Korea, Russia, Stans To East Europe (page 53)

Sary-Tash To Tajikistan

Being at Sary Tash and not able to eat anything much I was reduced to eating alone and basic, the colour of the carpet not doing anything for my mind state having seen similar earlier from “pre-used” food

 Meeting up with Felix and some other German guys we formulated a game plan, we set course for Peak Lenin, 7134 metres of glamour.

Making it to the base camp early afternoon was a treat and a half, we were at 3500 metres with Peak Lenin looking straight at us.

Stu and Jen have a problem with their Landcruiser coughing and farting when over 2500 metres so we checked many things to try and diagnose the problem but to no avail it was above our pay grade and looking like the pump needs dealing too

Cooking up and settling in we have a couple of wines into the early evening until about 8.30pm when it just got so cold everyone packed it in.

About 4.00am it settled in hard with a big frost making socks and beanie std bedtime attire.

Morning broke frigid and clear with the Pamirs looking down on us, coffees and porridge and some scrambled eggs from our new Polish mates.

Layers to start with were soon peeled off with the welcoming warmth of the sun treating everyone 

Everyone then set off on their own we course, Felix and I packed down camp and headed to Sary-Tash for food and final fuel stop for 416 km.

Tanked and sorted Tajikistan starring at us we were drawn in by these 7000 metre beautys, the Kyrgyzstan exit to the border a mostly paved road and the border crossing maybe 10 minutes, into the Tajikistan side where were welcomed in with a big smiles after the 4300 pass which saw 45 down to 2/3 power but still running like a swiss clock.

Passports in and done, moto clocked in and done with no “disinfectant” silly shit and the border guy even gave us his phone number for the end of our Bartang Valley ride to come and have food and drink with his family.

Bitterly cold and strong winds chased us down the plains to the lowlands (3900 metres) where we got a guest house stay for the night as Felix’s sleeping bag was too summer orientated for the minuses we have been having.

The guest house was basic, power by generator and we self-cooked out in the yard much to the surprise and amusement of the ladies who ran the place.

Lighting did not come on until people simply could not see what they were eating and cellphone lights came out then they cranked up the genny.

Dush, (Doolsh) or shower as everyone else knows it is a fire, a bucket, a tap, a bucket of cold water and a ladle…bombs away … shower, funny thing is I felt so earthly fresh afterward and it was all lit by an LED light flashing off and on to the pulse of the generator so it was like the dodgy underground rave rooms we used to haunt …dunno how long the LED bulb would last.

A cool and comical start to Tajikistan, looking forward to the rest of it as we will be at some high elevations and hopefully (high country) eye candy to match.