From today my route officially starts to head into the Pamir mountains, and I am officially riding what most people take to be the “Pamir Highway”. This has been one of main objectives of my journey, and can be seen as the “fruit” of the past 50 days and >13,000KMs on the road.

The route follows the same M41 highway (as it has been known since Soviet times) that I have been riding since Bishkek, with today’s destination being the border with Tajikistan, where I expect the conditions to be more remote, rugged, and the landscape more stark.

The M41 highway

To be honest, I had expected the last few days to be similar in the level of remoteness, although it definitely has not felt this way. I have had mobile phone reception, the roads have been good, and there has been plenty of petrol on the way. Thus far, my fuel bladder has not been necessary.

Today’s route in blue

I started with a late morning. The hotel I slept in will likely be the last comfortable place for the next week at least. By 9AM, I had my coffee, my breakfast, and I had packed everything thoroughly onto my bike. It was time for the journey to begin.

Leaving at the same time was Constantine and Greg, and we were headed the same way; towards the border town of Sary Tash. They were going to continue to the west, to a nearby lake about 50km away from Sary Tash, whereas I was not yet decided on where to go, although it was only 185KM to Sary Tash so I had plenty of time to figure it out. I had three viable options:

1. To find a guesthouse at Sary Tash
2. To stay where Greg and Constantine were headed
3. To continue into Tajikistan, and camp by Karakul Lake.

As I set off, I felt both a great sense of contentment, and a sense of excitement. There was quite a bit of traffic on the road heading out of Osh, so I did my fair share of overtaking. I noticed that a lot of the trucks coming from Osh were from China, with Xinjiang plates; this must have been the result of an expansion of activity at the Irkeshtam border with China as part of their One Belt One Road project, which also is close to Sary Tash. At that moment, the world felt incredibly small; this used to be one of the most remote corners of the world, and yet now can receive the same products that are enjoyed by the world at large. I have also noticed nice cars and generally a decent level of wealth enjoyed by Kyrgyz locals, and I feel like the opening of trade (and tourism) routes must have something to do with this.

The road climbed from ~1000 to 2000 MASL as it wound through green-yellow hills,and the distant mountains began to take form. I was stuck behind a police car for a good 20 minutes or so, travelling at an above-speed limit (but still leisurely pace of ~70-100kph). I was a bit impatient, and decided to overtake them, but they flashed their lights, so I pulled to the right side and let them overtake me yet again. The officer riding shotgun stuck half his body through the window to take a look at me, with a look of annoyance on his face. Oops!

In the valley, horses, goats, and cattle roamed freely, and every now and again I passed by small villages. As I entered the mountains, the scenery was absolutely awe inspiring. It just felt so 3D, whereas usually it feels like our modern lives are built on top of a 2D plane; as the road followed rivers and streams, mountains towered over the landscape, so close that you could ride up to them and touch them.

3D landscape

It felt like these mountains were walls of a maze encasing the narrow route through the mountains.

Stark mountains against a small village

With each village were retro futuristic abstract monuments, resembling gyroscopes, and I am sure relics of Soviet times. Each village also had animal statues; some barring snow leopards, bears, and horses.

Statue to the horseman

As I rode, I was overtaken by a group of 10-15 or so bikers with Kyrgyz plates, and riding dual sports bikes with minimal luggage. They must be a group of riders who were on a guided tour of sorts.

Dirt path to a small village

As I crossed the first big set of mountains, it started to rain and I saw a small rockslide. Rocks were still sliding down, so I figured that I shouldn’t dawdle and it would be best to get past this area in case anything bad happened.

The first mountain pass

A heated cabin with a herd of cattle

On the other side of the mountains lay Sary Tash.

Sary Tash

It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be (I assumed it would host trucks from China), and there was only a small petrol station which was under repair. The other source of petrol was an informal operation in a shed across the road. We negotiated and agreed that 92 Octane fuel would be 80 KYS per litre (a shade under 1usd per litre). This was about 20% more expensive than official petrol stations, which I thought was a reasonable price given the work to retrieve it from the other side of the mountains. The vendor only had 10L bottles, but I wanted to fill up my tank completely, so I ended up finding a 1L bottle for the remainder.

The petrol station

Right as I was filling up, came the group of riders from earlier, also looking for fuel. They were middle aged / older Italians, and they were very impressed with my Ducati.

The Italians

Lunch was at the only place open in town; a small shack with a number of other tourists inside already. I also stocked up on supplies (a Nitro energy drink that I’ll save for an occasion where I need it), instant noodles, and Kyrgyz bread. I also met a pair of German riders, who were on the road for a lot longer than I.

Lunch stop

Cornelius was the more talkative one (riding a T7), and had left Germany in April, with plans to return by Christmas. They were planning to ride to China (Tibet and Xinjiang), and then cut into Nepal for a view of Everest.

New friends

What an adventure! Also at lunch were a few Tajik drivers who lived along the Pamir highway. I asked about the Wakhan corridor road conditions, and it seemed fine (no river crossings thank god, only some small wet patches which should be easily manageable).

By now, I had done some more research and it seemed like Lake Tulpar-kul would be the best option; it is supposed to be beautiful, at a reasonable altitude (3500 MASL), and there were yurts set up that you can rent in case the weather takes a turn for the worse. I’ll get up a little bit earlier in the morning tomorrow to compensate. Cornelius warned that along the road there were fields of flowers, and there would be bees flying back and forth over the road. He had his visor open, and was stung on the cheek (quite bad swelling…). Well noted!

And so I set off once more. The scenery was again otherworldly in a way that only high altitude landscapes can be.

Roadside scenery

Roadside scenery pt 2

There was a haze from the low clouds illuminating a large expanse of grass bound by two parallel mountain ranges. Across the landscape snaked a reddish brown stream. Every now and again were large fields of purple flowers.

All of a sudden, I felt many thuds against my helmet and jacket. And then a sharp pain on my forearm. I had hit the bees that Cornelius spoke of! And unfortunately I had a small gap between my gloves and my jacket that a bee happened to fly into and sting me. I actually found this quite funny, and after searching up how to deal with a bee sting, texted Cornelius about it. Thankfully there is not too much swelling, although 7 hours later while I’m writing this, it still has a dull pain, similar to a bad bruise. Poor bees (they are my favourite insect).

To reach the lake, first you need to travel to the town of Sary Mogol, which was where the highway had taken me. Then there is a turn off towards the mountains, with a decent gravel road/dirt road. While passing the village, groups of kids ran around playing (some very young ones even riding donkeys). I stopped to give them the spare coins I had accumulated over the trip. I feel like it is unlucky to throw away or lose money, so it is always nice giving it away to kids, where there is no insinuation that “i am giving you this because i think you need it / i take pity on you”.

This track was the first “off road” section of any proper length that I’ve done this trip.

Water crossing

Other sections were maybe a few kilometres in length maximum. This was about 20KMs, and a good warm up for the Wakhan Corridor.

The road to the lake

The road to the lake pt 2

A few kilometres in, there was a gang of 4 kids who were 5 or younger. They were very excited to see me, and raced to take photos with my bike and ask for candy. I split one of my energy bars with them, in exchange for them taking a photo of me on a bridge.

The gang

The gang and I

While I rode, a light rain started, which was mildly concerning (that the dirt road will turn to mud tomorrow), but alas that is a problem for another day.

And then I reached the lake, which held stunning sights. Turquoise water, with a dark mountain peak in the background. When the sun shines, you can see the black glaciers shimmer. There are many hills surrounding the lakes, and in the background, a small camp of yurts.

On one of these hills was Constantine’s Kia, parked beside a large blue tent. They had also arrived!

Constantine’s Kia

I said a quick hello, before heading to the camp for supplies (water, firewood, borrowing a cooking pot for my noodles). The wood was what i thought was scrap wood (the remainder of a few broken pallets), so I was a bit confused when the vendor didn’t want sell it to me. As it turns out, this was going to be a sofa for them, so i made do with the off cuts.

Firewood acquisition

Supply shed

Supply shed boss(‘s kid)

I found a place a few hills over to camp, then went to join Greg and Constantine for dinner, congac, chocolate and tea. When it started to get dark, cold and windy, it was time to return to my tent.

Dinner is served

Tent peg accident

The view

The view pt 2

The view pt 3

The view pt 4

A horse by the lake

Golden hour

Golden hour pt 2

Golden hour pt 3

To finish the evening, I lit a fire with the wood i had gathered (dousing it with the petrol i had brought with me definitely helped) and enjoyed a cigar.

The fire

I definitely did feel a bit guilty lighting a fire with the wood; this entire area is completely devoid of trees, and it just feels like a very trivial way to use these resources (vs building something useful like a sofa).

Dusk

Then as I was about to retire, I was visited by a local on horseback, who appeared out of nowhere.

The horseman

The horseman pt 2

Today was a great day. I am looking forward to tomorrow!

Tomorrow; Murghab!

Some stats:

• 230 KMs traveled
• 12L fuel added
• 30g coffee consumed
• 10 unique interactions

Altitude map of today’s ride

Route to date