Khorog - Dushanbe by Pamir Highway!
18/11/17
The consul refused my visa to Afghanistan, told me to acquire it in the capital. But at least I got the refund for my money which is rare in these cases.
But I wasn't inclined to be stranded in Dushanbe while they're issuing the visa, so I just bought a plane ticket to Tehran, as I considered wasting any more of my time in Tajikistan to be a crime when I could be in Iran tomorrow. I've heard a lot of good things about this country and I wanted to go there for a long time.
So, on November the 19th I'm flying to Tehran and the visit to Afghanistan is postponed. Maybe next time I'll make the visa in Moscow, along with the visa to Pakistan.
Pyandj river and the Afghan coast
And about the road Khorog-Dushanbe... well, that was something. It goes along Pyandj that separates Tajikistan from Afghanistan and at some places it is so narrow, you could spit on the other coast.
And I've never seen mountains like those before, the terrain is absolutely extraterrestrial, but the photos will not relay the titanic scale of those rocks bursting out of the ground to cloud the sun and immerse the valley in the shade.
It was also interesting to observe the Afghan side, even from outside. The rough settlements with patches of green grass (absent on the right coast), trees, caves...
There is also a road on the other side of the river, but it's even worse than the road on Tajik side.
There are practically no cars, just rare motorcycles and numerous caravans of laden donkeys.
A caravan with donkeys
If you look closely, you can see people carrying bundles of wood
So the distance of 600km between Khorog and Dushanbe was passed in 16.5 hours and the only patch of decent pavement was like 50km long. We were also slowed down by policemen that always stopped our car to get some bakshish from the driver and check my documents (if they saw me).
I heard it's much worse in Uzbekistan, so I decided to not go there yet.
Most part of the way we passed in the darkness again and it was only memorable by some thick fog at one point, we couldn't see farther than 2 meters ahead, making us effectively blind.
There also was a tunnel 4.5km long.
So, after this exhausting ride I finally arrived to Dushanbe.
More pics:
Bonus hamster
Check out my other posts:
Tajikistan: 1, 2, 3
Kyrgyzstan: 1, 2, 3
Kazakhstan: 1, 2, 3