Tajikistan. Despite all the vagaries of the weather, our cars, purring contentedly and waving their smoky tails cheerfully, climbed higher and higher along the serpentine road. All around us lay a stony desert and white-peaked mountains. Ahead of us lay the highest pass (4,655 m above sea level) on the entire Pamir Highway, Ak-Baital (meaning "white mare"). The road here was only paved at the end of the 19th century. The highway became completely deserted. The main flow of traffic from Murghab goes to China via the Kulma Pass, with a few cars heading toward Kyrgyzstan. We didn't encounter a single car until we reached the village of Karakul. On another turn of the serpentine road, just 3 km before Ak-Baital, we saw several barracks and stopped to explore these abandoned buildings. To our great surprise, a small, frail woman emerged from one of the huts and invited us to have some tea. It turned out that an ethnic Kyrgyz family with a nine-month-old baby girl lived here. While the head of the family explained how he makes a living, Gulnara quickly brewed tea, offered flatbread, and began preparing lagman. No spatulas or spoons! Just slender fingers carefully mixing noodles and pieces of meat in two hot pans! A silent, sensitive, smiling creature—a Pamir Madonna, as our colleagues called her. Her husband, a road worker, also earns a living by herding sheep seasonally. The income isn't particularly high. As many sheep as he takes in, so he has to return the same number. Wolves are plentiful in the mountains. They keep the remains of the lambs, plus a certain fee for each head in the flock. To say we were extremely surprised by these people's way of life would be an understatement. A damp, unfurnished room heated with dung, and miles of mountain desert. We sampled a delicious lagman (perhaps the last food they had), thanked the family for the warm and welcoming welcome, and left some money and some goodies. Soon we reached the Ak-Baital Pass, which offered breathtaking views.
Zan Zanzib, I agree, it's not very cool that the girl's back is in the frame. There's a shot where she's facing the camera, but... you can't really see the barracks there. And I wanted to show the view of this "dwelling." Thanks for stopping by.
Power comes and goes, but these people continue to live as they always have. Nothing changes. Perhaps cell phone service has returned, although I'm not sure it works here. Vera, thanks for the photo!
Power comes and goes, but these people continue to live as they always have. Nothing changes. Perhaps cell phone service has arrived, although I'm not sure it works here. Vera, thanks for the photo!
Nikolay Isaakov, Yes, Nikolay! Life in the mountains is very hard, but the people there are responsive and warm-hearted, always willing to share their last. If a traveler comes to them at night, and he turns out to be an enemy, they'll take him in, feed him, and provide a place to live. For us, people living on the plains, this is surprising and incomprehensible.
On another turn of the serpentine road, just 3 km before Ak-Baital, we saw several barracks and stopped to explore these abandoned buildings. To our great surprise, a small, frail woman emerged from one of the huts and invited us to have some tea. It turned out that an ethnic Kyrgyz family with a nine-month-old baby girl lived here. While the head of the family explained how he makes a living, Gulnara quickly brewed tea, offered flatbread, and began preparing lagman. No spatulas or spoons! Just slender fingers carefully mixing noodles and pieces of meat in two hot pans! A silent, sensitive, smiling creature—a Pamir Madonna, as our colleagues called her. Her husband, a road worker, also earns a living by herding sheep seasonally. The income isn't particularly high. As many sheep as he takes in, so he has to return the same number. Wolves are plentiful in the mountains. They keep the remains of the lambs, plus a certain fee for each head in the flock. To say we were extremely surprised by these people's way of life would be an understatement. A damp, unfurnished room heated with dung, and miles of mountain desert. We sampled a delicious lagman (perhaps the last food they had), thanked the family for the warm and welcoming welcome, and left some money and some goodies.
Soon we reached the Ak-Baital Pass, which offered breathtaking views.
Thanks for the photo, it's interesting.