Plenty of nice views and water on the way to Vrang Pass around 4k meters. Hoping this weather clears up.

Perfect weather. Does it exist in Central Asia?

From weeks of partly cloudy skies to blazing sun, muggy heat, fresh snow, and rainstorms, I think I've received most weather here in Central Asia. Bike tourists always complain and moan about the weather. Too hot, too cold, too sunny, too windy. Sometimes we hunker down for days and wait for some magical change in a holding pattern. Other times rain pants, wool socks, and parkas are donned and kms pumped out. Other days the iPhone mentions perfect weather at home and groans grow with the wind.

I believe, however, that the weather in the Pamirs and Central Asia is perfect. Anything is possible, and nothing is perfect. Every day is a taste of something new, a fashion challenge, and a skin cleanser. Now, looking at fresh snow at 2800 meters across the border in Afghanistan, I just wish I had skis. And a warm cabin. And some decent coffee.

The Pamir Eco Cultural Tourism Association

Sorry for a lack of updates recently. Some things are not that exciting or cannot be shared or written about. Ask me in person and we can talk for hours about plenty of stuff on the Pamirs and Tajikistan, even some of the less exciting bureaucracy or day to day stuff.

Pamiri People and the Bartang People

Are awesome. Enough said. In Kyrgyzstan I was faced plenty of nice hosts and interesting people, but also with stones, crazy drivers, and plenty of heat. Here in Khorog, and especially in the outlying villages, truck drivers always wave and kids sometimes give your bike a push up the bigger hills. Chai is readily offered in every village, and sweets come out every hour. Extra helpings of dumplings are given by street side sellers.

The land is often lonely and harsh, with jeep service to Khorog once a week from the Bartang Valley village of Savnob. We didn't finish the ride to Kok Jar and Murghab, but saw enough to have a good taste of the valley. Like the other parts of the Pamir, the valley, and each village to some extent, has its own dialect, crops, and traditions. People often say the Soviet times were better, and in terms of resources, they may have been. But the villages maintain cultures begun thousands of years ago.

 Most Pamiri people are well educated. The region has tens of thousands of inhabitants, and the Khorog state University and University of Central Asia graduate a thousand or so folks a year. Not every conference is as big as this years, but for a 20 year old university there are plenty of alumni. Some of the most dedicated and intellectual professors too, making less than 1200 US per year.

Electricity and internet are not everywhere, and not perfect where they exist. But wherever there is a sizable spring, a small private or government hydro plant has popped up, often with Soviet pipes and gears. Irons cant be used much of the day, but there is enough power for satellite TVs and such. Petrol, however, is still very scarce, so power ends in the fall and resumes in the spring, and roadwork and farming are done by hand or with oxen. 

Every family has at least a couple of these tied outside. Some dozens, but you can never tell because shepherding duties tend to be shared in the village. There are more hoofprints on many roads than tire tracks, and much more meat than vegetables or fish served.

Toughest ride of the trip: Bartang and back in Gorno Badakshan.

A little color in an otherwise rocky valley

 

 

Interior of home in Savnob

Graduation party filmmaking


















 The road and some peaks off Fedchenko Glacier












 Muddy river draining off some of the longest glaciers in the world














 The road to Khorog. 60km.









Toughest ride of the trip: Bartang and back in Gorno Badakshan.

After the quick trip over the Pamir highway and conference on the Pamirs, I decided it would be a good idea to try the Bartang Valley ride. A Polish couple did the 340 km in 11 days, and said the water was getting high. So I knew I was in for some water on the way. But in no way was I prepared for the river rocks, sand, and streams that made up the road from Rushan. I headed out with Daniel, a Hungarian cyclist, and camped near the road between Khorog and Dushanbe with plenty of trucks getting destroyed on the potholed gravel mix the Tajiks call a highway. Next day we road on to before Basid, and stayed at an old shepherds hut. The watermelon dinner I had at an English teachers house was splendid in the heat after a ride of 75 kms of sand and rock broken by a few trees and then a village every 15km.

The next day was a tougher ride on river rock and sand, up hills and down with brakes whining. A river crossing contemplated then a long detour over terrible track. 500 meters gained and lost to Savnob, an oasis that might survive a flood of lake Sarez. Only communication in the village is a radio beacon in case the earthen dam holding lake Sarez water in breaks and threatens 5 million lives. But everything is in order, plants growing green, self sufficient, except the village lost its local melon seeds a few years ago.
Next day. Near Pasor, after a tiring ride, decided to turn back. Too much water and more local knowledge meant unknown waist high river crossings and sand and 100km of no people save a few shepherds. Stayed with the same family in Savnob with a nice evening view of Peak Revolution and the surrounding Fedchenko glacier, the longest non polar glacier in the world. Had a 4 hr discussion with the village intellectual and his uncle.
Made it back to Dasht village where I had watermelon dinner earlier. For grades 10 and 11 (Russian education system goes to form 11) the children go to Siponj, so for graduation parties and longest day of the year combined it took a 4km walk. Under a full moon. Lots of dancing- no contact- and signing ensued, followed by an awesome sleep outside on the balcony.

Sites: Riding along the Afghan border

Today I rode a bit before I head out to the Bartang Valley for some research. Hopefully there will be Internet there, but from my experience so far it will be iffy at best. So here's some pix.

Hello, my name is 'International': Khorog States 20th anniversary and conference on the Pamir

Khorog feels like a sleepy mountain town right now. On Saturday the bazaar was busy, and at the taxi stand people manage to run into each other at low speeds while going to outlying villages or even Dushanbe. But otherwise there aren't many restaurants, specialized shops, or tourists. That is, except for people here for the 20th anniversary of Khorog State University. Through a bizarre series of contacts I was invited to speak at the 'International Conference: Problems, Solutions and Technology in the Pamir'. An excellent series of speeches was followed by an even better Tajik dance performance in the new (2009) city park.

Then came the surprises. Somehow the other internal participants, from Germany and China and a few other places, didn't show (Khorog takes 2 days to get to minimum from the nearest airport). So at the plenary address, I was first to speak and give a toast of friendship from the US to a university my same age. A scramble for a translator (very few Tajik academics speak English) brought the former director of the University Central Asia to the front, and I proceeded to speak about learning in the mountains and my research in the region. Plenty of questions followed, and after an hour speech about the difficulties the university was facing - no textbooks, only 2 doctorates among graduates, limited credit transfer, lack of students- everyone headed to dinner.

I decided to bike 5km to the botanical gardens, where after a bit of negotiating with the guards I got a tour of the 2nd highest botanical gardens in the world. The dinner was held at some sort of palace at the bottom, and the police did not want me inside with my bike (granted, my dress clothes were in my backpack). It took a few calls but I was eventually admitted, and promptly praised by several state officials and the head of the German department for making the conference international.

The big treat of the night, however, was the vodka, five course dinner, and old academics dancing their hearts out with no contact in traditional Tajik style. It was indeed a warm welcome to what my adviser calls 'scholar as celebrity'.


What's up next depends on weather, roads, and typhoid. But I promise there will be something awesome. I also still have some extra postcards if you want to email your address to benski123 gmail com.
Here's a few pix and videos of the festivities as well.

Nice four hour ride along the Afghan border towards Ishkashim. Bummed the cross border market is closed due to typhoid- I even took my pills on time and they won't let me cross.

Murghab to Khorog: High temps, winds, plateaus

On July 12th, 2013 I arrived in Murghab, Gorno Badakshan Autonomous Oblast, Republic of Tajikistan.

And I only spent 16 hours there. On recommendation from the Quebecois cyclists we met earlier in the day, we stayed at the newly (4.2013) opened Pamir Hotel, in a nice yurt in front next to the main road. Generally I wouldn't stay next to a main road in a yurt, but near Murghab M41 has maybe 10 cars a day. So we gave up our passports after some negotiating, and had a nice place to sleep with warm showers for 20 TJS or 4$. Few people speak English in Murghab, and even fewer know what time the ATM closes. But we were able to change at a favorable rate at the hotel, and after 20 minutes struggle with knife, then safety pin, and finally needle, I had my megacom sim out of the iPhone and a TCell SIM card inside (finally mastered my SIM card cutting so this one went straight in).

We then got a map of Murghab and took a quick tour around town. Not expecting to find much, it was a relief to find a cafe in the city center serving lagman and Russian beer. The bazaar in Murghab is the center of the dust bowl, with a few dozen shipping containers providing shelter from the wind for the Pamir legal association, hundreds of cheap Chinese imports and a few fruits and veggies. There isn't much else other than META, a store or two selling stale candy, and a bank (one with ATM inside). Managed to send out an email or two before the power went way down, but productivity went way down around 8 pm when the lights dimmed to half dead Christmas lights. Luckily the shower water tank remained hot for a bit. Exchanged travel info with some French tourists, then called it a night, expecting to get up and have a taxi waiting to Murghab for 120 TJS.

What the hotel owner failed to tell me is that the taxi could wait an entire day for passengers. So I headed to the bazaar and asked every driver (a whopping 4 SUVs and 1 minibus) where they were going and found that the minibus had other passengers and would take my bike and I for 160 TJS. But when they saw my bike, and that the wheels took up their minuscule trunk, they tried to charge me twice what we agreed upon. I sent them away angry. These guys need money and I don't mind paying the going rate, but some taxi drivers are stubborn and will only take the stupidest of tourists.

After another 2 hours of waiting, I was ready to hire a private jeep again, this time for only $80 US, because I had to be in Khorog by 7am on the 14th. But as I was negotiating with the driver I found, a young man swing by in his fathers Pajero, and gladly took the 150 TJS I was offering for a ride. 30 minutes later we were on the road to Khorog with an entire Dushanbe-bound family. Despite being jammed next to two larger Tajik women, the ride was fine. Bike survived the ride on top, stomach survived several servings of yak butter, watermelon and chai that were offered at the 4 houses we stopped at. Even tried to go to some hot springs near Jalandy but the big pools were closed and really didn't appear to have been maintained since Soviet party retreat days so I wasn't too bummed. The driver was obviously a local taxi driver and not used to tourists, so it took a bit of iPhone navigation to get to Khorogs most popular digs at the Pamir Lodge. 4$ a night for a bed on the porch and some sort of banya. Had a late night chatting with some Israelis and two Norwegians, and went to bed promptly when I learned I was due at the university at 7am.
Some pictures. 1. The suburbs of Murghab. A hut or two. 2. The town of Murghab during a consistent cold wind. 3. Megaphon mobile cell tower. There's no way they make money on these, but locals certainly get good use out of their cheap Nokia phones. 4. LED lights powered by solar (allows TV as well) are the only source of light in Alichor 5. My ride with bike and haul bag on top

A Uaz from Osh to Murghab and sights from the road

The Journey From Osh to Murghab
You have probably read by now my likes and dislikes of Osh. None of those continue on to the high Pamirs, though travel to the Pamirs is not easy. The cheaper shared taxis (maybe $50 pp) tend to be undiscoverable and full without stopping by the taxi stand in Osh, and they won't stop overnight or for pictures. Private cars from tour companies run over 300 for the trip. So what did I do when I couldn't find a shared taxi? I started bargaining, then through in another person. The drivers need money, and will eventually come down to just a bit more than the petrol cost and some wear and tear on their Russian Uaz. I got the price down to 170 USD for two people with an overnight in Sary Tash, and then showed up with 3 people and threw in $10 extra.

We started the drive around 7pm after filling up 3 fuel tanks for the 840 km round trip journey (Tajik gas is terrible if it even exists) and loading the jeep with a watermelon, several kilos of cherries, a bag of lemons, 10 kilos of apricots, a bike, 35 kilos of my gear, and two huge trekking packs. The drive out of Osh quickly went from fertile valleys to slightly less fertile pastures dotted with yurts. The German social worker I was sharing the jeep with had never had Kumiz, or fermented horse milk. So we stopped and paid about 40 cents to split a pint.

More beautiful alpine valleys with intermittent rainstorms followed. We arrived Sary Tash after a torrential downpour, several stops to cool the Russian jeep, and some photos. On arrival, we went hunting for a meal and bed. The cheapest spot, Ieda hotel cafe, suggested food on the sign but it didn't exist. Other home stays wanted around US 15$ per person and we were tired, so we paid $3 per person for a nice cold pile of blankets on the floor. I had a great sleep in just boxers, but our driver and the other two passengers had a bit of a miserable sleep due to the 3000 meter altitude and such.

Everyone survived though, and by 9 we were rolling. A quick stop at the store for snickers, water, and wafer cookies then onwards to the border. Three record books for each country took a bit of time, and a 1.5 liter bottle of beer at each stop prevented searches. Kizil Art truly is the middle of nowhere, at 4200 meters, and the Tajik guards stay all winter. Mental state must be changed by booze.

The drive kept getting more and more beautiful: colored river valleys, glaciated peaks, ribbons of water. We saw a few yaks, then a couple Quebecois bike tourists looking beat with really beat Dahons. Lunch at Karakul, the highest navigable lake in the world, was an outstanding introduction to yak steak and high altitude salted bread. This high up the jeep sputtered out every 45 minutes, so we got a photo break and some snacks, arriving in Murghab in late afternoon.
Some pictures. 1. Getting petrol in Osh took 15 mins 2. Leaving Osh 3. View of Sary Tash 4. Herds right before Kyrgyz border post 5. Welcome to Gorno Badakshan with a concrete yurt at kiZil art 6. Creating dust with the Uaz. 7. Repair stop #20

How we shop: Bazaars, supermarkets, everything stores

First off, you are probably asking why no political talk.

Simply put, as much as the governments of Central Asia wish to say that their press is free and freedom of speech exists, it doesn't really. At least recent protests have only resulted in injuries, road closures, and economic losses with no arrests of reporters and only few of protestors. But real opposition exists to some political commentary, discussion of government opposition, and especially the formal publication of satire and commentary. So feel free to talk to me in person or via email and I will gladly share my thoughts when back in the states. 

But on to shopping. In the states, we have Walmarts, Safeways, Hardwear stores, and convenience stores. All prices are fixed, everything or almost everything is prepackaged, and nothing is truly fresh. The shopping habits we have generate plenty of waste, and the waste is picked up and whisked away.

Central Asia, and the rest of the developing world, is totally different. Supermarkets are rare and much more expensive than the markets, farm stands, and one room shops that exist as the commercial hubs of small towns. 

Though shopping can feel like work, stresses the vocal words, and tires the feet, the feeling of getting the best price, buying only what you need, and fitting everything into one plastic bag is unrivaled. Even the fashion fanatics who gain pleasure from buying a thousand dollar outfit can feel accomplished when buying a hand dyed, hand stitched wool dress made with a hand crank sewing machine right in the market. And such a fanatic could still afford a horse to ride away on.

I've seen plenty of trash along the roads of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, but it isn't even bad compared to Americas larger cities. But to imagine that most of the cities in Central Asia have no trash pickup and what is seen on the streets or slowly burning is hard. But true. Just think for a day about what you could do without, how much you paid extra for packaging, and then go to your local co op with bulk bins.

PS I admit I have been buying .5 kilo of desert per day which comes in a plastic baggie.

And here are some pics of markets and stores in Central Asia. From Almaty a bike shop, from Bishkek a phone store and from Osh and Sary Tash the Jayma baZaar and a fruit vendor (me. for real. new biz scheme) The phones generally don't come with the 2 pounds of packaging you get in the states.

Finally high in the Pamirs. 2nd highest highway in the world.

Russian jeep to the second highest highway in the world. Paid nothing extra for the views