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Today it was already 35 degrees at 9 am and we set out of Tashkent on the way to Khujand Tajikistan in 170 km. It was a bit of a round about as the road we were routed on was closed and there was a bit of traffic.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4260/...8b84d7d6_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-07-09 at 08.35.36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We headed the 100 km to the border and stopped once for some cold drinks and made some friends. There was another car a white sedan that was following us for about 20 km, but left as we neared the border. Again strange. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4304/...3f3769f8_b.jpgUzbekistan-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4292/...cbb68a1d_b.jpgUzbekistan-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4306/...5bdb968b_b.jpgUzbekistan-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The border is not really marked and you have to make a u turn to get to the gates. As soon as you do there are money changes who want to buy your Uzbek money and sell you Tajik money. The women all had these incredible gold grills.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/...5493804b_b.jpgUzbekistan-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr You pull up to the closed gate and the officers come out to check your passports and then let us thru. You go about 100 m and stop. Here there is a camera and you have to go farther, make a U turn, and then park so the camera can take your plate. There was a bit of an issue as they could not seem to get a reading on my BC plate or it may have been that it is in shadow. They came out with several letter size papers with CANADA written on it can you believe it. This took about 20 minutes for my bike and we stood off to the side in the shade. It is 40 degrees. The guys bikes took only about 5 min each. On line it says that the Uzbek officials here are unfriendly and it can be a hassle. They were more than nice to us and very smily and friendly. There is a large sign posted that there are no fees here and that guards will not accept bribes. We sailed thru besides the camera issue, and they were more embarrassed than anything that they had problems. Next you ride 200 m and park in the shade at customs. Here you go in and fill in an exit declaration card. It is in English and they provide sample ones with the correct data entered. From here you go back out to the booth on the opposite side of the lane. Here they check your passport and want your TVIP and registration. Next you walk 20 m to the passport control for the exit stamp. When you return to customs they asked to look in the luggage, but they really hardly looked at OURS. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4295/...2f4a6cdf_b.jpgUzbekistan by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Now on to Tajikistan. We were a tad worried as again on line the horror stories of the hassles you get at Tajik borders and the bribes demanded abound. We again sailed thru with no issues what so ever and they did not even ask to look in the luggage.
You ride 400 m to the gate and they asked to see the passports and then let us thru the gate. You ride about 200 m to the document check point. Here the very nice official asked for the passport and Tajik visa. He fingerprinted Trevor and Dan, but not Orvar or me? He did take our shots and even showed me mine as I had a funny face and he laughed and said it was ok. You drive thru the tire decontamination pool and then ride 400 m to the customs building. Here we were parked in the shade and an officer directed us to the customs office. They copy your passport and registration, enter a bunch of data into the computer while you wait in the small office full of smoke. The customs fee is 10$ us and receipts were given. It was super easy. My only issue was my tire plug was not holding air and needed to be redone. We are wondering if the last one did not set as it was siting in the 42 degree heat?? Now we have only 70 km to Khujand. It was an easy ride and the first thing we saw was open gas stations!!!. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4316/...ab335fff_b.jpgKhujand by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The country is clean and orderly and the drivers are mostly courteous.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4328/...7b30e5fd_b.jpgKhujand-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4305/...71b7e8d7_b.jpgKhujand-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It was thus very easy to get into the city and find our hotel. It was as usual 42 when we arrived. They have a Georgian chef here and international quality food for a change. We had our usual nap and cool off in the air con. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4296/...a95d96b6_b.jpgKhujand-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4295/...ce90128c_b.jpgKhujand-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It was still about 38 degrees at 8 when we went out for a bit of a stroll.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4295/...1c12ef43_b.jpgTajikistan-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4315/...e29b623d_b.jpgTajikistan-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4301/...1ceb7d3d_b.jpgTajikistan-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today we will ride 305 km south to the capital Dushanbe, which is the staging place for the Pamir “highway”. We will rest here for 2 nights, Orvar will swap out his tire, and we will stock up on some provisions. We were happy to finally find some 95 octane ! Also nice that we did not have to pay at the tolls.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4241/...e6457dc1_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-07-09 at 11.51.47 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4317/...9406ce47_b.jpgDashnube by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4307/...b830a275_b.jpgDashnube-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4315/...e8d219c9_b.jpgDashnube-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Leaving the city it is still desert for the first 70 km and then we finally went up into the mountains where it was 26degrees !!.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4303/...a0f4d90e_b.jpgTajikistan-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4312/...b29e9a3f_b.jpgDashnube-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/...61e3d509_b.jpgDashnube-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4301/...a1e1eea3_b.jpgDashnube-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Just before one of the tunnels we ran into Tom and Angela from Germany on their bike with a sidecar. This tunnel was only paved a month ago and is known as the tunnel of death. It was previously pitch black and pot holed. They started this trip in Dubai. The tunnels here are not for the faint of heart. There are 2 over 5 km long on the way and they are pitch back, with 2 way traffic, cars passing, and they are filled with exhaust and dust so it is very difficult to see. All of us were actually a bit scared SCARED.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4327/...8efedd04_b.jpgDashnube-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4306/...f7c79e74_b.jpgDashnube-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4300/...8f6b60f8_b.jpgDashnube-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4319/...7064df3a_b.jpgTajikistan-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4303/...d5e7c9d0_b.jpgTajikistan-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4293/...09782280_b.jpgTajikistan-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4313/...6331d4e3_b.jpgFILE1810 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The road on the other side is in bad shape for about 20 km and we heard later was actually closed the day before from 8 am to 6 pm. Wow were we lucky.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4293/...6b5fa682_b.jpgDashnube-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4330/...e9849c55_b.jpgDashnube-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4293/...7046c66d_b.jpgDashnube-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4330/...0fffea93_b.jpgDashnube-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4292/...10273fb6_b.jpgDashnube-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4296/...e48a188b_b.jpgDashnube-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We had to take a break about 30 km from town as we were all overheated and Daniel especially was dehydrated and actually hyperthermic. Luckily the hostel is cool and quiet and we have good air con and a shop next door. Dan was straight to a cold shower 2 litres of cold water and slept until the Morning.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4318/...712e0b45_b.jpgTajikistan by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Brilliant as always, looking great, Dan needs to drink more beer to stop the dehydration.
Gino & Fiona |
Quote:
Working on this now!!! Will need lots for the 5 days thru Kazakhstan!! SP |
All of us were a bit baked from the heat and all had a bit of GI upset and so we decided to book a third night. You actually can not be outside between 11 am and 7 pm it is searing.
Three "dollar" bills?! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4306/...e6727503_b.jpgIMG_8922 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There are a few bikers here Ken from Germany and Michael from Ireland who just finished the Pamir. Also Jen and Pete are here and headed east in their land cruiser. Darius from Poland bought a bike in Oz and is headed home. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4296/...8b5a45d1_b.jpgDushanbe-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4301/...37f88b6e_b.jpgDushanbe-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Orvar was taking his wheel to swap the tire at the local bike shop and Dan was taking mine since the second plug did not hold. I’m not sure you could expect mush since they were 45 degree mush when we put them in and then had to ride right away from Tashkent and from the Tajik border. The tire shop had un-melted plugs that we hope will work. If not tire off and patch. There are 2 Norwegians here too that are buying scooters to do the Pamir. Now that is adventure. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4300/...4e8bc226_b.jpgIMG_8926 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr On their recommendation we all took taxi’s down to the city centre to the Taj restaurant for very good Indian food. So far and surprisingly Tajikistan has been the culinary highlight of the trip. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4311/...94860256_b.jpgDushanbe by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We woke up Sunday morning to find Kyle from Wales and Dave from Scotland who had come off the Pamir and arrived at the hostel at 8 am. Kyle had come on the top road M41 thru Tavildara (very rough) and Dave on the lower thru Kulob with his bike on a truck due to a blown piston.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4327/...ece57e4d_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-07-06 at 19.17.47 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Our plan was to leave in the morning by the lower road and ride 249 km to the Afghan border and camp at place called can you believe it “Camping with a view of Afghanistan”. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4318/...e1c33615_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-07-23 at 20.29.47 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4302/...72a48f34_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-07-23 at 20.30.11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4316/...9a623cdb_b.jpgIMG_0743 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had a bit of a late start and finally after air in tires, gas, minor adjustments…photo session. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4326/...37b3cce4_b.jpgDushanbe-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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