Osh-Murgab

The Pamir Highway got off to an exciting start. We split the car with 2 great Swedes, Anna and John. She's a diplomat working at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow. Our driver (who Chris recommended) was actually on the Osh Guesthouse coordinators blacklist because he had tried to scam some foreigners he drove out of money. He was the only driver in Osh the day we wanted, so he got the job, but we were warned not to give him any more money than we agreed to.

The morning after one night at Osh Guesthouse I woke up completely covered in bug bites. They still itch horribly today (a week later!) and I think they might have been bed bugs. What a way to start a trip :)

We got the car for $175 from Osh-Murgab, $43 each. We set off around 11 am in a great Russian Uaz Jeep. Just a few miles out of Osh the road completely disappeared, and we were basically off-roading the whole way to Tajikistan. We went over at least 2 million bumps and it's amazing to think that everyday marshrutkas stuffed full of people take the same route. There was some bad weather in the mountains, and we spent most of the trip to the border in clouds and rain.

We got out of Kyrgyzstan alright (the border guard spent 2 months studying at The London School!), but from the Kyrgyz border to the Tajik border there were 20 kilometers of horrible road conditions and bad snow. It was a small muddy road through snow and up high mountain passes. Not something I'd like to do again. There was a house just past the Kyrgyz border crossing, and the people living in No-Man's Land offered us some yak airan (yogurt) which was quite tasty and unique. They had many yaks that we also took pictures of.

We also got into Tajikistan with few problems, but the border guards hadn't seen a diplomatic passport before, so they tried to give the Swedes some problems. Sharshen, our taxi driver, had to pay the guards with about 5 liters of gasoline. But we got across into Tajikistan!

It was getting dark, so we overnighted in a small village called Kara-Kul. It is next to a big frozen lake. In the Pamirs from the border to Murgab, most people are Kyrgyz, so it didn't really feel like we'd left. We basically went straight to bed since the altitude was affecting us, we'd sat in the car all day, and it was late at night. Anna was really affected by the altitude and felt really ill, but I just had a bit of a headache (which might have been due to all the bumps...)

It was freeeeezing cold, but we got a traditional bed of mattresses on the floor, and it was quite cozy.

In the morning, we walked to Lake Kara-Kul, which is big and covered in ice. There were beautiful snowy mountain peaks all around the lake, and we caught a glimpse of Pik Lenin, the tallest mountain in Kyrgyzstan. There were animal skins and Marco Polo sheep horns lying all over the place, which was quite sad to see, considering that they are quite endangered. :(

After breakfast we continued onto Murgab. There were a few more hours of moutain roads, but the weather was clear and bright, and it was great to see all the mountain peaks everywhere. We arrived at lunchtime in Murgab, which is by far the most horrible place I've ever been to. It's a miserable town of about 6000 people, and does have a desert feel. It's dusty, grey, and all the people look very ill. They are also Kyrgyz here, but are much darker than people in Kyrgyzstan because they are much closer to the sun, and their eyes are all red because they either do lots of drugs, even the toddlers, or they don't wear sunglasses. Maybe both, since it is the Opium Highway of drugs from Afghanistan.

Luckily, we didn't spend long in Murgab. After lunch of bread and tea at Sharshen's family's house (that we were ridiculously charged 3$ for), he drove us to Mediyan Valley, where we were to stay in a yurt (finally!) and swim in some hot springs. It was another bumpy ride on a dirt road, but only about 1.5 hours in the car. We stopped off at a house because Sharshen had heard in Osh that the man living there had a tiger. We thought it was bollocks, but he took us around the back of his house and he had a cage with a SNOW LEOPARD in it! He said he'd caught it in the mountains in November when it was a baby, and he was going to give it to the Dushanbe Zoo. Who knows if that will happen. There was a dead marmot in the cage that the leopard hadn't eaten, and he did NOT look happy at all. Sadness. But we got to see the rare snow leopard, in its natural environment!!, sort of. Ben Scott, our London School co-worker, must be green with jealousy that we saw it and he didn't :)

The Mediyan Valley is probably the best place in the Pamirs to live. It's a secluded valley protected from the wind, and there are all sorts of natural springs. There are at least 4 different hot springs with varying temperatures, a river, and cold water springs. They used the hot water for everything- heating the house, cooking, and even heating the yurts! There were 4 radiators in each yurt, which kept them much warmer than regular yurts.

It was cold and rainy in the evening when we arrived, so a bath in hot springs sounded like the perfect activity! The water was 65 degrees Celsius, which seemed impossibly hot. After about 10 minutes of wading up to my ankles, I got used to it enough to get in all the way. It was really relaxing, but still VERY hot, even when I got used to it. But it was great to be in hot water while it was raining in very cold water though the ceiling skylight.

Sleeping in a yurt isn't all it's cracked up to be. Most people say that it's very cold and uncomfortable all night, but here it was too hot. We had a giant duvet, which was so thick it was almost suffocating. We were right next to the radiator, and it felt like we were in an oven. It didn't help that my bug bites were horrible itchy. I spent hours awake, sweating and scratching. But I finally got to sleep in a yurt, which I'd wanted to do all year.

In the morning, we went for a ride with Sharshen, who had to drop some stuff off at the leopard man's house. He took us to see some not-so-amazing petroglyphs, and then we walked most of the way back to the yurts, through a great valley next to a river. We were served Oromo for lunch, and drove back to Murghab in the afternoon. On the way back, we met two Swiss tourists who were heading for a swim in the hot springs. They said they had a car for the next morning going to Langar, along the Afghan border. Mike and I had initially planned on going there, but then since it seemed expensive, we'd decided to get a cab to Khorog, the capital of the GBAO region. But when we heard that they were planning to do just what we wanted, we decided to go with them instead. It was $805 from Murgab all the way to Dushanbe (almost 1200 km), over the course of 4 days. We paid $320 and they paid the rest. So we got from Osh to Dushanbe for just $203 each, which is quite cheap compared to what it seems others pay.

We decided not to eat dinner in our homestay when we got back to Murgab because it was so expensive, so we went out in search of a cafe. Murgab is bleak during the day, but at dusk it was even worse, if that's possible. We found a cheap cafe and had buckwheat and mediocre oromo, and I re-chipped the tooth I'd just gotten fixed in Osh. So much for Kyrgyz dentistry. Only a little piece chipped off and it hasn't gotten worse since, but what a waste of 400 som! After food, we hurried back home quick because there were scary dogs and scary groups of men wandering the dismal streets. We were very glad that it was our first and only night in Murghab.

We set off the next day with the Swiss couple for Langar. I'll update probably tomorrow about all the fun things that happened between Murgab and Dushanbe, where we are now. We'll stay here for probably another 3-4 days. Hopefully we'll find someone we can couchsurf with to save some money. It seems like a really beautiful Central Asian city, so we're looking forward to exploring it.

I've put some pics on facebook, so check those out.