In Khorog (the largest settlement along the Afghan border in the Pamirs) we were lucky to visit the irregular Tajik-Afghan border market on a Saturday. It’s a small market in the military zone at a border crossing where mostly Afghan people offering their goods. It was a rare opportunity to observe Afghanis in their traditional clothes up close. Judging from the very limited things they were selling they must be even poorer than their neighbours on the Tajik side of the river Panj. On we went on adventurous roads along the border and side-tripped into the Bartang valley, a very isolated valley which runs for almost 300 kilometers into the heart of the Pamirs. With our van, we only dared to enter for a few kilometers but were again rewarded with stunning scenery and friendliness of the locals. Back along the border we drove towards Dushanbe, with road conditions improving the closer we got to the capital, and past a monument which remembers the tragic killing of some international cyclists in 2018.

Grenzfluss zwischen Tadschikistan und Afghanistan

Augen zu unter drüber. Das Problem ist, man muss auch wieder zurück

es herbstelt schon am Gebirgssee bei Jizew

buntes Mittagessen in Jizew, einem Bergdorf, das nur zu Fuss erreichbar ist

rein ins Bartang Valley

Bartang Valley

Übernachten im Bartang, mit der Hoffnung, dass es keinen Steinschlag gibt

wenn man bedenkt, dass jederzeit ein grosser Truck entgegenkommen könnte

Sonnenaufgang im Pamirgebirge

etwas überbelichtet, aber ich mags

Tadschikische Architekten wollten unbedingt ein Foto mit einer österreichischen Architektin

Gedenktafel an den Anschlag im letzten Jahr

Route in blau