Pamir Highway part three, Khorog, Castle Karon, Kalaikhumb and a bout of Dysentery
Night driving in the Pamirs - note the trucks ahead on the road and the Afghan village across:
After the relaxing stay in Ishkashim I drove the ~108km to Khorog, which is the regional capital of the GBAO region (Gorno-Badakshan autonomous oblast) of Tajikistan. Given that Ishkashim is effectively the end of the Wakhan Valley, the topography and driving conditions changed considerably from the previous day’s driving. I don’t think I have seen so many canyons in succession before, it was an impressive and at times rather challenging drive. There were many more cliff faces that looked ready to topple, with boulder strewn cataracts in the chasms below, and frequent stones to be avoided lest they puncture tires.
As before, Afghan villages along the other side of the Panj continued to be a common sight, with some of them having quite pleasant houses with terraces. Families tended to their lands and donkeys brayed. These little villages could be a nice spot to sit and enjoy a fire in colder months to escape it all.
I will let the photos do the rest of the talking.
Andarob
I stopped part way to Khorog in a small village called Andarob through which runs a small tributary of the Panj river. I parked in the little town square and made my way on foot up the valley behind Andarob, following the tributary to take some photos; I later discovered that there were some hot springs and more small villages further up (would have needed to drive), alas, I didn’t know at the time so did not visit. The joys of having zero internet access. However, I did manage to take a few photos and get the drone out in the valley. This was my only attempt to fly the drone in a populated area in Tajikistan given that they are technically illegal, so it wasn't a terribly long flight. I look forward to sharing the videos eventually.
Andarob, a pleasant village in a valley:
A couple clips from the drone flight over Andarob:
Khorog
A welcome to Khorog by a rather sleepy good boy, can you spot him?
I arrived at Khorog in the late afternoon. Khorog is a larger city/town with many more amenities than the villages I had passed through. I found a decent place to stay that had breakfast and Wifi included. I explored central Khorog for a bit and purchased some victuals and the largest can of beer I'd ever seen but wasn’t really in the mood for any urban activities at the time. Curiously, Khorog has an opera house (not expected) and an interesting central park along the river, which is filled with all sorts of public venues (though none seemed to be in active use at the time). I scouted out a restaurant along the river which looked nice; unfortunately, when I returned for dinner that evening I found that the food was underwhelming (which surprised me given the good location overlooking the river) and the only beer they had available was some awful pineapple flavoured thing which I didn’t bother to finish. I didn’t really meet any amusing people given the city seemed very quiet/sleepy, which was irritating as I rather felt like a night out at that point, so I returned to the hotel, took a few night photos of the river (which I think turned out OK) from my window, and headed to sleep.
Khorog's Opera House and my little riverside homestay. Breakfast was served on the terrace in the morning which was nice:
Night shot in Khorog:
The next day I visited one of the Immigration Offices on the Northwest side of the city to register myself as I would be staying in Tajikistan Visa-Free for more than 10 days, only to be informed that there was no need as it’s actually 10 business days, and I would be exciting the country on the 10th business day. This was helpful as I needed a bit of an earlier start to make next long drive. This further drive would take me to Kailaikhumb (Qual’ai Khumb), some 244km along the winding Panj river northwest of Khorog.
The Road to Kalaikhumb
This drive felt like one of the longest of the trip given how difficult and indirect it was. I only managed to arrive in Kalaikhumb around 9:30pm (I think I left Khorog at 11:30 at the latest), where I fortunately managed to find a hotel still open. Given the ~3-4 hours of driving in the dark this was probably one of the more dangerous sections of my Pamir Highway adventure. Unfortunately, given the darkness and danger of some sections of the drive, I didn’t take a great deal of photos or video of the nasty sections. I did stop for lunch along the river facing Afghanistan, which was nice and surprisingly warm, allowing me to shed the awful looking outdoor gear for some proper clothes. I had planned to stay a bit longer and enjoy the spot (on a curve in the river) until one of the Tajik soldier patrols showed up and kindly asked me to move on; apparently, you’re not really allowed to stop along the river, pity. Not wanting further questions or a search of any kind, I was polite and parted with my bar of Belgian Chocolate purchased in China, alas. They returned the gesture with some sweets of their own which was nice.
A stop for lunch alongside the Panj en route to Kalaikhumb:
As I drove onward the weather changed considerably, getting colder and starting to drizzle. The drive boasted further impressive canyons and cliffs, and enormous caves in some of the cliff faces (see photos for details / scale). I also managed to see where the Afghans were constructing a new road along the cliffs/Panj. I admit to being slightly unnerved when I heard what were very clear explosions earlier on, but was relieved to find out it was just the Afghans dynamiting the rock face on the opposite side of the river and not a skirmish or something (although that would have been exciting).
Some shots of the impressive drive to Kalaikhumb, note the cliff overhangs and the enormous caves:
Here is a clearer shot of the scale of this cave (open in new tab), just past the 3rd post from left you can see an Afghan SUV to understand the scale here:
Some of the Afghan road works and the source of the explosions I heard:
It was during this drive as the evening set in that I also managed to take one of my favourite photos of the trip, where some impatient idiot in a sedan found themselves wedged uncomfortably between a rock face, a semi-truck, and a ravine. I waited patiently and amusedly from a distance, allowing the truck to pass where I knew there was sufficient space. I must admit, after dealing with Central Asian drivers for some time, I have little sympathy for their reckless behaviour, e.g. high-speed passing on single lane corners between cliffs and rock faces, or those that have the audacity to flash their lights at you whilst they are in your oncoming lane given their poorly timed passing efforts. Of course, my driving patience was not without downside, as my night driving later was a bit harrowing, being stuck in a heavy machinery traffic jam along a cliff edge (photo below), another photo highlight.
An impatient driver getting their just rewards:
A few additional shots of the drive to Kalaikhumb, further night shots can be seen in the GoPro section at the bottom of this post:
As mentioned, I didn’t take further night photos as it was rather unsafe driving, and I finally arrived in Kailaikhumb rather later than desired. This ultimately led to another of the major mishaps in the journey. After my late hotel check-in, I asked a local where I could get a decent meal, and I took their recommendation without checking and enjoyed what seemed to be a decent meal, uncharacteristically sans the alcohol that may just have saved me. I happened to check my iOverlander 2 app after dinner habitually to check out the town’s amenities and I noticed an exclamation mark in the middle of the town, which I investigated. To my surprise, it was over the restaurant I had just eaten at, with several people claiming to have come down with dysentery… I felt fine for the moment, but the following day morning I knew I had eaten something bad.
The fateful meal and the guilty restaurant in Kalaikhumb:
I didn’t eat much the next day and so managed to survive a shockingly tight drive up a mountain to Castle Karon, a Zoarastrian site, which I was keen to visit.
Castle Karon
Castle Karon or “Kala-i-Kukhna” (meaning fortress “located at a height”) is about 5–10-minutes drive out of Kalaikhumb, and it rests, as one might expect given its name, up a very steep and winding road up on saddle between two smaller mountain peaks. It is a site of roughly 15 hectares, and it has been called the most important archaeological discovery in Tajikistan. Some have compared it to Machu Picchu. While I cannot comment on the accuracy of that statement, it is perhaps true for the government of Tajikistan which is keen to reinforce Tajik identify by drawing historical ties, particularly over the GBAO region.[1]
A shot from the edge of the mountain saddle having driven up to Castle Karon, and one on the road down:
The site itself is dominated by a central temple which (at least in its current state) looks like a stupa, however, it is understood by archaeologists to be a Zoroastrian fire temple. On either side of this central temple are large stone lined fields or arenas, upon which it is believed that an early form of Polo was played. Whilst I missed the sites on the top of the peaks straddling the central temple and Polo fields, I understand that there are ruins in those areas as well, with one believed to be a royal enclosure or other civil building. It appears that the site had considerable historic importance given its evident size.
The Zoroastrian Fire Temple at the centre of Castle Karon:
Shots of the broader Castle Karon site, Polo fields, Fire Temple, and the impressive views from the saddle:
Since the discovery of the site in 2012, and certain amenities being constructed, it does not appear that the site has been terribly well maintained. The roof over the central fire temple was damaged and eroded, with other areas of modern construction also in a state of disrepair. In any case, it remains a prime example of the many ruined forts, cities and temples that once lined the Silk Road in its heyday.
I do hope they improve the road access and signage to the site and invest some more money into it so that it can get the recognition it deserves. If I had to advise the Tajiks, I’d advise that the roof of the temple be fixed followed shortly by enhancing the road access, I nearly drove off a cliff on the way down, so it’s not for the faint of constitution even when the weather is good (as it was).
I did manage to film quite a bit of Castle Karon on the GoPro, so perhaps that can go in a future video.
Dysentery
After the visit to Castle Karon, I decided to try to eat some food/drink more water and source some non-penicillin antibiotics (which I would likely need if I had managed to get dysentery), of which there were sadly none to be found in the entire town. I moved my bags to a cheaper hostel as the hotel I was staying in (Karon Palace Hotel) was a bit expensive ($60+ from memory) so I decided against a further night. In hindsight this was a terrible decision as the well-meaning owner of the homestay decided to make me a variation of “fish & chips”, presumably from some river fish cooked to death in oil, and because the rooms and bathroom were quite cold (this was later very unpleasant for reasons I won't bother to explain). I tried the “fish and chips” but decided against more than a few morsels and went to bed.
Unfortunately, the night was most unpleasant and at about 3:00AM I decided I should drive to Dushanbe to get some meds. Thanks to my mother suggesting I bring Imodium, the drive was tolerable; however, it was not terribly safe as I was quite tired, dehydrated and rather feverish. I had to keep the windows fully open to not fall asleep, with my head out the window like a dog for some of it. I did manage to take a few photos of the southern route (which has better roads than the northern route) to Dushanbe. The topography again changes considerably as you descend into the lowlands beneath the shadow of the Pamirs. It also becomes more arid. A few photo highlights include Donkeys and an impressive lake (the Nurek Reservoir, formed by the creation of the Nurek Dam by the USSR).
A few brief shots from the long and physically unpleasant drive to Dushanbe:
The impressive lake/reservoir formed by the Nurek Dam:
Around 6 hours after leaving Kalaikhumb I arrived in Dushanbe, which was surprisingly very warm and busy. Once again, my Airalo E-SIM failed to work (shocking, even in a capital city!), so I used offline maps and drove around the city trying to find the correct hospital (in the heat) for several hours, which was most unpleasant. After getting wrong directions (even from a doctor) a few times I was ultimately rescued by the kindness of the locals. One nurse got in a cab with me and drove across the city to their infectious disease hospital. I was being treated within about 15-20 minutes of arrival, and 3 IV bags, a course of antibiotics, a very large needle in my left arse cheek, and about 400 Tajik Somoni (£30) later, the doctor booked me a cab to the other hospital to pick up my car. I then drove to my hotel, which somewhat irritatingly had a power outage, but I was rather too tired to care. The young Chinese woman managing the hotel was very kind, however, and helped immensely even bringing me dinner unexpectedly. The power was back on within an hour and I went to bed early being rather exhausted after not sleeping for about 30 or so hours.
The hospital visit and the associated prescription:
Dushanbe
Given the dysentery, the heat on arrival, difficulty finding anything, horrendous rush hour traffic, and the power issues at my hotel, I was not at all impressed with Dushanbe on arrival. I was also rather irritated that I had to rush the last 600 km or so of the drive. However, I would be pleasantly surprised with the next few days in Dushanbe. Given that surprise, and the amount to cover, I will leave discussion of Dushanbe for a subsequent post.
GoPro
As usual, below is a section of clips taken from my GoPro videos of the drive from Ishkashim to Kalaikhumb.
Sorry for the delay in getting this post out, I have been enjoying myself further along in the journey, but will try and get a few updates out in succession over the next week or so.
Cheers,
Simon
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