Hissar
3 October, 2008, 04:21 pm in "Tajikistan"
About ½ hour from Dushanbe is the town of Hissar. It feels like a completely different world—instead of Russian buildings and wide streets, it is a small busy town where men wear traditional clothing and the remains of 16th-18th century structures.
Hisar men in traditional clothing
The historic part of town has the ruins of a fortress—now just some large piles of dried mud and a reconstructed gate--, a couple medressas, the ruins of a caravansaray and baths, and a mausoleum. From the mud wall, we had a view of the medressas and a man threshing his wheat. Most of the cars drove around it but occasionally one would go through the piles of hay. Then the man would sweep the hay back into a pile for the next car.
View of the medressas, and ruins of the caravansaray and baths
Using cars to thresh wheat
The Medressa-i-Nau was locked but had some pretty carvings on the doors. The Medressa-i-Khuna from the 16th century has an ethnographic/historic museum with exhibits in some of the cells of pottery, handcrafts, and other items.
Carving from Medressa-i-Nau
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Khorog to Dushanbe
30 September, 2008, 04:21 pm in "Tajikistan"
We were going to fly to Dushanbe yesterday but the weather was a bit inclement so the plane didn't fly. Didn't go the day before either. When we were trying to figure out if the plane left, Rowshan asked several people. Everyone seemed to say something different. One man said it definitely left because his sister flew on it. Another young man said they saw it leave. One taxi driver said it hadn't flown. Another said it had. But once we got to the airport, we found out there had indeed been no plane. So, I have no idea why so many people were insisting it had.A 14 hour drive on narrow winding roads brought us to Dushanbe. I got carsick twice when I usually don't get carsick. Maybe it was the SUV, maybe the driver, maybe because the windows were fogged up so I couldn't see out. It cleared up and I popped a motion sickness pill then managed OK. It was still a lot more frightening than the plane. It was the first heavy rain of the season so water streamed over the dirt roads, washing parts away. At one point we almost got caught in a mudslide. As we were driving by, we could see a small stream of mud and dirt begin flowing down the hill. The driver gunned the engine and got us out of there.
Once it cleared up a little and I managed to overcome my car sickness, we had some beautiful views of villages across the river on the Afghan side. The area had some sizable villages and was a lot more populated than the Wakhan area.
An Afghan village
Afghani people in their village
The road wound up to a mountain pass. At the top were lots of warning signs and paths roped off. The area was mined during the civil war and the mines hadn't been cleared yet. The roped off areas were paths that had been cleared. A little farther down from the pass, we came to a village. The harsh mountains had given way to rolling grass covered hills. We stopped at a village which was known for its quality meat and honey. One of the passengers bought a leg of mutton. R and I bought some honey. A woman who was traveling with us told us the honey there was really good “ecologically clean” the Russian term for “organic.”
The other side of the mountains
Horse galloping
As we left the mountains we reached flat and smooth pavement. About ½ hour from Dushanbe when the driver insisted on stopping and washing the car. We thought this very strange but the woman we were traveling with explained that in Dushanbe, they actually will fine drivers if their car is dirty. Rowshan pointed out the hypocrisy of them punishing people for the fact that the government hasn't put in decent roads. The road through the mountains was a mess.
The reason we had to take that road was the faster road which went further along the Afghan border, was being repaired by Turkish construction crews. After they finish with that road, they will fix the mountain road. The driver said that police and guards were really corrupt on the other road demanding tolls so if the mountain road is repaired, then the traffic will probably shift to that road just to avoid the bribes necessary on the shorter road.
The reason we had to take that road was the faster road which went further along the Afghan border, was being repaired by Turkish construction crews. After they finish with that road, they will fix the mountain road. The driver said that police and guards were really corrupt on the other road demanding tolls so if the mountain road is repaired, then the traffic will probably shift to that road just to avoid the bribes necessary on the shorter road.
Wakhan Trip Day 7: Return to Khorog on the Pamir Highway
25 September, 2008, 04:21 pm in "Tajikistan"
As we were eating breakfast, we learned our hostess' mother was in the hospital in Khorog. Rowshan asked her if she wanted a ride to Khorog. She shyly declined saying she hadn't had a shower. Rowshan responded that it wasn't a problem since we all hadn't bathed in days and we'd be stopping by the hot springs at Jelandy. She went to check with her father and he encouraged her to go saying they needed supplies (all their supplies came from monthly trips to either Khorog or Murgab). So it was agreed she'd go with us. She quickly got ready while Zaher tried to get the car started-- a difficult feat since the oil was frozen.The guys moved the car out to a sunny spot and we waited. Eventually everything was warm enough that the car would run. We headed back up the road to the Pamir Highway. Once on the highway, the enticing semi-smooth stretch of pavement ended and we were on crumbled broken pavement and gravel. The landscape was shades of beige against a bright blue sky. Some of the highest peaks had glaciers sparkling on their tops. There were a few small streams running next to the road but all were mostly frozen. The landscape was desert dry. It seemed lifeless except for large flocks of tiny birds which wheeled across the road.
Mountains and stream
We once again drove on pavement but to our dismay, it was rougher than the gravel roads we'd been driving on in previous days. Zaher would sometimes follow tire tracks off the road and drive along side the highway because the dirt road was smoother.
The hot springs were rather unexciting. The women's bath had a pool and showers. All the showers were broken so only produced scalding sulfury water and no cold or warm. Ironically, a sign at the entrance requested people to shower before getting into the pool. The faucets for the pool worked so eventually I filled a plastic tub with cold water to mix with the scalding water so I could wash. The hot spring pool itself looked kind of grungy.
From Jelandy we progressed to the Gunt River Valley. The river was Caribbean blue against white rocks. Along the river, trees were a flurry of bright green and yellow leaves. The valley began to become more populated as we got closer to Khorog. Even though the Pamir highway is the largest road in the region, it still resembles a country road and occasionally we had to steer off the road to avoid flocks of sheep and goats.
Eventually we stopped for gas at a fuel truck parked by the side of the road “Benzin” written on a tiny sign. (signage and advertising aren't really developed concepts in the Pamirs... quite a contrast to California where aside from obvious signage, the gas station itself would be showing ads on monitors at the pumps). It was the first “gas station” we'd seen on the highway. The attendant sat in the front seat of the fuel truck puffing on a cigarette. When we stopped, he put it out and climbed out of the vehicle. About a block down the street we passed another fuel truck with a sign visible from the opposite direction.
As we continued, we came to a striking landslide of huge boulders as if a mountain had fallen into the valley. The river became a torrent of rapids and cascades. Once through this obstacle course of giant boulders, the river widened. There were fantastic golden leafed forests. The sun filtered through the leaves and reflected off the leaves which had fallen on the ground. It seemed like an echo of Tolkein's Lothlorian.
The hot springs were rather unexciting. The women's bath had a pool and showers. All the showers were broken so only produced scalding sulfury water and no cold or warm. Ironically, a sign at the entrance requested people to shower before getting into the pool. The faucets for the pool worked so eventually I filled a plastic tub with cold water to mix with the scalding water so I could wash. The hot spring pool itself looked kind of grungy.
From Jelandy we progressed to the Gunt River Valley. The river was Caribbean blue against white rocks. Along the river, trees were a flurry of bright green and yellow leaves. The valley began to become more populated as we got closer to Khorog. Even though the Pamir highway is the largest road in the region, it still resembles a country road and occasionally we had to steer off the road to avoid flocks of sheep and goats.
Eventually we stopped for gas at a fuel truck parked by the side of the road “Benzin” written on a tiny sign. (signage and advertising aren't really developed concepts in the Pamirs... quite a contrast to California where aside from obvious signage, the gas station itself would be showing ads on monitors at the pumps). It was the first “gas station” we'd seen on the highway. The attendant sat in the front seat of the fuel truck puffing on a cigarette. When we stopped, he put it out and climbed out of the vehicle. About a block down the street we passed another fuel truck with a sign visible from the opposite direction.
As we continued, we came to a striking landslide of huge boulders as if a mountain had fallen into the valley. The river became a torrent of rapids and cascades. Once through this obstacle course of giant boulders, the river widened. There were fantastic golden leafed forests. The sun filtered through the leaves and reflected off the leaves which had fallen on the ground. It seemed like an echo of Tolkein's Lothlorian.
Golden leafed trees
Beyond the forests were harsh gray mountains with gussets of scree from previous landslides. It is strange to think of how active these seemingly solid and still mountains actually are. Sometimes these walls of mountains were broken by unexpected glimpses of taller snow capped peaks.
We had a narrow escape from an accident when as a truck going the opposite direction passed us, a donkey came barreling out of the yard of a house on our side--chasing after the truck as if he thought he was a dog. Zaher slammed on his breaks to avoid hitting it.
We felt that we were returning to civilization as we got closer to Khorog and drove past the site of the future University of Central Asia and the monument to the first vehicle which drove the Pamir Highway from Osh to Khorog. (Did it last much longer after that or did they immediately make it into a monument?)
We had a narrow escape from an accident when as a truck going the opposite direction passed us, a donkey came barreling out of the yard of a house on our side--chasing after the truck as if he thought he was a dog. Zaher slammed on his breaks to avoid hitting it.
We felt that we were returning to civilization as we got closer to Khorog and drove past the site of the future University of Central Asia and the monument to the first vehicle which drove the Pamir Highway from Osh to Khorog. (Did it last much longer after that or did they immediately make it into a monument?)