Alichur and Highway M41

Posted August 25, 2019 by Jan
Tajikistan

Sher's House Inn

Alichur Village

Murghhob District (pop 1788)

Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province

Republic of Tajikistan

August 25, 2019

Sunrise

Alichur means “Ali's curse” and is reputed to have been spoken by the prophet's son-in-law Ali on a journey through the area, on account of the harsh climate and penetrating winds.  (Above the tree line at 3991m or 2.5 mi.)

Despite the climate and the wind, I wake up early in this tiny village and walk across the plateau.  I look forward to a cloudless sky and the morning sun as it illuminates the surrounding mountains.

Bulunkul

Posted August 24, 2019 by Jan
Tajikistan

Bulunkul

Tajikistan

August 24, 2019

“You must be very rich,” the visitors from Saudi Arabia remarked.  “You have rivers!”

So reported Bakhtiyar, my driver in Tajikistan who quoted his Saudi clients from last year.

Just today, on my own journey, I climb from the fertile valleys and stop at the Pamir River, one of the five rivers that flow into the Panj River, a major tributary of the Amu Darya (or Oxus River). 

I take lunch at the Koi-Tezek Pass, 4122m, 13,523ft, 2.56 miles high in the barren desert.

The Saudi visitors also had a special goal in Tajikistan.   They wanted to visit Bulunkul, the coldest village in the country.  

The Wakhan Corridor

Posted August 23, 2019 by Jan
Tajikistan

Langar

Langar Region

Wakhan Corridor

Tajikistan

August 23, 2019

My guidebook printed a cautionary notice:

“Visiting the Wakhan Corridor should come with a strong warning: having trekked or driven down the Tajik side of the corridor, you will return home and start planning your trip to Afghanistan.  It’s unavoidable.  The Tajik side is majestic, but Afghanistan is so tantalizingly close that it drives you almost to distraction.” *

Will I ever visit Afghanistan?  The prospect is “tantalizing.”

Nevertheless, the Tajik side of the Wakhan Corridor is truly “majestic.”

Alexander Fortress

Posted August 23, 2019 by Jan
Tajikistan

Vrang Village

Wakhan Region

Tajikistan

August 23, 2019

It seemed like we climbed more than thirty minutes on a rutted road to reach the summit of the hill that overlooks the ruins of the Alexander Fortress.

I’d like to believe that he was really here more than 2300 years ago.

The scenery hasn’t changed in two millennia:

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