Aleikum Salaam !
I am glad to send you today this new issue of my newsletter from China ! It is about my journey from Duchambe in Tajikistan through the Tajik Pamir and the Eastern Kyrghyzstan and down to Kaxgar in China, where I arrived on Nov. 4th. after 10542 km from Munich !
As there would be too many stories to tell, let's play the game of the A-to-Z Newsletters if you want so !
I hope you'll enjoy this issue as much as the previous ones. Bon Voyage !
***A***
Asphalt : a wonderful black velvet, which you can find on the Pamir Highway and on Chinese roads. Elsewhere, you dream of it.
Altitude : Half of this journey was above 3500m above sea level. The highest point I reached (and where I slept) was 4655m.
Afghanistan : I followed the Afghan border over 500km's from Kalaikhum to Khargush. The slopes are a lot steeper on its side and there is no space for a road at all. As a consequence, narrow tracks runs along the rivers, where Afghans use with donkeys and horses.
Autumn : Under 3000m, trees are all dressed in yellow, in red, in orange. Temperatures are mild and the sunlight is wonderfully warm and low on the horizon.
***B***
Badakhshan : The local name of Pamir.
Bazars : the most strategic place in any ciy or village to find food, fuel and repair parts of any kind.
Border-Guards : Friendly soldiers keen to help and offer hospitality when night comes.
***C***
Cold : Above 3000m, temperatures drop below zero degree centigrade from 6.00 pm till 9.00 am. The coldest I had to deal with was -12deg C at 4655m at 6.00 am. Wind makes it cold during daytime.
China : A great place to have noodles !
Cats : There is always a lazy cat sleeping next to the stove in a Pamiri house.
***D***
Dust : A truck passes and a thick cloud of dust covers the track for a few minutes. As you cannot keep your eyes close and hold your breath for so long, then, you absorb a lot of it!
Distances: The distance unit is no longer the metre, but the day. Space has become time.
***E***
Electricity : Disappears in the middle of the Whakhan valley and reappears in Kyrghyzstan, 300km's away.
Eloise : My little niece, born this Nov. 4th.
***F***
Fuel : I had to take a 1L- extra reserve of petrol on my journey through the Pamir. Stoves burn more fuel in high altitude, and petrol stations or vehicles are almost non-existing in Badakhshan.
Fire : Pamiris burn in their stove the local "grass", the Tesken, a dry small woody bush, which also is the only food for cattle and keeps the soils stable. Pamiris should not take them to preserve their environment, but if they did not, they would eat cold and soon freeze.
***G***
Pome-granate : You find them rubis-red and juicy as soon as you are under 2000m.
(Winter) Gears : Taylor-made handlebar fury gloves, fury boots, extra thermal underwears and a second sleeping bag are what I use to feel good by -5 deg C in the day.
***H***
Hindu Kush : The Pakistanese Nothern Chain of mountain which is perfectly visible from the Western party of the Whakhan valley... Those were the first 7000's I have seen on this journey.
Hot springs : Naturally pouring every 50km in the Whakhan valley from 38 to 55 deg C... A delight from the traveller.
***I***
Ipex : a beautiful mountain goat, which I could observe in a group of 50 individuals at 4200m.
Ice : Only found over torrents, irrigation canals, my sleeping bags and my tent in the morning. Persitent all day long above 3500m
***J***
Jenat : Russian word for "woman". Does everything at home and most of everything out as well. Covers her head. Does not drink vodka and does not smoke either.
***K***
Kaxgar : A village -according to Chinese norms - of 300.000 people in the Extreme West of China.
Khyrghyz : Have a chinese-typed face but often have clear blue or green eyes. Wear a funny white or cream trompet-like hat thinly embroidered with black wool.
Kamaz : A Russian-made truck which runs all over Central Asia. Noisy, smelly. Polluting. But undestroyable.
***L***
Lack of oxygen : Above 3800m,you may feel it even in bed, or in a chair. On a bike, up towards a pass, it simply means : "Pedle 10 meters and then stop because your heart is near to explode and your muscles cannot move anymore".
Loneliness : Ok, I miss you all. But loneliness is not an issue at all in this trip. You find people everywhere on this planet and it is really hard just to be alone - simply alone - more than 1 hours anywhere. I mean : anywhere.
Lenin : Tajikistan is the only former soviet republic I have been where Statues of Lenin are still in place.
***M***
(Sheep of) Marco Polo : A beautiful tall mountain sheep which is intensively hunted both for meat and for its impressive spiral-shaped horns. That's an endangered species of course.
(Land)-mines : After the civil war in Tajikistan, minefields are still plenty, even next to the main road or inhabited areas of Western Pamir.
(Full) Moon : I arrived in Kaxgar to celebrate my 7th full moon on the road.
Masi : Tajik word for the fury boots, which most people wear in winter; it is composed of two parts, the boot itself, which can be seen as a thick leather sock one can also wear inhouse, and the galoche, a low plastic shoe, which goes over the boot when outside.
***N***
(What's) Next ? : After Kaxgar, I'll try to head down to Lhasa along the Himalaya. A really hard journey, which I am not sure to complte... But let's try !
NGO's : 2 NGO's are really present on the field in Pamir : Acted and the Aga-Khan Charity. Others are to be seen in cities or aboard large SUV's and form according to me the legions of "humanitarian tourists".
***P***
Police : Usually a bored and rather stupid animal which takes the opportunity of your presence to have some activity by asking your passport. Police is not an endangered species in Central Asia. May direct a kalashnikov to you a couple of time when you are too insolent.
Pamir : Also called Badakhshan or the Roof of the World. A Tibetan-like plateau.
(Mountain) Pass : Half a dozen on this journey were above 4000 metres. Another half above 3000 metres. Seldomly asphalted. Often surrounded by snow but mostly dry. Little oxygen is to be found there.
***Q***
Quick : I took a lift from Obigarm to Kharug over 400km's in order to save time on my visa in the Pamir. This 2-day experience within a modern caravan was also great. Truck driver is a tough job, believe me.
Quest : No way, this trip is not about looking for the holy graal at all ! It is pure tourism, without goal or cause or justification. Travelling for travelling.
***R***
Russian bases : Are many along the Tajik border with Afghanistan. Also many small bunkers along the Kyrghyze roads near the Chinese border.
Rubis : The Whakhan valley produces many, from dark red to deep purple. Every Whakhani would offer some to you. Do not tell them that most are grenats, they would be sad. Real rubis exists though, but those do not stay long in the valley, except bad stones of course!
***S***
Sand : Tracks when not asphalted are mostly sandy. Either it is so fluid than you get stuck into it or it is so hard an inequal that the road becomes unbearably bumpy.
Salt : Most of lakes in the Pamir are salty. Salt covers a good deal of the lands. It looks like snow from a few meters, but it is salt.
***T***
Tea : Can be green or black. Sugar is most often added to it. No lemon, there in none in those region. In the mountains, it is served with salted milk and yack grease. I called it the morning soup which you eat with thick dark bread. From the chinese border, tea is only green and perfumed with Jasmin.
Thermometer : a useful tool, which helps to understand why you are so cold at night of in the morning.
***U***
Most Useful : Knife, bike, clothes, glue.
Very Useful : Sleeping bag, tent, led torch, stove
Fairly useful : Sun glasses, sun cream, sat. telephone, Road map.
Simply Useful : Self-inflable matress, bike repair kit.
Useless : Lonely Planet.
***V***
Vitamins : In the Pamir, fund in onions and grease.
Velocipied : Russian word for bicycle.
Vodka : Not a problem at all in Pamir and rather not in Tajikistan. Mostly real hassle in Kyrghyzstan as soon as you direct yourself to a man. Women do not drink alcohol (at least openly).
***W***
Wolf : The most persistent myth since Romania. Wolves have either disappeared a long time ago or are so scared of men that there is little risk to meet with any of them. I have only seen one wolf skin in someone's house and it was 25 years old.
Winter : my present enemy. I am racing against it before it closes mountain passes and make the air so cold that I cannot ride any further.
***X***
Nothing to declare
***Y***
Yack : The cow of high, arid and cold plateaus. As stupid and afraid as its cousin, but with a lot more hair. Provide some very fat milk which makes the masla - butter in Russian - which is eaten with everything.
Yurt : A few are left up in the high prairies, but most shepherds have already returned to lower altitudes.
***Z***
Zoo : When 20 people look at you packing, unpacking or eating you fell like an animal. I have now little patience with that, despite those people are perfectly in their right to observe me. But still : a cyclist is not ONLY an animal !
That's it Folks !
...Many thanks !!!
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Next release.... in 10 or 20 days from now.
Any comments ? please send me an email to : bartrouer@yahoo.fr
Take care,
Barth
***A few complementary notes***A few complementary notes***A few complementary notes***A few complementary notes***
All related GPS points have been entered in the GPS LOG 2 section of my blog (www.bartrouer.top-depart.com) and are now available under Google Earth, with many comments ! Please have a look at them as they tell most of the happenings of the journey !
...I am also glad to tall you that all the pictures up to Duchambe are now available under PixVillage ! (please go to the " All my Pictures" section of my blog page.
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