The local market which felt more third world-ish.
Have bed will travel...
One of our scenic lookouts, on a very cloudy day.
John and I surveying the scene.
The line of cars at the second land slide.
Friday, May 2nd.
Woke up to rain! The first we’ve had all trip. The weather so far has been amazing. Our first stop was at a market. This was not a tourist market, but a produce and product market for local people. John and I wandered around taking photos, greeting the people and soaking up the atmosphere of this authentic market. Then we boarded our vans and headed out for what was supposed to be a long drive through a mountain pass to a beautiful lake and a short hike. However, things transpired differently. We drove for an hour or so through the mountains, made two scenic view stops and then came to a long line of stopped traffic. We learned that because of the heavy rain overnight there had been a landslide up ahead. A few of us walked up the road to the head of the line to see what the problem was. John and I climbed up a hillside and could see the front end loader clearing the road of a slurry of very wet muddy water and gravel. I was standing beside one of the streams of it that had stopped and I accidentally stepped on it before realizing what it was; my foot sunk in it, it felt like quicksand and I almost lost my shoe. We watched the scene for a while until it was almost clear. Then two impatient cars shot through behind the machine, the driver of which was pissed off and parked the machine across the road and started yelling at people. There were lots of impatient people yelling back as I guess they’d be there for a while. Finally it settled and he continued for another ten minutes before the long line began jostling, honking and moving through the single lane gap. I figured that at some point they’d meet more traffic coming the other direction. We went back to the van and we made our way through. Ten minutes later we were stopped again. This time the line was longer and looked more serious. Shortly after we stopped and got out to stretch our legs we heard falling rock and saw a small slide fall off mountain just ahead of us. Most of it fell just before the road but it deposited several large chucks of rock on the road. This was a rock slide not a mud slide like the other one, and we were told that there was a bigger one ahead of us. We were trapped there for over 5 hours. We didn’t have much to do other than talk, read and worry. Eventually that was cleared… The actual clearing of the road was far in advance of where we were so we couldn’t see it. Finally we went through but it was a slow slog with impatient drivers making three or four lanes going the same way on a one lane road. I kept wondering at what point would we meet the same degree of chaos coming towards us. We drove slowly in single file past several more recently cleared slides before finally emerging in a town further along. All along I couldn’t help looking at the slides, the mountains above us and the cliffs to our right and thinking what if… or worrying about another slide in front of us and having to spend the night in the small crowded van… thankfully we got out only to find ourselves in a huge traffic jam at a junction at a roundabout. Cars everywhere ignoring lanes, trying to drive around each other onto the land on either side of the road all the while blasting their horns. At one point we were four lanes of traffic wide and then a line of transports came down the centre in the opposite direction. Sheer chaos, we never really found out the reason for the traffic jam, but the drivers of our two vans did everything to stay together and get us through, even eventually off roading onto a narrow two wheel rut of a road to a small airport runway where we raced along until its end, and then back to the road and cutting across the traffic going the other direction towards the jam, and then we were free. We stopped shortly after for a toilet break and a restaurant for food as it was obvious we were not going to get to our destination for dinner there. All through this ordeal our guide, Umar, seemed nonplussed and was talking with other local people who were stuck. He told us that this was ‘normal’ in the spring with melting snow and rains, but he did say that this was the longest delay he’d had on this pass. It makes you wonder if it will take a real disastrous landslide with people killed before the government will upgrade the safety of the transit. By the time we finished eating it was dusk. We boarded the vans and drove for another three plus hours before arriving in Dushanbe, Tajikistan about 11pm. Before we entered the city we stopped for another toilet break and to wash the vans. Apparently the drivers could be fined for driving dirty cars into the city. Ahh, perhaps another autocratic government? Sadly, we missed our original plan which was to drive a mountain pass viewing majestic snow covered peaks to a beautiful mountain lake… we missed it during the day because of the low lying cloud and the rest of it in the dark… oh well, we definitely had an Adventure Abroad. And I have to say I was impressed with our group of travelers, who didn’t moan and groan; and the women in the group who didn’t complain about the abysmal toilets. There were two that were disgustingly filthy squatters where we were stuck for hours. They simply stopped drinking and then if necessary found a bush spot. When we finally arrived we checked into the Dushanbe Hilton and settled in for a comfortable night's sleep.
Not much to say except chalk that one up to experience. So glad you all got through it safely.
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