and competent person on the planet.

Coming up soon: the beginning of my Badakhshani Tambur music lessons, a weekend trip to Iskander-Kul, and amusing language adventures!

I’ll leave you with a quote from Nasir Khusraw, a Persian poet who after traveling the world lived for many years in Badakhshan. Also, another picture of Bactrian Camels.

“The world is a deep ocean, its water is time; Your body is like a shell, your soul the pearl.
If you wish to have the value of a pearl, Raise up the pearl of your soul by learning.”

Note the two humps: a rare and special quality.

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Amanda