FANN-tastic!

Have just arrived in Dushanbe (capital of Tajikistan) after a great 4-day trek in the Fann Mountains, which are in NW Tajikistan, just over the border from Uzbekistan. The first part of the adventure was getting out of Uzbekistan as the guards at the Samarkand - Penjikent border are well-known for harassing foreigners. The French people I was with had a small problem with their currency declaration form and got pounced on by the guards so I got to see the renowned Central Asian bribery-driven bureauracracy at work (fortunately from a distance). In the end, they got away with only loosing 50 Euros, though the corrupt guard even had the gall to ask for it in small denomination notes so he could split it with his mates.

We left that afternoon for the Fann mountains, accompanied by two donkeys and their driver, and a guide called Hazarat who is a physics teacher in the local village during the year and makes extra money guiding tourists during the summer. The first day we camped in a place called Koulikallon next to a lake before climbing the next day over the Alauddin pass (3800 m) and then dropping down the other side to camp at Alauddin Lake. This is a fantastically blue lake surrounded all around my steep mountains, some of them topped with snow. I'm not going to try describing the scenery too much becuase I won't be able to do it justice - just believe that it is stunning and wait for my pictures (I've taken about 300 so far).

The third day we hiked up basically as far as you can go before getting into some serious rock climbing, to another lake called Mutniye. This lake is formed by glacial meltwater and so is rather grey and not nearly so invinting as Alauddin. The final day we walked over Loudon pass (3600 m) and back down to the village of Artush. There we stayed at Hazarat's house which had a beautiful wooden porch where we sat and ate plov (oily rice with meat - something of a specialty here) and apricots from the tree in the courtyard.

This was probably some of the most difficult hiking I've done - not only are the mountains really steep, but I think that the altitude is much higher than I've been walking at before. Plus I got pretty sick one night so did the hike to Mutniye and back on an empty stomach, which was tough. Despite that, the views from the passes were super rewarding and I thouroughly enjoyed myself. Also, because the French couple I was with spoke basically no english, my long-neglected Frech skills got a good airing. I think I spoke more French this week than in the rest of my life put together - not exactly what I would have expected from a visit to Tajikistan!