2017/09/06

Day 39: Osh - Murghab

I get a decent breakfast and actually have a real coffee. The hostel is fine, only with the wet laundry is a bad point. I am going to leave before 9am. But am I hardly on the way, I hear something clattering and realize that three screws are missing on protection plate below the motor. So my first way is to the workshop again, which - a blessing - is already open. From a large crate, I sort some fitting screws out and fix the screws with a lot of loctite. I will have to repair a lot of some things on my bike after the trip.

I stick strictly to the traffic signs today, because I do not want to be involved into any problems with the corrupt police. But there are hardly any police officers on the road. Probably they just spendig the 100 dollars, which they got from the two Germans yesterday. The two were worried about a penalty in Germany, when they resist to pay that amount, which is bullshit in my opinion. They were tricked.

At the Kyrgyz border, I have to pay 500 Som as an ecotax. And if you do not have Som you have to pay 10 dollars, which then makes a surcharge of about 4 dollars. There's no way to avoid that hassle.

On the Tajik side I'm asked to pay 3 times. In the nowhere land between the border stations, I have exchanged Tajikian money from a couple of cyclists coming from the opposite direction. But at the station on the Tajik side it doesn't help me, since they ask for dollars but do the normal rate in Som. 10 dollars plus 10 dollars plus 20 dollars in fees for whatsoever. The entrance fee to the Pamirland with you own vehicle ... (afterwards I can verify with others that these are the usual fees)

All in all, the whole processing takes about an hour.

The view from the border station to the distant, giant mountains is breathtaking. It goes straight high to the first pass in 4.200 m. Then the Karakul Lake at 4,000 m. Fantastic. I meet a Russian motorcyclist who shares a lot of informations with me. It gets chilly and I turn on my second jacket. I'm doing a mistake once again and do not buckle the drinking bag again (who already didn't want to with me on the first day). I'm losing quite a lot of stuff on the road. The next pass is in 4,600 m altitude and my bike almost turns off twice. So I let it run when I take photos. Well, so it comes that my motorcycle falls down by the vibrations while I'm off the bike taking photos. Now also the pannier bracket on the other side is broken. Very stupid.

From the pass it is still 60/70 km to Murghab and I speed on and only take a few pictures in the evening twilight and of rising moonlight. In the dark I arrive at the Pamir Hotel. A somehow strange in-place. After I have really met a few tourists for a quite a long time, a tourist hotspot like this feels a bit strange. But I am just another a travel freak like the people here. I have dinner here - really tasty with soup and potatoes with meat and vegetables and green tea. I spend a nice evening with a Singapore Chinese and a Japanese at my table.

Shower is unfortunately cold, light / electricity is turned off at half past eleven. I can get my laundry dried in the dryer. Including dinner I pay about 25 dollars.

Brigitte is a bit jealous about my mountain experience when she types the audio diary.