Ballbags On The Road (Edition II) – Part V: Cold Eternal

Check out Part IV here

Thanks to the rejuvenating waters of mighty Kyrgyzstan and good sleep, Mike and I were buckled up for our new adventure – seeing the mighty Tajikistan. While we knew the roads would be terrifying and the trip would be long (about 1 week) we were excited nonetheless. However, let me show you what that trip looked like:

That route doesn’t look that long, does it?

But trust me that it felt as if we were on the road for at least two weeks. Well before our trip we looked up different forums and websites where drivers offered a ride on that route. Though Mike had a driver’s license, he didn’t want to risk taking on the magnitude of such a drive onto himself. The roads were abhorrent and you really needed someone with many years of experience of driving in such conditions.

Fortunately, there were plenty of drivers to find online. The unfortunate thing was the price. It was high. Too high. Probably that price also included ten insurance packages for both the driver and the car (poor thing) on top. The average price of the car trip you’d find would be around 700-800 USD. That’s a lot. I fondly remembered how much Ben and I paid for renting a car & the driver in Armenia and Azerbaijan only to then feel worse about paying ten times more in Tajikistan. However, we had no choice.

I spent a long time online looking for drivers (I simply googled for drivers in Tajikistan and found plenty of resources online) and finally found, what seemed to be, a perfect fit. A couple of lads already booked the car and needed two more people to join them. So the price per person ended up being around 230-250 USD. Of course the accommodation & food were not included. The drive was meant to last seven days and I thought to myself: damn, that’s too long. Much later I realised that if we drove faster and rushed everywhere, it would have been a waste of time (not spending time on hiking) and our butts would have been totally ruined.

I did find drivers that would have taken us through the entire trip within two days or so but the price ranged somewhere between 1,200-1,500 USD, which was just absurd.

On the morning of 14 August Mike and I went to meet the driver and our two new friends in Osh (this was our meeting point before taking off). Two other guys were from Asia (only other foreign language they could speak was English) and our driver was from Kyrgyzstan (as far as I can recall), who could at best recall the lyrics from “Old Macdonald had a farm” song, i.e. he barely spoke English. The tour guide fortunately spoke English (although he wasn’t coming with us) and briefly talked us through the trip. We exchanged looks and concerns between all four of us and got in the car.

Crossing the border was a piece of cake. There were only a few cars in the line and the board guards were pretty easy-going. We got a fresh coat of stamps into our passports and drove off.

Our driver friend, Bobby, told us that apparently there was an unspoken rule of “not screwing over the tourists” in Tajikistan. If anyone were to charge a dear tourist way more than they should pay, then that person becomes “a public enemy of the state”. And no, I didn’t come up with that myself. But hearing that did put a smile on my face.

Not long after we decided to make our first stop by the Lenin Peak – a truly gorgeous scenery!

As it was growing late we had no choice but to stay for the night in the hut, which was conveniently located about a kilometer away from the viewpoint. It was our first time that we actually paid in US dollars. It felt rather odd but apparently USD was going to be the main currency for the remainder of our trip in Tajikistan.

We walked around the area for an hour or so and admired the mighty mountain and cleared up our lungs with the freshest of air. It was wonderful.

The hut we would be spending the night in was pretty basic. And even with the clothes on it was quite chilly. Waking up the next day was definitely not fun.

Mike and I were slowly becoming more comfortable with the fact that the summer was coming to an end and that we’d have to get used to the cold. Our driver, Sir Bob, didn’t fancy staying around for long (which was quite surprising to us after having spent a week in the country of procrastination) and he ordered that we get in the car and take off to our next destination.

The car had seen the bumpy roads plenty of times. It was a 4×4 Toyota (I believe) and no matter how many cushions you glue to the seats, it would still be more comfortable to sit on the stones. That was how uncomfortable it would get driving on the roads (if you can even call them that way). Now imagine we had booked the drivers who said they’d drive us through the mountains in two days. We would have probably needed an ass replacement. Or even worse – imagine we’d drive in a rented car ourselves. We would either smack that car or kill ourselves (probably both). Furthermore, even looking at the majestic scenery that was born in this pocket of the planet  was not easy since we were rattling inside the car for the majority of the ride. If Mike were to drive he’d definitely miss out on everything as he’d have to be laser focused on the road. Once again Mike and I reminded ourselves of how smart we were to go with the driver. It was also at that time that I started to think to myself: would I drive around for seven days on these roads for that much money?

We were just driving around to our next destination during our second day. Apparently, the driver missed one of the hiking destinations, according to our fellow Asian friends, Jim and Rob. That was fine by me and Mike as we were still taking in all the gorgeous views that we could with our cameras.

After a few hours or so we stopped at a small village that was by Lake Karakul. We were greeted once again by amazing scenery.

We walked around the village and met other tourists who were staying in the guest house. Naturally, we had to pay with the good old trusty bucks for our stay. It was about 15 bucks per person for the stay-over and food (dinner & breakfast). The price wasn’t all that bad, considering that the locals had their share of food and water delivered by trucks. So in a way it felt like we were also supporting them.

Mike and I had a stroll down the coast and a few abandoned houses. There wasn’t really much else to do so I asked Bobby if he could let me drive his car. I’d never driven a car before so I was really excited to learn. Afterall – why not? We would just drive by the coast for a few minutes and have some fun. After some careful negotiation with Bob, I managed to convince him and Mike and I went for a drive. It was a lot of fun!

By the coast we met an American guy who came to Tajikistan as an exchange student to learn Farsi! He had stayed in Tajikistan for over six months and was able to speak the language pretty well. He said he liked the country quite a bit and wanted to stay there for longer.

When Mike and I came back to the guest house for dinner, we met an elderly man who was travelling through Tajikistan like us. He told us that we went to Afghanistan and my curiosity beamed brighter than the lighthouse. I asked him as many questions as I could come up with but the older man wouldn’t tell me much. It felt as if he was under some NDA and couldn’t disclose anything. How was it there? Ok. How did you like the food? Didn’t eat much. How was your stay there? In a tent with no light.

Fortunately it was warmer in the guest house so Mike and I were looking forward to hitting the bed. We met more locals and other tourists, had some decent food and were looking forward to the next day of our adventures. Five more days to go!

To continue to Part VI click here