Reaching Rushon was a welcome change after the very bumpy Bartang Valley. We intended to stay there for just two days to recharge and relax, just our stomachs had a very different plan for us. We both had digestive issues and did not feel that great overall, so we ended up staying five nights in the beautiful Rushon Guesthouse Inn. It is run by a lovely old Tajik lady that made us feel like holidays at grandma's. When we were sick, she made us soup, asked if we wanted her to call a doctor and she kept advising us to stay longer to get back to full strength.
Once we were felt better again, we started our cycle towards Dushanbe from there. The scenery along the actual Pamir Highway was similarly stunning to what we had seen in the Bartang Valley, just the road conditions were slightly better and area was busier with villages and traffic. The wind was still not on our side, nonetheless we only took two days to reach the town of Qalai Kumb 190km down the road. Until then we were still traveling with our mate Daniel, but our ways parted in Qalai Kumb. He wanted to cycle the shorter, but tougher Northern Route along the actual Pamir Highway, whereas we chose the smoother, but longer Southern one.
We spent one night in town before moving on and were delighted to find a perfectly sealed road after only 20km. This made the ride in the valley much more enjoyable as you do not always have to focus on the road, but you can spend time looking around and admiring the grand scenery around you. One morning we were planning to climb the last 1000m pass out of the valley and back into flatter areas. We got an early start to get going before the heat set in, but we did not get that far. When asking a local guy for water, he invited us in for soup and when his friends showed up and started drinking vodka at 9.30am, we were not strong enough to resist their invitation. The day went by in an increasing blur and innumerable vodka shots and we found ourselves waking up from a nap at 6pm, having to admit that we would not go anywhere anymore that day. Next morning we started early again and this time we made it accross the pass, even though our stomachs were still a bit troubled from the drinking the day before.
We passed the city of Kulob on our way down the mountain and found ourselves in a very different environment. Gone were the steep valleys and mountains and they were replaced with rolling hills, fields and crazy temperatures. Vroni's bike computer measured 36.6°C in the shade and cycling in the sun was very unpleasant, even on a flat road. We found a nice camp along a river that evening but were set on not cycling all the way to Dushanbe in this craziness. Next morning we got back to the main road and started trying to find a little truck or bus to give us a lift. Some amazing local policemen even started stopping trucks for us, asking them to take us. That way we got a lift for the first 50km really quickly and then it only took us another 30 minutes until another guy picked us up with his Mercedes Sprinter. We reached Dushanbe at 11am and met up with Daniel again who had arrived in town the night before and we hung out in his hostel during the day until we moved to our Warmshowers host Bianca's place. In town we spent one day fixing up our bikes including our brakes and changing our Rohloff's oil. The weather was pretty hot, so Vroni just asked a fancy hotel with a rooftop pool if we could hang out there in exchange for some drone shots of their hotel and facilities. Somehow they agreed and we ended up spending a whole day in the 5-star Serena Hotel Dushanbe, starting with breakfast buffet, use of the spa and free soft drinks at the pool. In exchange we produced a little promotional video with footage from our drone and from within the hotel. Pretty good deal for both sides, I think!
Cheers from Tajikistan,
Always a tail wind,
Vroni, Droni, Daniel & Jonas
