Today will be one of those remarkable and rememorable rides we have done. The goal is the Eastern Tajik city of Murghab, capital of the Murgob district. Murghab has about 4000 inhabitants which are 50% Tajik and 50% Kyrgyz. The more north from there, the more Kyrgyz the people will be. It is the last big city in Tajikistan before going into Kyrgyzstan. It is also the highest city in Tajikistan at an altitude of 3650m.
When I woke up, I immediately looked outside of the window. I saw blue skies, yes, it would be a great ride definitely. We had a good breakfast with eggs, bread and tea with sugar. I am really thankful to the local people, they have almost nothing compared to us rich Western people, but their hospitality is so much bigger than ours. They have a great heart.
It had been a cold night, even though it was mid summer. After learning more I realised this is one of the coldest places in Tajikistan. Our host his sister lives in Bulunkul, known as the coldest town in Tajikistan. It is close to the beautiful Yasilkul lake. He wrote a small message in Pamir language on a note, we would give it to his sister later on the day.
We said goodbye to our host and went off along the M41 highway. The Pamirs are also called the roof of the world. Today we will see why. We had also our first mountain pass over 4000m and it would be not far after Jelandy. Indeed the asphalt disappeared and a dirt road appeared. It would take is in numerous bends over a high mountain. Under the way we saw some shepherds, but almost no car for the entire day, until we got to Murghab.
We saw wildlife as well, big birds looking like eagles, and a lot of marmott looking animals. After the mountain pass the landscape turned into an arid, desert like landscape.
It was almost like being on another planet. Here you can be alone. What a difference with the busy Belgium I come from. We enjoyed the ride and the beautiful views.
After riding for a few hours, we saw a road on the left side, which pointed to the town of Bulunkul. Here the sister of our last host lives, and it is also close to the Yasilkul lake. We went of the Pamir Highway and followed another dirt road to the Town. After 20km or so we reached the town but we did not go into town immediately and decided to go to the lake first but from the East side.
It turned out to be a more difficult task then expected. As we were riding on almost not existing tracks. We reached a little farm at some point but the dogs here were fierce. So we continued, but the track got even smaller. We saw the lake in the distane but the track got so steep at a point that you could only walk it. We had to back, past the dogs again 🙂
We continued along the north side, but it was a difficult road, and got to a high plateau with nice views. From here we could see the lake well, but it was still some miles away. We took our binoculars and saw in the distance a jeep trying to cross a river. It did not look too good, so we decided to go back, and enter the town this time.
We found our way back easily and rode into the town of Bulunkul. There we asked around for the sister. It is only a small town so we found here quickly. She offered to stay, I think this was probably on the note from her brother.
But it was still early in the day, and we thanked her kindly. We decided to ride on to Murghab, as this was the original plan. So we drove back on the dirt track to the main road. Once on the main road we noticed the salk lakes next to the M41.
We continued our way and almost saw no one today on the road. There were maybe one or two trucks we saw though going to China. We also was some more yurtas. At one of them we stopped and had a look inside.
Further down the road there was a stolovoya. This is a cafe where you can eat. It was the only cafe was saw today, and very small. But appearantly it was popular amongst the Chinese truck drivers for the fish they served here. We only had tea and bread though.
Near the evening we rode through more fantastic landscapes, and through canyonlands.
Just before the city of Murghab the landscape changed again and turned greenish. We were almost at our destination now. There was another security checkpoint before we could enter the city. But all was ok and the dogs were good here.
Once we got in the side we started looking for a good homestay. We found a place called Ibrahim, but actually we did not like it too much. It was quite expensive, the food was not so good and the people not friendly. We found out it was not a real homestay but a rather touristic hostel. We met 2 men from Spain who told us they had seen us at the border before.
In the evening we had diner with the spanish men, their guide and driver. We had a few beers. We went to bed early. There was big ride to do and we would almost be at the border with Kyrgyzstan. But we needed good weather for that. Between here and the next country there are two mountain passes over 4000m to do. The highest of them is the Ak Baikal pass with an altitude of 4655m. Let us hope the weather is good tomorrow.