Episode 13
To begin with L wants to make a bit of a comment on the local toilet paper. She says that it could quite easily be used as fine sand paper, and is not what is needed when one's posterior has become a little tender from a touch of the local 'Delhi Belly". Both of my lot have had this bug over the past week.
We stayed on an extra few days in Dushanbe because traveling long journeys in a car full of people isn't the best plan if sudden loo stops are required. Especially when there isn't any loos to stop at.So we had an extra few days in Dushanbe after getting the Uzbek visas that we really didn't do much at all, it was devilishly hot so we stayed with our late afternoon excursions. With those lovely shady streets there is usually a place where people can sit in the shade and rest awhile and my lot took full advantage of that.
Our last night at the hostel we were the only ones there. Some local Tajik youngsters had stayed over the weekend, one group from Khorog who were here for some debating competition, apparently they did quite well. They were high school students. Another group were from Khujand, they were university students here for a special course or some such thing. It is actually still school holdiays until September 1st, so these were extra work.
We'd also had a few foreign backpackers stay a night or two, nearly all of them were heading back to Europe for the start of the new school year or for work. From now onwards there will probably be less tourists around.
Setting off from Dushanbe we headed back northwards along the road we'd come down from Khujand except now we were going into Eskanderkul, a popular weeking excursion from Dushanbe but not so easy to get to during the week. When we arrived at the place to get s hare taxi we were swamped with drivers all offering to take us there. We could have taken one as far as Sarvoda and taken our chances on getting something from there, but we opted for one right through to the lake and paying a bit more for the convenience.
The offers of transport started at 500 Somoni, but quickly came down to 200 Somoni (about $31 US) when they realized we knew the going rate. Everyone was very clear about the price being in Somoni, the local currency (7.8 to US$!, 5.9 to AU$1). We settled on the young chap who had been the first to approach us., that seemed fair.
In the car there were several other people, a woman with a child, a lad about 18 and a fellow in his 20's in the front. Well, he disappeared and David was put in the front seat, L was sat in the middle in the back and as for me, I was in the small backpack wedged between L's feet, definitely not prime position.
Our driver was young and totally mad, even more so than others we'd had. He overtook trucks on corners and even in those pitch black tunnels where his own headlights were almost useless. Very nearly slammed into the rear of a dark truck whose rear lights only became visible when we were inches from them, and into another truck, also very dark colour coming the other way that only had one offisde headlight equally as dim as ours.
t became obvious when we turned off the main road and onto the Eskanderkul road that this fellow had never been there before. The car really wasn't up to the road and kept bottoming out on almost every bump and bend. It also seemed that the others in the car were family and must have been heading somewhere else, definitely not Eskanderkul. The rear of the car was full of their luggage, barely room for ours.
After about 3 hours we arrived at a barrier at Eskanderkul where we got out. Then the driver tried to demand $200 US, not Somoni. He went on about the bad road and his poor car, well, David thinks the other drivers back in Dushanbe had tried to tell him the road was bad, and he chose to ignore them. Needless to say he didn't get $200, even 200 somoni was good for the trip. If we'd done it in two seperate stages it probably would have cost no more than 160 somoni.
Right by the barrier there was a small shop, almost nothing to sell, but it had rooms to let too and we got a room there for two nights. The room was fine, even had a TV but no WIFI, the bathroom was fine, but the toilet, a good walk away up a gravel path left a great deal to be desired. It is the worst toilet my lot have experieced since that one in the Ural mountains NP in Russia. A short while later a couple of ladies arrived, they were from Vancouver, however, one is Australian and whilst the other is Canadian she is traveling on a UK passport.
Eskanderkul is around the 2000m above sea level and with the day being heavily overcast it was quite chilly. We went for a short walk and found Snake lake, a tiny pool in a depression behind our end of Eskanderkul. Then we wandered around and found a couple of tourist camps but there didn't seem to be anyone about. It began to drizzle a little, up on the mountain tops it was snowing, so we headed back to our room.
The next morning brought a cloudless blue sky and the sun shinning on that freshly deposited snow was very pretty. We walked down to the waterfall about 1 k away and had the place to ourselves. The amount of water rushing down this narrow stream is stunning and it drops over the waterfall with a deafening roar, then rushes on down the valley. The ladies had been here yesterday and had now left for Khujand.
L set out and walked along the road to the far end of the lake where she saw a house with two helipads out front and a nice gravel beach on the lake shore. The President does have a dacha here some where but L thinks its further along than she went. It was a very hot day and a walk of about 9k's was her limit she claims.
Next day we hitched a lift back to the main road at Sarvoda with a group of Germans who have been on a hiking tour in the mountains further up the valley past the village of Sarytag. When they heard we were heading to Panjekent their guide or their driver, not sure which contacted a friend who has a home stay up in the 7 lakes area of the Fan mountains out from Panjekent and they arranged for someone to collect us from our hotel in Panjekent and take us up there the next day. The guide was going the same way as us and we shared a taxi much of the way. The drive through the mountain valley again was spectacular, with little villages, small oasis of green, scattered along the route or up side valleys. It was the 1st of September and we saw loads of school kids heading home after their first day back in their smart navy/black and white uniforms.
It was incredibly hot in Panjekent so a visit outside town to the ruins of the original settlement that dates back to the 4th or 5th century BC really wasn't an option, far too hot. Apparently there isn't much to see anyway. We did have a walk around the bazaar where I got my ears pulled, my legs and arms pulled, L had to hold tightly onto me or else I'd have been whisked off. One girl did just want her photo taken in my company so I obliged her. Our air-con room at the hotel, we were the only ones staying, was a welcome relief.
Next day our driver turned up and we headed up into the Fan mountains to the 7 lakes. They do all have names but trying to work them out is beyond L. They could have been formed by landslides or left from glacial times. They are all in this one narrow valley and it took us about 3 hours to get to Padrud village just before lake 5 where we would be staying. Our homestay is called 'homestay Mijon'. The lady there was expecting us, her husband with whom the guide had spoken yesterday was now out guiding another group of tourists on a 5 day hike. We have gained quite a bit in altitude so it is much cooler up here.
In the afternoon we went for a walk up through the village and saw men building a dry stone wall. They are very good stone masons, though we've none too sure about the mud brick houses that have wood frames. A bit of an earthquake and all would some tumbling down. I almost got hijacked by a group of very grubby kids. They all wanted to touck me, but that wan't the worst, a young woman grabbed me and did't want to let go, I very nearly became the centre of a tug of war. Now, L says, I am grubbier than ever and she thinks my legs, arms and ears have all been stretched.
Just what people do for a living in these villages is a mystry. Most villages would have one home stay place, well, that provides for that family but as for the others, we can't see anything. There are a few goats, sheep and cows, and plenty of donkeys that are used to carry people and loads of supplies to remote mountain villages that can only be accessed on foot. They are also used to carry fire wood back to homes that has been collected from the mountain slopes. It seems that 2000 years has brought little change to some of these places. Except for mobile phones that is, they are everywhere and many people seem to have two, the internet is only available in some of the villages. At least all the kids, and there is heaps of them do get some schooling.
While here we got a vehicle and driver to take us up to the end of the road at Lake 7. The road along lake 6 is carved out of the mountain side and very narrow, and the drived added to our thrills by driving along here whilst talking on his mobile, he had two, too.
We could see numerous other villages up side valleys and high up on the slopes of the mountains, many only accessable by donkey or horse. We saw a load of mud bricks drying in the sun and quite a few new buildings under construction. Populatios is booming it seems.
There is a high moraine or landside rubble between lake 6 and 7 and on the lower side the water can be seen oozing out like springs in riverlets, then some of these riverlets disappear back into the hillside before reaching the stream below.
At the end of the road at lake 7 my lot walked along the donkey track to the far end of the lake but didn't go further although the donkey trail keeps going and so too a scattering of very remote villages much further into the mountains. Many a donkey loaded with fire wood passed coming down, whilst a few with supplies passed us heading up
Slowly, we made our way back to the vehicle and driver, it was very hot and neither of my lot were feeling all that well. Then we headed back to our homestay where we were soon served a nice afternoon tea and we all revived somewhat.
Next morning we headed off early in a share taxi back to Panjekent where we caught another one to Dushanbe and we arrived back in the city early afternoon and returned to Yeti hostel.
© Lynette Regan September 4th 2016