Down from the mountains

...in the end, and through a very appreciated gift from our caring parents, we are allowed to take a Land Cruiser with driver and guide to give RidingKismet’s knee a rest and still visit these remote lands of the Wakhan Corridor.

We manage the necessary paperwork and get on the road again. IronChris still needs the thrill and shoots off on Murghob the first one hundred kilometers – the road seems to be made for dual sport enthusiasts. Stopping at the river Panj, we wave at the people on the Tajik side – as we used to do from there, too.

At the first guest house, Murghob is left behind for a bit and IronChris joins the Land Cruiser crew. And to be honest, we are happy to take a car this time because the road conditions are really challenging. The further we get, the more remote it feels – inhabitants living off the grid, relying on their beasts of yaks and camels.
We follow the Wakhan river upstream to Lake Chaqmaqtin – which actually feeds the river flowing down to Murghob, and IronChris gets melancholic. Couldn't we drop a letter in a bottle to ourselves in the past? We don't even know what to tell ourselves, so let's forget about it.
Up there, there is a segregated community of Kyrgyz who once ran away from the invading Russians and are now entrapped here, living in a time capsule, doing little trade with the Wakhis.

The meals up here are, let’s say, efficient: rice and dry bread together with yak milk, yak cream, and yak yoghurt provide the necessary carbs and grease one needs to survive. And for something to drink? Salted chai with yak milk. The landscapes are breathtaking though, and the ride with Mahabat, the driver, and Imamdad, the guide – two guys of around 27 – turns into a surprisingly funny road trip with a good old Afghan playlist of almost 15 songs playing on a loop, creating everlasting ear worms.

Afterwards we sit down to debrief and think about our experiences. Everybody says the Wakhan is impressive – and it is indeed. But going with a guide, being told what to photograph… maybe we’re too young for this. Everyone says, “look at the women, the women in their tribal dress, look at the women washing clothes at the hot spring.” Well, it’s good enough to get to see one, though, in an upside-down society where women are barely visible at all. “How open and liberal,” they say – great, I love it.

The reality is: look at the little girls who, instead of carrying a backpack to school, carry a canister, collecting poop in the meadows to dry and light a fire when it’s cold. Look at the Kyrgyz, smoking opium in their yurts in a world they can’t go back and forth anymore. Look at the couple riding home with a child wrapped in a blanket after visiting the only clinic in miles.

It’s good to have seen this part of the country, the Afghan Pamir – the wider image of Ismailis living in harsh lands. These five days in a car, away from our normal everyday problems, also gave us some inner peace, as this country is in general challenging to travel by motorcycle.

And also, RidingKismet is now a bit recovered from her falls and ready to ride again. So, mentally and physically refreshed, with the heart full of new inputs, we are ready to continue on two wheels each (which is way more than enough, as we all know), going back the one-way road to Kunduz and then to the South.

The border with Pakistan is still closed, but there’s a lot to discover – a lot of adventures waiting for the two heroes.

So stay tuned, habibis! Bisous, bisous!Read more