Most visitors to Varanasi only have one goal – the waters of the river Ganges. The idea is to worship and cleanse sins by bathing. Taking a sip of the water is supposed to be part of the ritual, although you would need a cast iron stomach not go get sick given the near-sewage quality of it.
We arrived in Ishkashim via Tajikistan. The moment we crossed the heavily secured border, we entered through a time tunnel into a different century. Fairly modern on the Tajik side, ancient and old fashioned 10 metres along. If it wasn’t for the AK-47 guns that everyone carries and the Toyota pickup trucks (and the knocked-out Russian tanks) you would not believe this is the 21st century. Certainly in the Wakhan it isn’t.
We made our way on foot to Sarhad which is a dead end surrounded by mountains on 3 sides. On our way we came across many people who welcomed us with open arms. Some of them had never seen a European. Being flabbergasted, they invited us for bread and yoghurt – it was all they had that day.
We got lice, fleas and God knows what else. In the end it didn’t matter because we got a glimpse of what a place looks like when time stands still.
Our road started at Dushanbe and we wanted to get to Ishkashim at the entrance of the Wakhan Corridor, which partly in Tajik and Afghani hands. The country is a strange mix of Pamir and Soviet culture – Russian is the main common language.
After Qal’ai Khumb the Pamir Highway follows the river Panj which marks the border with Afghanistan. As you drive on the Tajik side, you can see the donkey traffic from another age on the Afghani side. But although the Afghani side is very close, it is totally unreachable since the river Panj is such a formidable barrier.
Gold is valuable and beautiful in Tajikistan, like everywhere else, but I was surprised to learn that having all teeth covered in gold is considered beautiful. That and having no gap between the eyebrows.
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Free of Chinese oppression, the original Tibetan culture survives in pockets outside of Tibet – like Mustang. Mustang is basically a long valley that is still being formed by the Kali Ghandaki river. Lo Mantang is now the capital of the region that was once a kingdom with its capital at Tsarang. Fortunately for the survival of Tibetan culture, access to Mustang is expensive and involves some fitness since virtually all of Mustang is devoid of roads. The trails are not that difficult, with some short exceptions, but it depends whether you are used to the air at 3500 to 4200 metres.
