Plus herds of sheep directed by their sheepherders on a not so broad road.
Video Pamir 2010. 7 - YouTube
It is rather challenging to drive by them, as I already told how Tajik roads are like. The nerdiest thing in the world is when those herds walk in the same direction as you, so passing lasts forever.

Later, we made our ways through trenches left by bulk trucks and settled masses of mud. That was some torture, I should tell you.


Video Pamir 2010. 8 - YouTube

By 12 o'clock the night, soaked to the skin, hungry, brutally stilled by the cold, we stood on top of the pass Shaburabat (3300m). Smoked cigarettes with hands shaking from cold. And some psychedelic fairy tale around us – full moon, snowy mountain tops and sky full of alluvial deposits of stars and starlets. That particular moment, for some reason, got engraved in my soul and will keep returning back to it. Unfortunately our camera soaked and frozen battery no keep this moment..

Shaboorabat road with snow walls


Pass descent was funnier and warm air was blowing in our faces. Frontier rangers gave us some hot tea at the checkpoint, registered our credentials and checked our permits to enter (first and only time during journey) and wished us good luck. We entered Kalikhum at three. The village was asleep. A knew the name of the guest house owner and it took us a long time to find it. Then we found some convenience store where people helped us to find our ways and sold us a mobile SIM we used all the time for necessary and not so expensive calls.
In half an hour, guest house owners met us, took us inside, put us in the warm environment and gave us food and put us to bed beneath mattress fat duvets.

25 May. Kalikhum - hot springs Garmchashma. 320km

Kalikhum. Morning in the guest house.




A classical guest house breakfast. Fried eggs, tea, bread and nuts.


The great Tajik Tetris. Fence without a drop of cement. Takes a bulldozer and not collapse it.


Kalikhum. Gas re-fill from buckets – normal local practice (USD2 for 1 liter of A-80)


Kalikhumb’s shopping small



Kalikhum kids.


In the morning, Adri complained about aching in his left leg. He had his surae sore and feet scarcely able to move making it tough to switch gears. He must have caught cold on the muscle in one of those mountain rivers. “I can make it” – Adri said and off we went.
Finally, we reached the Pamir road running parallel to Piandj River and Afghanistan.

Abridged by “Pamir” book:

“Pamir tract has a long history. In the 30-s, the road only connected Osh and Khorog and ended in near Piandj River. One would have to take walking tours or caravan trails to reach the capital and other urban communites and that could last for months”.

Pamir Road. 30-s of the 20th Century.


In the 40-s the construction of the new road quaked the whole Tajikistan. Construction was planned to take five years. There was nothing in the world to challenge its complexity and heights, as well as rock solidity. The 567km road was built in 104 days – five kilos a day and those were some kilos! Peasants were making fires high in the mountains. When rocks heated, they would pour cold water and the rocks would go in fractures. Peasants would put sticks in those fractures and make brushwood flooring. Thus, they fought off each meter of upright cliffs, where they would also have to lift boxes with explosives.

Construction of Newpamirsky Tract to Tajikistan Capital. 1940.




Unbelievable , but then, communists of Tajikistan organized a bicycle journey in celebration of the road construction fulfillment!!! 29 Sep. Stalinobad, the present Dushanbe – Horog – Stalinobad – 1,090 kilos in 181 hrs and 11 mins!!

Afghan settlements on the other side of Piandj River. They do not have vehicle roads running parallel to river to connect villages, only ovring, so they really live at the edge of the world”.






Afghan ovring on the other side. Its width varies from 0.5 to 2 meters. No transports. So, you can take a tour on the donkey, in the best case.


Afghanis refurbishing their overings (Rarmchamshy Area)
Video Pamir 2010. 8a - YouTube