The Epic Journey from Penjikent to Dushanbe

So, after finishing the hike and making it back to the large town of Penjikent to pick up passports (which had been at the local OVIR office for registration- something everybody has to do within 3 days of entering the country) we joined up with some other tourists and nine of us set off for Dushanbe in an ex-Soviet 4 wheel drive minivan. The road to Dushanbe is about 240km of pot-holed, bumpy, unpaved track, on which the maximum speed for our rather ancient vehicle was around 40km per hour. We were therefore hoping to do the trip in around 6-8 hours, but unfortunately for us, the Chinese are out in force in this part of Central Asia and are in the process of 'upgrading' the road. This basically means that random parts of the road are closed and various intervals, without notice, for an unspecified length of time, while a guy in a digger pushes some dirt around in the optimistic hope that this will improve what passes for a main road here.

After 4 hours of driving we ran into one of these roadworks, where a long line of vehicles waiting to pass indicated that the road had been closed for some time. People were all out of their cars milling around and not looking particularly hopeful. There was nothing to do but wait, so 2 hours later we set off again, only to run into another set of roadworks 15 minutes later. Another hour later we are on the move again, though by this point it is getting dark and now there we have little hope of reaching Dushanbe before 10pm (having left at 11am).

Despite being one of the worst roads in existence, the scenery along the route is cetainly fantastic. It winds along through a valley with sheer mountains on either side and a large river flowing through, about 100 feet below. It is pretty arid here, so the only greenery is near towns and villages where trees and crops are cultivated using river water. The rest is pretty bare rock, so great from a geological standpoint.

At the highest point, which we reached about 9:30pm, the road goes straight through the mountain in what must be one of the longest tunnels in existence. It took us a full 25 minutes to drive through, with everybody craning to see the end of the tunnel which kept not arriving. It didn't help that the many potholes in the tunnel were flooded, some up to a foot deep in water, which gave the drive through a rather erie quality of a theme park ride. We eventually made it to Dushanbe, exhasted and covered in a thick layer of dust, at 11pm.

Dushanbe is hugely different from the Tajikistan I have seen so far. It is a thoroughly modern city with trolleybusses and wide, tree-lined streets. The architecture is fairly reminiscent of St Petersburg with some magnificent older buildings in the center of the city. There are also a fair number of travellers here, mostly waiting to go to Khorog in the Pamirs. Everybody wants to take the plane but it only seats 16 people and is frequently cancelled becuase it can't leave when there is any cloud as it essentially flies through the Pamir mountains. Some travellers have been here 4 days, going to the airport twice a day and have still not gotten a ticket. I am planning on leaving tomorrow by car instead (2 days, 21 hour trip) as it seems like waiting for the plane is basically a lost cause.