Pedaling from the Black Forest to the Yellow Sea

It was a off day and I treated it as such. I did some shopping for the next days at the local bazaar, had a look around town and so forth.

After finishing Moby Dick before breakfast (I am getting up early these days), I am now reading Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene. We shall see how it turns out to be.

The one thing Andre (another traveler staying at the same place I do) and I were wondering was where the huge number of microvans were heading. I had seen them often before and it never made sense to me to transport toilet paper in these small vehicles. Some of them had “transit” written on them, i.e. Manufactured in China and before being handed over given a good beating on the Tajik roads in the Pamir. But it seems to make some sense that it would be interesting to take a closer look at those toilet paper rolls as I am sure not all of the stuff transported will turn out to be legit. There are just so many of them and my hunch is that by splitting things up the likelihood of some of the stuff getting through is increased.

Here are some pictures of me bumbling around town …

Other than that another early night due to lack of electricity. It is a rare and strange occurrence here. It works well at like 2am and you can charge batteries then even, but is basically non-existent for the rest of the day. With all its problems of course (keeping things refrigerated or easy cooking).

daily distance: 98km
total distance: 11,260km
riding time: 5-6h

It was only supposed to be a small pass. But it was cold all the time. And windy. It came from the back which made it much better, but it was bitterly cold. At least all those local predications proved to be untrue … “There will be tons of snow in the morning” and so on.

At least these guys weren’t cold …

And on we go, straight into the sun …

Landscape still all thumbs up. But again, it seemed that I wasn’t running at full steam. Or even half of it. I had pain around my left kidney area, something I had never had and couldn’t place. It bothered me practically all day long and started to abate only late at night. If kidney stone feels a bit like it, it’s not funny at all.

The road continues along the same plain (with much less yurts now) and then heads up Naizatash Pass. It isn’t a hard pass, it climbs rather slowly over a good number of km. But I had to fight to get over it. Others didn’t make it …

That done and out of the way though, the rest of the day was downhill to Murgab. One slight exception: what has been described as a small ridiculous climb. It was. Just before getting to Murgab, you cross one more hill, which is intense and steep, but after that it is all good for Murgab, which is coming up in the distance.

I was determined to take a break there for a day, being ahead of what could be a 10-day schedule for riding all the way to Kyrgyzstan. You may ask why I don’t do smaller chumps. I could, but there isn’t much there and so far things have turned out to be pretty well.

Murgab greats you with a checkpoint and another registration requirement. Then you’re out for a place to stay. Things are easy enough and some other travelers had told me about the house of Apal and the family is great. And Apal cooks great food. Really, she does - and lots of it. She must have seen the hungry biker coming - and what she cooked up would have been enough for two. It all went down though in addition to lots of other stuff that I had bought at the local and very uninspiring bazaar. But things are good and I will stay here for another night, no need to rush things.

A bit of a strange feeling though … it must have to do with not feeling 100% and the whole visa thing with Bishkek. Sometimes I have the urge to head back and out of here. But I am sure that once the Bishkek visit is behind me (hopefully successfully) and I am in China things will be OK again. The ride is fantastic, don’t get me wrong. I am catching myself thinking that this is the Pamir and I am riding here, have the privilege to do so … and that’s really what it is. It may be toughish at times, but it is always a privilege.

Even with no light up here due to lack of electricity …

daily distance: 81km
total distance: 11,162km
riding time: 6h

It was still bittercold when we woke up the next morning. I was happy to stay under the blanket for a while as the road leading up to the pass was in the shadow and it seemed to make little sense to go up without the sun warming things up a bit.

When they did, it was still a steep, steep battle. Parts were again not fit for biking, the upper part of the pass being obliterated by the big trucks that are taking this route and for some reason there being no asphalt. This is the case so often here - you get to the most challenging part and it is made even harder. Very few vehicles passed me over the course of the next 45 minutes or so. Which was great. And here is to yesterday’s picture of me pointing up …

The pass flattens out towards the end and then you’re up at 4272m and it’s a cool feeling to be up that high under your own steam.

The other great thing here is the complete change of scenery from the valley I had been following to the other side of things. It is sometimes described as a lunar landscape - at any rate the mountains are more rolling than anything and there is a salt plateau further on. It is an amazing scenery once you can enjoy it when being on asphalt again. Which takes a while and the haphazard efforts of the Tajik construction workers don’t seem to make things a whole lot better.

Just as things were getting nice in terms of the asphalt, the next climb looms ominously in the distance and it was clear that there was no blacktop and that it was steep again. Unrideable for me in parts, but with great views.

Once over the pass and getting through some rough road on the other side, a plain comes into view with several lakes dotting it.

It was here - after passing the turnoff to the Whakan Valley that I seemed to be running out of steam completely. Nothing seemed to help much. Water was OK, I had eaten, but I was running on empty it seemed. It may have been the altitude (still at 3900m) that made want to go no further. Plus, the weather seemed to be turning as well, so the detour I had thought about taking was out of the question. I didn’t have much of a choice I felt and continued at a snail’s pace until Alichur. Bonk - what a drab place. It may have been the weather, gloomy and cold, it may have been the place. But I didn’t want to stay. Got myself some chocolate after which I seemed to be doing better again and slugged on for another 13km or so. The plain was still sparsely inhabited by Kyrgyz people in yurts. But I ended up in a home not far from which I had asked for some water source. I was invited in, the place turned out to be a restaurant and because of the wind and how I felt I decided to stay for the night instead of heading for a different place.

Good choice. Bek and his wife are fun people, they invited me into their kitchen after the other guests had left. The kitchen consisting of a tiny space and a stove where an atrocious soup was cooked up. It wasn’t really tasty I must admit, but hey. There also wasn’t any more space than the four of us (one other person helping out) and the stove. But it was warm. Heated by dried up cow doo-doo (no, it doesn’t smell, everyone heats with this stuff here) and light supplied by batteries powered by a solar panel we spent the evening together.

Note: I am in Kyrgyzstan as I am posting this, having gone over the Pamir Highway, and am doing great, heading up to Bishkek to sort things out with the US visa. Thanks to all those who sent messages and for those who donated via Paypal on the inbetween. For more info, head over to the donations information page.

More updates to follow in the coming days as I can upload pictures and the like. It’s still all a bit complicated here.

daily distance: 79km
total distance: 11,081km
riding time: 5h

Again, I had the wind in my back as I was heading up the valley further. Not sure about the last place to replenish, I decided to go with the basics and do my purchases early. Meaning that I also had to lug them up the mountain. But I shouldn’t have worried. You can get supplies fairly far up the valley, except for bread. No one sells it. You have to ask for it and then they won’t have any money for it here. No, we don’t want anything for bread, even in a little store. Thanks a bunch!!!

The scenery was great, the fall colors out in force.

I left the Gunt behind me and went up a side valley, passing a few more hamlets and a statute of the Marco Polo sheep that is prevalent here.

In the village of Jelondy there is a sanatorium (which is a hot spring), but I decided to move up a bit further towards the Koy-Tezek Pass, but not to go over it tonight.

No need to rush things really.

Turns out it was a great choice. Just before the switchbacks start I saw a house and without asking was invited in. And it was a good thing. The night was bittercold and extremely windy. Temperature went down to -10C and wind was pretty fierce all night long. Lying in the house with a snug blanket around was a good thing (despite heavy snoring next to me).

Here is a picture of where I would be going up the following day … fun stuff.

daily distance: 72km
total distance: 11,081km
riding time: 4-5h

A day split in two - the morning part quickly told. Some last minute shopping and more internet organizing and updating for Bishkek and the website. Can’t leave you without some reading material. But now it was up to some heavy-duty biking I was guessing. Or at least the altitude got a little higher. You pass this car - the first one ever to make it over the Pamir Highway - as you leave Khorog.

After noontime I set out to bike some distance - turned out to be a glorious 70km until just before nightfall. The first part a bit ugly until you get outside of Khorog, then you get to the checkpoint - but after that it was all greatness. The police I had been warned about. Other people had been told that they didn’t have the right papers and would have to pay a fine. The same with me. I was given the “Straf, Straf” spiel (and here German comes in handy, as the word for penalty in German is Strafe). I looked at him kind of surprised and kept blabbering in English that I had no idea what he talked about. He then said that my permit wasn’t good enough and that the town of something was missing. It wasn’t and so I just said that I didn’t know what he wanted and in the end resorted to talking about Dushanbe and the office there … at which point he slowly seemed to loose hope in getting anything. He still mumbled “Straf, Straf”, but by then I had picked up my passport and was on my way out.

Even though it was uphill, the wind in my back helped a lot and pushed me further than I had planned. The area was - as has been the case - simply amazing. The river Gunt has an eerie green color stemming from its glacial origin and the trees make for a sweet alpine feeling. You could forget that you are close to Afghanistan … Swiss Alps are a good image.

In the end, I wanted to camp again, but was refused and instead invited to the home of a family in the tiny settlement of Wer. The old man was adamant about not sleeping outside as it would get cold and instead we shared a room while the rest of the family; his son, wife and two kids were in the other room/kitchen, which was under renovation. They forced so much food (potatoes) down my throat I had to stop at some point. And it was an interesting conversation about religion and all things Pamiri - how much they make in a year (very little), how life is going in this part of the Pamir (OK, but not great) and many other things.

If it wasn’t for biking, there would probably be somewhat of a lack of private space here for me. This is a rather Western approach, but you literally sleep, eat and drink in some sense communally. You share the rooms, the cutlery, plates and most everything else. Cars are always loaded to the brink with people. It may be a reason for some harsh reactions when someone is riding next to me for too long. I don’t like the reaction I sometimes have, but it is getting to be frustrating at times. Not being able to communicate properly certainly doesn’t help … but that is not something that happened today, so we’ll save it for a slow day.