Murgab-Langar

We said goodbye to our new Swedish friends, who were heading back to Osh with Sharshen. We left Murgab at 7:30 am with the Swiss couple, Phillippe and Dominique. We had 2 drivers and 2 Land Cruisers "for safety reasons" since they'd heard that the roads were washed out. It was more just that they both needed to get back to Dushanbe, and wanted their petrol to be free. But oh well, we got a deal anyways.

We were very glad to be leaving Murgab, the worst place on earth. It was also the last part of the country where Kyrgyz people lived, so we'd soon be seeing real Tajiks. As soon as we got out of the village and into the mountains, everything became a winter wonderland. All the mountains were covered in 6 inches of snow, and it was absolutely beautiful being surrounded by white mountains on all sides. There hadn't been snow the day before when our driver, Vladimir, had come through with an Austrian tourist. The weather changes so quickly in the Pamirs that everytime drivers come through it must look different.

We turned off the Pamir Highway, because instead of just going through Tajikistan, we were going the alternate route along the Afghan border. As soon as we turned off, the road went from asphalt to dirt/rocks, and stayed that way almost the whole rest of the trip. The snow disappeared a few miles on, and the landscape was more like a desert. There were sand and rocks everywhere. We stopped by an alpine lake in the "desert," that Phillippe said looked just like Bolivia.

As soon as we turned off, the road went from asphalt to dirt/rocks, and stayed that way almost the whole rest of the trip. We went through a police checkpoint, and then we were at the Afghan border! A small river separated us from Afghanistan, but we could at any moment have waded across. We stopped for lunch on the banks of the river- Mike and I had a cucumber and some chococlate-covered peanuts, Dominique and Phillippe got out their camping stove and heated water for Ramen noodles.

We snaked along the side of mountains on narrow dirt paths... definitely not a "road" you'd want to be on in a rain storm. We had to stop often to let the shepherds pass by with their flocks of goats, sheep, cows, and donkeys. Everywhere we looked was just brown. There were some small tufts of mountain plants, but no trees or bushes...

...until we went around a corner and saw an amazing green oasis of tall trees and fields in front of us! This was the village of Langar, brushed over in Lonely Planet but a place that I would recommend to everyone. We drove down into the valley, on narrow, snaking roads, past small mud houses. Everywhere there were people and children waving and shouting "hello!" Our driver took us to a homestay, in a house especially built for Aga Khan. The Aga Khan is the leader of Ismailism, a branch of Islam. You can read more about the Aga Khan title here and read about the 49th imam and current leader of Ismailism here (he's Swiss!?) He has single-handedly given more than $500 million dollars to the Pamir region (he spent $200 million just to build a branch of The University of Central Asia in Khorog!) It's said that he has supported the people of the Pamirs since 1998. Anyways. In 2007 it was the Golden Jubilee year, his 50th year as leader of the Ismailis, and the house we stayed in was built for him.

We dumped our bags and went for a walk around the village. There were some petroglyphs, but Mike and I had seen enough of them AND it was a steep walk up a dusty mountain, so we waited at the bottom for the Swiss couple. They'd never seen petroglyphs, but said that it wasn't worth the walk. Then we walked around town for hours, just marveling at the friendliness of all the people. There was water everywhere- rivers, creeks, springs, waterfalls. It really felt like an oasis, because everywhere we looked outside the village was just brown. Many people wanted us to take pictures of them, and it was just such a relief to meet really friendly people after 10 months in KG.

The daughter of our homestay took us to the Aga Khan "museum," which is more just like a community center. Ismailis don't have mosques at all- instead, there's just a center where people can go to pray and to socialize. The prayer room is designed in the traditional Pamiri way- there are 5 pillars around the room, which signify the 5 pillars of Islam. We also went to the grave of some famous Ismaili. There was a big stone wall built, covered in Marco Polo Sheep horns, and there were many small ovens that the daughter of our homestay kept sticking her hand into and touching her forehead. There was a smaller enclosed stone wall inside where the man was buried, and around this wall were many many more horns. It was a very peaceful place full of warped trees and lots of green grass.

We went back to our homestay where dinner was included and had plov. We all went to bed quite early, because somehow sitting in a car all day is exhausting.