Journey to Khorog - April 11, 2009

So it's been about three days since I arrived safely into Khorog and the journey has definitely been quite the adventure...

As soon as I got to the bus station, a few people came to take my bags onto a small taxi - an 11-seater mini-bus... not a jeep or heavy-duty LandCruiser – as I’d been advised to take. Things happened really quickly, and the bus seemed to be the only vehicle traveling to Khorog - so I let it happen. Although worried, I decided to stay focused, be strong and go along with it. There were 10 people in the bus, including the driver - all Ismailis from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) region. I paid the 180 Somoni fare and took my seat in the first row directly behind the driver, so I had a window seat to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Finally, when everyone was seated and the luggage had been piled onto the top of the bus (covered with a tarp with several small holes to prevent rain), the bus took off from the Dushanbe station by around 10:00am.

Most of the passengers did not speak much English beyond the basics like, "Are you alright?” so I stuck to what became two good companions - the window and Greg Mortenson's book *Three Cups of Tea*.

The roads were good, relatively speaking, they were paved and there weren't too many potholes and at least the dirt-pebble roads weren't full of large rocks.

I really had no idea what the big deal about mountains was... all I saw was lush green rolling hills – absolutely breath-taking – the grass as green as a golf course putting green – for miles into the distance. It was a magnificent view of small gently rolling hills... however, no mountains whatsoever anywhere in sight.

The sun was shining so I wasn't worried about my luggage on the roof getting a nice shower. And so we continued… on our way.

About two to two-and-a-half hours into the drive, the bus had started to head in a generally uphill direction towards what seemed like the top of a hill. At around 1:30pm, our bus stopped for lunch at a small walk-in "restaurant." By now, our driver had managed to finish at least half to three-quarters of his first pack of cigarettes. Thankfully, he left his window open when he smoked, thus allowing most of the smoke and smell to leave the bus.

I did not know what the restaurant’s menu was for lunch, but remembered being told that everyone usually eats soup and bread for meals. So I asked for that and thankfully, one of the passengers understood and assisted with my order. Tea comes with everything, and so I gladly drank up the weak-tasting (herbal, I think) tea to warm me up. The soup was the first dish to come... and I realized that other passengers had ordered dumplings or pilof (or pilau)….ah, well.
The soup had carrots, potatoes and beef pieces, and blotches of oil inside the soup mix. And it's not like there were 2-3 drops of oil... it was more like 10-12 drops of oil scattered through the small bowl. Ah…but, it tasted so good….I enjoyed the soup with the nice soft bread and warm tea. That was lunch, cost 6 Somoni.

Before the bus departed for its continuing journey, a couple of passengers toasted vodkas while the driver managed a couple of quick cigarettes… leaving behind two butts and lots of candy wrappers on the ground… soon, the wheels turned and the bus drove off.

We went through 5 or 6 checkpoints where the driver had to stop to show his documents. However, at around 2:30pm, the bus was pulled over and our driver taken away for questioning for about an hour. We sat and waited patiently. Upon his return, there were no explanations offered and no one asked… the journey continued. At 4:00pm, another checkpoint... another 30 minutes wasted… this time, someone in the bus explained the problem - "Driver no documents"… definitely not very comforting news! Even worse, the police officer climbed into the bus… which meant, a passenger had to move over to our seat – squeezing four of us onto a three-person seat.

At around 5:00pm, we arrived at the police station where we were all asked to disembark. Waiting in complete confusion, with no idea of what was going on, I stood for about 1.5 to 2 hours with the other passengers, waiting apparently for the document issue to be resolved. Finally, as the sun disappeared behind the houses across the street and my watch beeped 7:00pm, the driver called us over with keys in-hand – his documents had been prepared or something to that effect and he was able to drive us onwards.

Meanwhile, another car – a heavy duty 10-seater van – also on its way to Khorog had stopped to wait with us and help us out. Together, our two-van/bus envoy carried on towards Khorog. As the sun had now set, it started to get quite chilly... and the open window in front of me didn't help any. Yet, I’d rather suffer the cold than sit in a warm but smoky van.

This almost 2-hour wait was our second bit of excitement - the first had been a sudden 20-minute stop on the side of the road about 3 hours into the trip because a rubber rotator (no idea what it is) had snapped in the engine. At 9:00pm, we stopped for dinner at a small-house-cum-restaurant. For me, dinner was soup and bread again – except, this time there were spaghetti noodles in the soup instead of potatoes. Customarily, a weak black tea was served with the meal. This time, the same meal cost me 7 Somoni.

Continuing our journey to Khorog, we drove along the mountain edges. Now, the road started to get worse. Thankfully, the road was relatively wide - enough for two cars. I managed to catch a bit of rest for about 1.5 hours after dinner, resting my head on the headrest and keeping my legs on the small leg rest (the space was smaller/tighter than an airplane flight!). I woke up when we hit a bump in the road… looked out the window and saw fast-flowing rivers and streams about a foot deep. Somewhere along the night – at around 11:30pm - our minivan/minibus drove directly under a waterfall in the mountainside… I know it sounds exotic, but you’ll recall, our luggage was sitting on top of the bus – under a tarp filled with tiny holes… thankfully, my bags remained dry.

Around midnight, we arrived at a narrow pathway that had been closed off by an army truck for the night because it was not safe to cross in the middle of the night. So, there was no alternative but to rest – a tad difficult to do that when you are so tightly packed. At around 5am, the sun had started to come up and the other passengers started to awake. It was 6am by the time we were given the go-ahead to continue on the "12% uphill incline" (according to a sign). Here, the road was very, very narrow, just enough for one car. Visualize this – on one side, we had the rocks on the face of the mountain and on the other side, was a steep cliff dropping straight into the river that formed the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Although it was a breath-taking, beautiful view, I was 100% preoccupied with the perilous drive ahead. To move forward, we had to get around the trucks that had come from the other side… but the road was so narrow… one slight misjudgment and the bus could go tumbling into the river... passengers never to be seen again. To add to the confusion, it was impossible to reverse / turn back on this narrow and dangerous road. Our valiant driver slowly inched forward and past the trucks, creeping less than a foot away from the cliff edge… this was – by far – the most terrifying experience of the trip. If there was any time I thought I'd be saying my goodbyes, it would have been then. To add to my state of panic, I had just read in Greg Mortenson's book that ‘if there was anything he'd die from in Central Asia, it wouldn't be bombs or bullets... it would most certainly be the road’... or something to that effect. I could most definitely relate!

As our drive continued along this narrow roadway...we could see Afghanistan on the other side – a stellar view… the houses are made of mud, some built into the mountain sides, and the greenery is absolutely breath-taking. The green lush grass gives the impression that the land is very well irrigated through the region. At one point I saw a school of about 50 children sitting on the floor in white clothes with one teacher at the blackboard... in the outdoors. The sight reminded me of a friend working in the schools in Afghanistan, and I wondered where, amongst those rolling hills and mountains, they’d be…

Fast forward a bit...and the fabled snow-peaked mountains came within sight – now we were surrounded 360 degrees by the majestic mountains and the river – all in close proximity. This was our breakfast stop... sitting outside for tea and bread and yogourt. It really didn’t matter what I ate – the sight was all that important.

Off we were again, and I thought it would likely be another 2-3 hours only. Well, another adventure awaited us. A few kilometers ahead, we saw a small car pulled over on the side of the road and I learned that a rock had fallen off the mountain and hit the car... the rear window was completely shattered and broken glass lay everywhere! Plus, the car wasn't properly working either. So, we tied the car to the rear and gave it a tow. Every 30 minutes or so, the wires broke off and the cars stopped to reconnect. At around 5:00pm – after a journey of 31 hours – we finally arrived into Khorog.

As we entered Khorog, I saw the most beautiful sign ever etched into the mountains on the Tajik side. It said "Welcome Hazir Imam". On the Afghanistan side, another sign – "Golden Jubilee."

The view was priceless….indeed, I had arrived.