End of Trip Reflections

We're just sitting around in Dushanbe, enjoying our fancy hotel, waiting for the flight home. Crazy how it's almost over. Here are some end of trip reflections and some data analysis as well. See you soon, U S of A!

From Tim: 

Five months ago I boarded a plane for Mumbai, nervous and excited, not quite sure what to expect; my longest trip to date was our three week honeymoon. India did fulfill expectations set by my coworkers who shared their thoughts on what it'd be like: huge and full of wonder, friendly people, dirty streets, and likely to cause illness if you eat cold salads. Japan similarly was somewhat close to preconceived notions about the forests and mountains, unique culture, and best-in-class public transit. Still, it's one thing to read about Japan being 70% forested, the many languages and population density of India, or the vast mountain ranges of Central Asia, but it's something else to experience a thing first-hand. If nothing else the visceral emotion helps drive an experience into memory and provides some empathy for people from other places (and other times). Many of the challenges of backpacking through parts unknown were minimized by having a seasoned companion, not to mention the spread of smart phones and Google Maps, but there were still some long days squeezed into shared taxis, the occasional illness, and lots of communication difficulty in Central Asia. At the end I'm mostly excited to return home; this trip was like hiking a mountain: a long journey, occasionally tedious, filled with incredible views and experiences, and I'm glad that I did it and glad that it's over, and I'm thankful that Mariel shared her love of world travel with me. 

From Mariel: 

It's been a long time since I've traveled for an extended time – almost 8 years. The last time was Southeast Asia and I thought that maybe I was over it. I had traveled a lot in college, and I approached the last trip with a jaded and ungrateful attitude. Traveling is a privilege that I knew I was not appreciating, which triggered serious guilt and further compounded my negative emotions. In the intervening years I began to get the itch again, and was excited by the opportunity to take a break from life and explore a new set of cultures and geographies. I was worried I would find I really had exhausted my wanderlust and flame out of the trip early, but happily that was not the case. I think it helped that I had Tim with me. He was a great traveling partner, and the trip reconfirmed and strengthened our choice in each other as life partners as well. We spent a lot of time together these 5 months, and I still love him! It was bittersweet to leave my job and coworkers. I was enjoying a nice upward trajectory and just starting to hit my stride, but it is also nice to see my team succeeding without me. I'm excited for what the Stanford Biodesign program will bring, and am ready to get on with life. My wanderlust is not dead, but for a while it is sated. Now I just wonder, what's around the river bend? 

The Data: 

We (painstakingly) logged every expense incurred, resulting in over 800 entries. Tim volunteered to do the analysis and ended up learning some Python to do it. We had saved up $50,000 for this trip and spent just under $19,000. We were frugal, but not stingy, and occasionally we downright splurged ($80 hotel room, ohh la la!). It helped that we were traveling through relatively inexpensive areas, and that we're both okay with sacrificing some personal comforts at times. In fact, I think it adds to the experience. My opinion begins to change after the 5th hour in the hard back middle seat of a shared taxi as we careen around cliff-edged curves, but there's only so much steadfastness one can expect. The lodging in Japan is artificially low, since we spent week at Laurel's place, rent free. India did indeed have the cheapest food (and arguably the most delicious). Here are some other mildly interesting stats: 

- 49 cities visited in 10 countries
- 7,987 photos taken
- 13 plane rides, 32 train rides, so many buses and taxis
- 3 azithromycin antibiotic pills taken (for stomach bugs)
- 2 pukes (both Mariel, unfortunately)

Trip total minus interregional flights.

Haft Kul - the Seven Lakes

Lake 7

June 24-27

Our final destination on this long journey was Haft Kul, “Seven Lakes”, a string of stunning lakes in equally stunning mountain scenery. Several tour operators offer planned treks out of Dushanbe for a few hundred USD per person, but we decided to DIY. After hopping off the bus at the shared taxi area in Dushanbe around 9:00 am we stated our destination (Penjakent) and were swarmed by drivers offering to drive us. One enterprising driver held up his cell phone up with a number (120, or $12), so we tied our bags to the top of his station wagon and squeezed in the back behind the other 4 passengers. The road to Penjakent was very windy through the mountains, but paved the entire way and we made it into town around 12:30. Along the way we passed through the Anzob Tunnel, a 3 mile long monstrosity built by the Iranians as part of the New Silk Road connecting Iran to China. The tunnel was put into use in 2006 before it was finished (no pavement, lighting, drainage, or ventilation), and was updated in 2015 with pavement and apparently lighting, though still no ventilation. It used to be called the Tunnel of Death, and is still pretty horrendous even with the improvements. The length of the tunnel is filled with thick brown smog which the headlights (if people were using them) barely penetrated and I couldn't see any supposed lighting. However, it cuts off 4 hours of travel time between Tajikistan's two largest cities and the old route meandered through Uzbekistan, so the tunnel is of major strategic importance for Tajikistan. Hold your breath!

The next morning we climbed into the back of a dilapidated Soviet car heading to the Seven Lakes. We stopped by the bazaar so the driver could stock up on 50kg bags of flour (tied to the roof), salt, potatoes, onions, and one more local gentleman passenger before getting on our way. For $4 each we couldn't complain too much, although we did have to stop every thirty minutes to add water to the radiator. 

The lakes are beautiful, such vivid blues they almost look fake, and the valley is a great place to just wander around and take in the views. There are homestays spread throughout with food, water, and beds to sleep ($10/person for B&B and $5 per lunch or dinner), so it makes it easy to go as far as you'd like and then relax in the afternoons. We had to be flexible with our plans, as we arrived later than intended and got dropped off farther down the valley than we hoped. 

The driver dropped us in Padrud, a village just before lake 5, and we grabbed lunch at a nearby homestay before hiking up to lake 6, about three miles and a few thousand feet up the valley. There were the ubiquitous local kids shouting “Hello! How are you? What is your name?” and fantastic views. We could see a mean storm brewing over the mountains and hustled up to the guest house, arriving just as it hit. We settled gratefully into bed as a fierce wind blew outside, forming whitecaps on the lake. Dinner and breakfast were filling enough (soup and bread, bread and eggs), and the next morning we commenced our 11 mile hike up to lake 7 and then down to a homestay at lake 4. When we arrived we were invited to lunch with a raucous group of Uzbek men, who offered us food and vodka and didn't take no for an answer. We communicated through google translate and they had a great time as we fumbled through the guest/host etiquette. Once the vodka was finished the most gregarious one threw the bottle into the woods so it would “grow more vodka”.

Local kids

Windy!!

Michi, our Uzbek "host"

Our intent on day 3 was to hike the 9 miles past the first 4 lakes to the village of Shing and catch the 11am marshrutka back to Penjakent. That didn't quite work out, primarily because there isn't an 11am marshrutka. We covered the first 5 miles in record time (hiking downhill) and stopped to take pictures at lake 1 which was shaded but still spectacular. We took too long with photos and were tight on time, so decided to try hitchhiking. The first car we saw looked like a tank, or some kind of military truck. The German couple driving ended up letting us hop in to what ended up being an incredible custom RV built by the husband. They'd driven overland from Germany for 6 weeks and were en route to the Pamirs. We dismebarked off at Shing and thanked them profusely for saving us time, only to realize that there were in fact no marshrutkas or taxis to be had, and we were pretty out there in the boonies. We walked on to the next village where we saw a bus stop but managed to learn from the local there (also headed to Penjakent) that there were no marshrutkas here either. We watched as he tried flagging down a few passing cars that were full before eventually a dump truck stopped and let him in. They started to drive off but took pity on us and let us squeeze into the cab. We didn't know exactly where we were going but it was generally in the right direction!

The Germans' Mad Max RV

Our second ride

We made it to a larger town 45 minutes later where we got let off and our traveling companion started walking down the road, so we followed. He kind of took us under his wing and a mile or so down the road he found a taxi with room for three and we all hopped in for the last leg. At only $0.50 each we gladly paid for the three of us! In town we ate some decent shashlyk (kebabs) and bought a watermelon off the back of a truck, eating half of it in a nearby park before relaxing for the rest of the day. The journey back was unexpected but memorable!

There's a taxi somewhere, right?

Lake 6

Lake 6

Lake 6

Lake 2

Lake 2

On the hike to Lake 7

Lake 4, nearly done with 11 mile hike!

Lake 4

Lake 1

Lake 1

Lake 1

Lake 1

Lake 1

Lake 1

Lake 1

The Pamir Highway

June 14-20

We took a 7 day tour along the Pamir Highway and the Wakhan Corridor. The driver and jeep cost $1400 for the week, which we split with a couple 18 year old Australian boys. The road is famous for being high and desolate and is also popular with motorcyclists and bicyclists. Beautiful mountain vistas and lush valley oases abound. I never tired of looking out the window. 

Our itinerary was: 

Day 1: Osh to Tulparkul Lake in the Alay Mtns

Day 2: Tulparkul Lake (KZ) to Murghab (TJ)

Day 3: Murghab to Langar

Day 4: Langar to Ishkashim

Day 5: Ishkashim to Rushon (north of Khorog)

Day 6: Rushon to Kalai-Khum

Day 7: Kalai-Khum to Dushanbe (via Kulyab) 

After a good 1.5 hours of running last minute errands in Osh (grocery store, ATM, money change), we finally got on the road. The climb was steep, starting from 963m in Osh to 3600m by lunchtime. We stayed in a yurt camp in the Alay Mountain range at Tulparkul Lake (3500m). After settling in we headed out for a 2 hour round trip hike to the Peak Lenin base camp. The summit is a staggering 7134m (23,400ft), twice as high as the base camp. It was a cold night, even in the yurt. Once the coal burning stove went out the heat seeped away. Tim and I ended up sharing a twin sized bed and thick blanket, and were able to keep warm. Cozy! Dinner and breakfast were served in a converted shipping container and the toilets were basic squat-over-pit variety. It would be our most basic lodging of the trip, but comfortable. 

After a nerve wracking morning figuring out how to download and print one of the Australian boys' visas in the middle of nowhere, we made our way up to the very high and cold Kyrgyz-Tajik border. The scenery was desolate, with huge mountains rising from expansive arid plains. Every time we saw one of the rare houses, Leo would ask the guide "someone lives here?" Much of the drive on the Tajik side followed the Chinese border, marked with a barbed wire fence. Shortly before reaching Lake Karakol where we stopped for lunch, we made a short but steep hike from 4300m up to 5000m for a view of the lake. Thankfully no altitude sickness, just very short of breath. We arrived in Murghab and very happily took a hot bucket-bath at the guest house. 

On the way from Murghab to Langar (Day 3), we stopped by Bulunkul Lake for lunch. Afterwards, we turned off the Pamir Highway and entered the Wakhan Corridor, encountering the river that forms the border with Afghanistan that we'd follow for the next 5 days. We saw a camel caravan on the Afghan side, and our guide stopped to have an (illegal) chat with a couple ethnic Kyrgyz Afghanis. They asked him to pass along a request for food and clothes to the Kyrgyz government. 

The village of Langar (2700m) feels like a fairytale oasis after the harsh, high Pamirs. Lush fields, friendly locals ("HELLO!" -every kid we saw), and majestic mountain backdrop make it a really lovely place. We took a stroll around town after arriving in the afternoon, visiting the local shop and meeting some of the village children along the way. 

We continued through the Wakhan corridor to Ishkashim, following the thread of fertile valley surrounding the Panj River. We visited a 5th century Buddhist temple and two fortresses. We also stopped at Bibi Fatima hot springs, the highlight of the day. A natural hot mineral spring empties into a semi-natural cave. Every hour or so the cave switches from male to female naked bathing. Luckily I was the only one there when we showed up, so I was able to get a few pictures. We ended the day at Ishkashim, which with its (one) stop light, felt like a little city after Murghab and Langer. Ishkashim has an active border with Afghanistan, and there was a lot of bustle with traders, as well as military presence. Even though this is a popular tourist route, we still attracted a lot of curious stares. 

From Ishkashim we headed north, stopping at the Garam Chashma hot springs. It was men's bathing when we arrived, so Tim and the Australians headed in. Tajiks believe that the baths help as skin treatment and many of the men were standing around nude covering themselves in mud and chatting. We continued to Khorog, the biggest "city" around, and had lunch at an Indian restaurant. It was pretty decent! We continued on along the river another couple hours to Rushon, where we settled into the fanciest guest house yet. Private bathroom and a balcony to boot! Luxury digs, luxury prices ($40/night). Tim and I went for a short hike into a nearby valley. 

We spent Day 6 hugging the Panj river and making our way from Rushon to Kalai-khum. It was a long drive made even longer by atrocious road conditions. This stretch of road is on the Dushanbe-China trucking route, so we were sharing the narrow road with numerous semi trucks. At one point a semi was broken down in the middle of the road and the trucker wanted us to squeeze by on the cliff side. Thankfully our driver decided to wait for the truck to move, we for sure would have ended up in the river. 

The final day felt very long, we were just ready to be done with sitting in the car. After one last stint of beautiful valley views and the curiosity of a "natural car wash" waterfall, we said goodbye to the rugged Afghani mountains that had been our constant companion and descended into the plains of Tajikstan. 93% of Tajikistan is mountainous, and even the low-lying plains are at 1000m. We cruised on the first good quality road in a week. The drive was pretty uneventful, and we only got stopped by the cops for a bribe once. Our guide is a pro at getting out of the shakedowns. This time he was caught speeding, but told the cop we had to hurry to Dushanbe to catch a flight. The cop let him go. Another time he knew the cop, and a third he just refused to pull over. It pays to be a local! 

We met many travelers spending weeks in the region, and it's easy to see how. With such varied terrain and mishmash of cultures, there's plenty to explore. We never fully got a handle on the complexities of ethnicity (Kyrgyz, Tajik, Afghan, Wakhan, Pamiri), nationality, and religions (Sunni, Shia, and Ismaili Islam). It was perspective building to visit such a remote corner of the world, where people scrape a life out of so little in the way of natural resources or outside interaction. It's a testament to human resilience.