This summer I made the choice to go Tadjikistan and cycle through the Pamir Mountains. Those mountains are quite famous for cyclist travelers, you can find there The (famous) Pamir Highway. You can enjoy high mountains landscapes (the Ak Baital pass is at 4655m) and some of the most welcoming people in the world. This country shares a border with China, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. It’s one of the poorest countries of central Asia. It doesn’t have many resources except water, the glacier, and high mountains of Tajikistan are the source of most of the rivers in central Asia. The most important group is the Tadjik people, and in the Pamir, you will meet Pamiri people. There are also Pamiri people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.
Everything started when I landed in Dushanbe at 4am on a Friday night. I just had to wait a bit for the passport controls, as a French citizen I am allowed to stay 30 days without visa in Tajikistan. Everything went fine and was easy. After almost an hour waiting, I managed to understand in a mix of English, Russian and Tadjik that my bike box was still in Istanbul (my flight stopover) and that it will come in the next flight, two days later. So, I got out the airport, only a small backpack with me, found a guy which agreed to drive me to my hostel. I negotiated the price first, I paid ten euros, and it’s way too much! You should be paying around 2/3 euros for long trips in Dushanbe. (All in Russian, can’t recommend enough to know basic Russian, how to count, directions... it’s not that hard! Plus, you could talk a bit more with the locals!) It wasn’t an official taxi, and the guy didn’t know the city very well, I had to show him directions (offline map can be very useful). The hostel guy during the night only spoke Russian but showed me my room and I could finally have some sleep. On the morning, I knew I was stuck for 2 days in Dushanbe, but finally it was perfect to get used to the country, get ready for the Pamirs, and meet two friends to share the road.
The first step was finding money, (there are ATM accepting visa cards in many places in Dushanbe, after that in the Pamir you can withdraw money only in Khorugh. But you can change money in smaller cities), after that I had to register in the OVIR office (the customs office there) and get my GBAO permit (the Russian name of Gorno-Badakhshan region, the district of the Pamir), without this registration you can only stay 10 days in the country. The permit is required because the GBAO region, is autonomous and really supervised by the government (there are violent riots sometimes). After getting registered, you can have a SIM card valid indefinitely, if not it will be valid only a week or so. If you want to go to the Pamir, you should get a Megafon, TCELL has no reception at all up there. In the two days spent at the Green House Hostel (the best hostel if you want to meet people going in the Pamir, with a very helpful and welcoming boss) I also met many people getting back or going to the Pamir and I could gather some information.
I especially met two German cyclists, Alex et Niklas and we decided to share the taxis to Rushon (the first city in the Pamir) and the road, we cycled the Bartang valley together. The Bartang, (one of) the most remote valleys of Tajikistan, is also known as the roughest. The only track running through it is often impossible to use, due to the numerous floodings, landslides and even sometimes bridges collapsing. There is no reception at all, and sometimes no one on the track. Be prepare to be on your own. In this valley there are a few sparse villages in it bottom section, cyclists recommend crossing it, downhill to make it easier. That’s we chose to climb our way up!
We started at Rushon at 2000m of altitude, to reach Rushon we took a “taxi” (in fact a 12 hour ride with 10 people in a Land Cruiser, bikes and gear on the roof).
Crossing the Barthang Valley took us 8 days, for just 350km... The pace was very slow, the worst day being 25 km in 7 hours. That’s because as the saying wants, we were sick for 2 or 3 days, and only ate a few snickers a day (you can’t find snicker anymore in a few villages, sorry...). Often, our moral isn’t in top shape... This combined to extreme heat (I remembered drinking almost 7 liters of water one day) and the broken track, made progressing very exhausting and challenging. Naps on the side of the tracks were legions. Thankfully, the Pamiris are some of the best people I have ever met, welcoming, friendly, and always happy to talk! Those moments allowed us to rest and to fully enjoy the trip! Their were really intense, Alex even stopped to examine an old lady who was sick, she couldn’t go to an hospital and in this village (Khudara) there is nothing except a few fields.
Along the way we had to refuse many invitations for tea (those welcomed pauses allowed us to hide from the heat during the day) to continue and be able to reach the end of the valley! If, we didn’t we will still be there! In exchange for this hospitality, we tried to give a little something, a bit of money, a small object (I gifted my knife to one of them), we were forced to hide it, if not they always refused it. Once, a guy run after us to give us back the few bank bills we hid under the tea pot to thank him.
We reached Murghab after 8 days of cycling in the Barthang Valley and climbing the Ak Baital pass at 4655m. The pass was surprisingly easy after what we went through.
It was the return to a bit of civilization, I could finally call my (a bit worried) girlfriend, take a shower
and eat some fries at the restaurant! I needed those, I lost almost 9kg during this week.
I took one day of rest in the hotel, talking with the other travelers and then I continued solo on the
(famous) Pamir Highway, main (and only) road of the region, used for commercial transport between
China, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It’s called a highway but it really isn’t one.
I started late, my bags full of Coke and Snickers (my winning combo there), I had a bit more than
300km to reach Khorug, biggest city in the Pamir. Right after getting out of Murghab, I encountered
my first checkpoint solo. They just looked at my passport for 5 seconds, asked me if everything was
fine, and let me go with a big smile!
For once the road is flat, (not too soon after 8 days climbing) but soon, I’m disappointed and I start
climbing again, I have a last pass at 4300m (not even indicated on the map) I even had a bit of snow
there, to climb before starting the long descent to Khorug, I couldn’t wait.
The road is a bit more crowded, all truck drivers asked me, or waved at me to make sure I was fine,
sometimes they gave me food and water without me asking for anything. The other travelers did the
same and they often took my picture while telling me I was crazy.
On this stretch I didn’t have any troubles except this f**cking head wind, it was driving me crazy. As
I’m getting closer to Khorug, the road is getting better, there are more villages, and the landscapes
are becoming greener. People smile at me and kids run after me yelling “helloooo” and try to high five
me, I’m a real star there! People were always genuinely happy to see me, and to just salute me. I
hope I waved back at everyone!
I got to Khorug after 3 days and I joined Steve (a swiss cyclist I met in Dushanbe) in a small homestay.
On the morning, I leave with the number of a guy named Azam, the woman in charge of the
homestay told me to call him for lunch. That’s what I did, we started with lunch, and I finally ended
spending the night there, after an afternoon session of fishing in the river and drinking homemade
wine.
Azam arranged for me the taxi to go back to Dushanbe. The day after on the evening I was back in
Dushanbe, I went on a well-deserved pizza meeting with Alex et Niklas.
I had just a few days left, to find a card box for my bike, pack all my gear, book a taxi for the airport.
Everything went well, and on the plane I was a bit sad of leaving, thinking back to all I just
experienced, but also happy because I was going to see friends and family again after a very intense
month. Finally, I can’t recommend enough this country, there are magnificent high mountains
landscapes, good adventures to live and some of the nicest people I have ever met!
I have never felt unsafe, never. Every time I went shopping, I just left all my stuff outdoor without any
lock or surveillance. The only thing that happened is to have a chat with curious people and being
invited to something!
A few tips if you want to go there:
Go to the OVIR office to get registered (if you don’t have a visa) and make your GBAO permit. The registration is free and the GBAO permit costs around 20 dollars. It takes half a day to have everything done.
Buy a SIM card after being registered so that it lasts as long as you want. To buy it you will need your passport, and a paper from the hotel/hostel you are staying in. The green house hostel is where everyone goes before heading towards the Pamir, it’s a good place to meet others fellow travelers. It’s not too expensive (15$ for a private room for two people)
As always out of towns, there is no credit card machine, have some cash on you. Somoni (the local currency) or dollars
Ask the people around, they are always very happy to help you! and they always find a solution.
Prepare yourself to be sick, almost everyone I met had been sick for a few days (diarrhea or vomiting sometimes). Be careful to altitude sickness, don’t sleep more than 500m higher than the previous night if you are at more than 3000m, go down if you don’t feel good.
If you go there by bike, be prepared to anything, there isn’t almost a single bike piece there.
Most of tajiks or Pamiris don’t speak English, but when they do, they speak it quite good.(surprisingly they speak a bit better English in the Pamirs) Don’t worry they will help you even if they don’t get you. I remember this guy, didn’t even speak Russian, we couldn’t exchange a single word, but he wouldn’t let us go, until we accepted this big piece of bread. He lives in a dirt house without running water, electricity, internet and has two young kids... We negotiated for a bit and finally he accepted a bit of money for his kids.
In the mountains I had no troubles with drinking water not filtered. I was sick my first day of cycling, I must have catch something in a small restaurant in Dushanbe.
More information about cycling the Bartang valley: https://bikepacking.com/routes/bartang-
valley-tajikistan/.
More information about Tajikistan and central Asia: https://caravanistan.com/tajikistan/
I hope this blog articles has been interesting or useful for you, feel free to reach to me if you want to
ask me more questions or need help preparing your trip to Tajikistan. Here is my email:
marek.tristan@gmail.com
Please go there, it is a wonderful country, and its people deserve to be known!
https://www.instagram.com/tristan_marek_/ or marek.tristan@gmail.com
