2017/09/09

Day 42: Khorog - Kolub

The 6th week!

Getting up early has the advantage that I can use one of the two toilets, which are available for about 30 people, before the big run starts ...

In Khorog I want to get money from an ATM. But because of the independence day banks are closed. By chance I meet Antonio, the Spanish guy I know from Murghab. He asks at his hotel and I can change US$ 50 there.

I didn't imagine today's track so bad, but it was going to be one of the worst days on the road. The road is paved, but there are an incredible number of potholes - you can't avoid them completely and sometimes I have to slow down to 20 km/h. But I guess, most of the trouble is caused by my shock problem. This track is bad to all materials. You can see a lot of trucks being repaired on the roadside. I need 6 hours for 160 km. I almost bizarre that over these roads the entire Khorog region is provided with everything.

In a very bad pothole my right pannier then jumps off. I'm quite shocked because of the noise. First thought is my rear tire would have burst.. But it is "only" the pannier and now has some heavy bumps. The motorcycle and all the equipment suffers a lot on this journey.

But the landscape is amazing and the views to the Afghan side of the valley are great. The mountains are just gigantic. There are also noticeable differences - on the Afghan side of the valley the people are wearing more traditional clothes, the houses are less "modern". And road construction in the rock is manual work with jackhammer and of course without any safety measures.

There are checkpoints to register, passport number and visa. So the border to Afghanistan is very well controlled. This continues almost to Kulob. In one small house, one of the policemen inattentively holds the machine gun pointing at me. I ask him to turn it into a different direction. Who knows what's going on here at night? The last control is hold by a squad of young soldiers. And the patrols, as I read it, are shooing campers from the riverside.

It has been already a long day, but I really want to go to Kulob, so I can have a free afternoon in Dushanbe tomorrow, before I enter Uzbekistan the following day. I turn on the throttle for the last 160 km to the west. Unfortunately, I and a following 4x4 taxi driver are stopped by a policeman - but I think his radar gun is a fake one. The taxi driver disembarks, does some talking and hand shaking (including me) and involves me somehow. And then he turns around and continues his ride. With reference to the taxi driver I turn on my bike again and tell the policeman I will continue too and good-bye.

I arrive late in Kulob and get a large room with a large bathroom in a large hotel box. Dinner is in the attached restaurant at a self-service counter and I'm charged less than 5 Euros for quite a big meal and drinks. I'm also pretty thirsty, it was a real hot day again.