I'm very much recovered now - we ordered Latin American food tonight and I feel just fine after eating it. And now I've had time to put together the story of our trip to Zerafshan Valley. If you're here for just the pictures, here's the link:
Our weekend getaway in Zerafshan valley turned out to be quite memorable indeed. We set out from Dushanbe around 3pm and made it about 20 minutes out of the city when our vehicle started making strange noises. We asked if everything was OK and our driver assured us that it was fine. However, not long after that, the car started making those noises again and the driver stopped to put more water in the radiator – which seemed a bit ominous so early in our trip.
About an hour and a half after we left Dushanbe, we had started to climb the switchbacking roads up to the tunnel, when the car finally gave out completely. The driver had to let the car roll as far as he could back to the floor of the valley. I really thought that was going to be the end of it, and that we’d have to go back to Dushanbe. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when our guide said that he had arranged for a back-up vehicle, which would pick us up in about an hour. Back-up plans are certainly not a given in Tajikistan, so we waited without complaint and took in the nice surrounding scenery – including some sheep herds on the snow pack nearby.
The back-up car arrived as promised, and although it was a bit smaller, we all fit comfortably. We were also able to make much better time than in the previous vehicle. In short order we found ourselves entering the infamous Tajik Tunnel of Death. The original plan was to go over the Anzob pass, which is know to have great views, but even this late in the year, the pass was closed for snow. I’ll admit I was excited to see the tunnel first hand anyway, as I’ve heard so much about it. People have told me that the tunnel has improved a lot over the last year, so I was worried it would be a letdown after all the hype.
Well, I wasn’t disappointed, and I can’t imagine what it must have been like before if what we saw was improved. There was still standing water in most of the tunnel, the air was thick with exhaust fumes, there are giant holes in the road with re-bar sticking out of them, there was abandoned equipment everywhere, and there were only a few bare light bulbs to break up 6 kilometers of blackness. In short, it was every bit as thrilling as I’d hoped.
Once we made it through the tunnel, it was like we had gone back in time by 2 months. We had entered the Zerafshan Valley and it looked like spring instead of summer. There was green grass, fields of flowers, and the temperature was noticeably cooler. There was plenty of great scenery until darkness fell.
On the way to our home stay in Saratog village, we encountered a little trouble when a large truck ignored the pull-off area and came right towards us. With only a single lane and sheer cliffs above and below us, we were in a bit of a jam as the truck driver didn’t want to back up in the dark, nor did our driver. In the end, our driver had us all get out of the car so that he could attempt to drive around the truck – real daredevil move. Needless to say, he made it, but when we walked over to the car we could see about 10 feet of space where it was very clear that the tires were not all touching the road as the driver skirted the edge of the precipice.
In the end, we made it safe and sound to the village of Saratog and were quickly shown to our rooms in the home where we stayed. By then, it was around 9pm and we were very hungry. When we sat down to eat, it looked like mostly a collection of sweets, nuts, fruit, and some fresh local yogurt.
Thinking that this was all there would be, we dug right in – we should have known better, as meals are always made up of several courses here - then they brought out salads. And then there were large bowls of soup. The meal finally culminated with chicken and potatoes, with all of us thoroughly overstuffed. This isn’t the first time this has happened to us, but I guess we still haven’t learned.
After dinner, we were shown to the bath house behind the main house. The toilet was the usual hole in the floor (we dubbed them squatty-potties), and the ‘shower’ was also interesting. There was an anteroom for changing, and then a small room with a tub of water heated by a fire, a bucket of cold water, and an empty bucket for mixing. The room was kept nice and warm by the fire, so it wasn’t bad at all. I guess this is how people did it for thousands of years before indoor plumbing.
All cleaned up, we took a few minutes to enjoy the scenery in the moonlight and got some good pictures with the long exposure on my camera - you can see the big dipper in this one...
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, we set out for a very long hike - about 20 kilometers in all - into one of the gorges that opens into the valley, following an amazingly blue river that originates from glacial runoff.
On the way, we encountered some roaming shepherds and their flocks of sheep and goats.
At one spot, the men posed for pictures and offered us fermented goats milk from a sheep stomach. It wasn't very far along in the fermentation process, but it was tasty - similar to a mild pecorino cheese.
(I know, if you read my post, this could clearly have been the source of my stomach troubles - but it wasn't the only one).
From there we hiked on until we reached our picnic spot. At one rest stop, an interesting bug decided it liked my jeans and stayed for some nice closeups.
We had our lunch in a nice shady spot next to the river and rested a bit before heading back down the gorge.
At the end of the gorge, we climbed up to a plateau and hiked to the summer pastures, where people from various nearby villages gather to raise their cattle.
This was by far one of the most interesting parts of our trip. We learned how each summer these people relocate to these little villages for three months. The women stay in the village and care for the calves while them men take the cows and other animals to graze. The women gave us fresh yogurt and bread and posed for pictures.
It was a great experience and interesting to see how the women responded to the camera. At first they were shy, but when I showed them the pictures I took on the screen, they were very excited and kept wanting to pose for more.
It was also neat to see how they primped themselves a bit before the pictures - removing coats, smoothing their dresses, etc... It's not something we would think of in such a rustic setting. The unibrows on the girls are intentional. Here it's a symbol of purity, so if they don't grow one naturally, they draw it in until they are married.
On the way back to Saratog, one of the women also gave us each on of the dry yogurt balls (about the size of a tennis ball) to take with us. I think that most of my family who tried them when I visited in March will cringe at the thought, but Stephanie and I really like them.
On our way back to the home stay, Stephanie wanted to try out a 'neat' looking hanging bridge over the river, so down we went. We passed a man who was building a house and apparently also built the bridge. So he followed us down and insisted on taking pictures with the women first, and then the men.
Our guide told us the bridge was probably safe for 2 people, so when I was out there with three other guys, it was a little nerve wracking.
Once we got back to the home stay, we relaxed a bit, cleaned up in the bath house and sat down to a nice dinner of the local plov. Our host also brought us these strange, flat yogurt things that tasted sort of like a waxy butter on the outside and a sour cream cheese on the inside. These were apparently from the village we visited - and I suppose could have also been the source of my misery - but it was still neat to try them. Afterwards, I went out for a little walk in the moonlight before returning for bed. We were exhausted!
On Sunday, we got an early start and hiked up a beautiful little valley to the so-called 'bubbling stream'.
Unfortunately, it wasn't very clear or bubbling, which our guide told us was unusual. At least the hike was nice.
From there, we made our way down to the lake, stopping at Five Springs, where clear water bubbles up from under the mountain.
Our guide told us it was safe to drink (again, I suppose in hindsight this was questionable, but no one else got sick that I know of).
We drove around the edge of Iskanderkul lake, taking in the beautiful views of the blue water and reflections of the mountains.
This one in particular is called 'The Hat of Alexander'.
The lake is called Iskandarkul, which translates to Lake Alexander, (Iskandar = Alexander, Kul = lake), named for Alexander the Great when he passed through the region.
The legend is that Alexander created the lake to destroy a resistant village by building a dam and flooding the town (although it appears the lake is much older than that).
Our next excursion was to hike along the river that drains out of the lake to the point where it plummets over 100 feet in the first 'real' waterfall we've seen here.
There was a rickety little overlook-
- and we spent some time climbing the surrounding rocks taking in the scenery.
From the waterfall, we hiked back toward the lake and then over a hill to see Snake Lake. The lake is so named because water snakes apparently inhabit it. We didn't see any and I don't see how they could since the water was so cold. Snakes or no snakes, it was a mesmerizing view.
We finished our day by driving around to a nice spot on the other side of the lake to eat lunch. It was very peaceful spot and we had a nice lunch. The only annoyance was an overabundance of flies and some fluffy seed pods that were flying through the air. At some points it was coming down so heavily, it looked like snow.
After lunch, we packed it in and headed back for Dushanbe. In addition to the great views-
- we had some excitement when our driver decided to pass a truck around a blind curve and almost ran head on into an oncoming car. After much honking of horns and screeching of tires, we survived. I guess he felt emboldened after his daredevil driving on the way up.
Other than that, our trip was uneventful until we reached the tunnel of death again. In the middle, we encountered a traffic jam where half the road was torn up with rebar sticking in the air and cars were trying to get through both ways.
In this picture, you can see the rebar to the right of the view. It becomes very panicky when you realize that you might be stuck in there with all the fumes, but our aggressive driver got us through and in less than two hours were we back safe and sound in Dushanbe. All in all, a pretty amazing trip.
If you didn't check out the pictures before, here are the rest:
 |
| Iskanderkul 2010 JPGS |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.