July 18, 2004

Is this the way to Tajikistan?

Pamir Tales - Part 2

Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan

It's eight o'clock in the morning and I'm standing on a road in Sary Tash. Sary Tash has four roads, one to Osh, one to a corner of Kyrgyzstan called Daurat-Korgon, one to China, and one to Tajikistan.

Four roads and no cars.

I saw a truck heading along the China road about half-an-hour ago.

That was interesting.

By nine o'clock I've gathered a small group around me. We watch a cow demolish a herders tent across the road.

At nine thirty a truck miraculously heads down the road. Could it be? Is it possible? "Tajikistan?", I hopefully call out. Yes, they reply. Unbelievable. "Skolka?", I ask. How much? About $12 to Murghab, the first major town over the border. I'm not awash with choices so I happily jump in, squeezing myself and my backpack in with the two guys in the cab.

It's still morning and I'm on my way.

We stop at the Kyrgyz border post, 30km from town. We're still a long way from the real border but it's all mountain after here. As we leave we're joined by a bus (there is a bus from Osh!) and a couple of other trucks who must have been here overnight. We begin the long, steep climb up to the 4282m Kyzyl-Art pass.

The truck moves, at times, incredibly slowly. I swear I could walk faster. But I don't really mind as I'm enjoying the sensational scenery all around. A huge range of high mountains, topped by Pik Kommunizma. At 7495m it was the highest mountain in the former Soviet Union.

As we approach the top of the pass I'm glad of the presence of the bus. We simply can't make it up some of the steep grades and a cable is rigged up to allow the bus to pull us up the last kilometre or so. Finally we reach the top and the Tajik border post. The border guard requests a spurious 10 tajik soms (about $3) as a "fee". Normally I'd resist such bribes but looking around at his surroundings, a couple of tin sheds in the freezing cold, at least half-a-day from anything, I don't begrudge him some fringe benefits. As I return to the truck and the long wait for all formalities to be completed it begins to snow. I huddle by the side in my $4 Kyrgyz jacket and munch on a Snickers bar bought in Osh. I wonder for how long the guards are posted here.

Finally at 4pm we can go and we start the long climb down to Tajikistan. We grab some dinner at a small cafe then continue south, following the Tajik-Chinese border, at times no more than a few metres away. I find myself feeling a strange attraction for China. With so much unknown ahead of me the familiarity beckons.

We drive on in to the night, the desert landscape receding in the darkness. Every now and then we stop for a while to let the engine cool down or the driver grab a few moments sleep. The night is clear but there are not so many stars. Nothing like a southern hemisphere night.

Eventually at 1am we reach Murghab, population 4000. It's taken fifteen hours to cover the 210km from Sary Tash. The driver's offsider directs us to his house and we are warmly received by his family with bread, tea, and water melon. Exhausted we collapse in to bed, the whole family sharing the same big room. I'm asleep in an instant.

Posted by David at July 18, 2004 09:19 PM