MONDAY OCT 12 DAY 13 DRIVE DAY TO KHOJUND
So we are off to Khojund and we haven't gotten too far out of town when we come upon a traffic jam. A really big one. Slava and Anatoly behind him just take off driving down the wrong side of the road to pass all these large trucks that are just stopped. We get as far as we can and have to wait. No cars are coming towards us so they are jammed in that direction too. A large herd of goats comes by and passes us. People are all out of their cars and walking around and re-arranging rooftop burdens. After about an hour, the cars and trucks start moving. Slava has maneuvered into a position to get back into the line of traffic but none of the big trucks are letting him in so finally Jams gets out and stops the trucks long enough for Slava and Anatoly to get into the traffic line. We move slowly through one of the tunnels to stop rocks falling on the road and then we are out on the other side where we see that there has been an accident with a smashed in front of a large truck and a burned out flatbed of a trailer . Then we are through and while it takes a while to get back up to speed, we are moving again. We pass about 3 or 4 miles or more of trucks and cars waiting to pass going the other way.
This road also takes us through the very long tunnels that are 6 and 7 kilometers long. It is very hard to stay awake on this drive so I am dozing but usually wake up when they pull us over for a check of the vans papers. We are passing through some higher passes again but for once the road is paved so it is going much faster now we are past the tunnels and traffic.
We stop in Istaravhan to go to the market. Our schedule said that "In 2014 travel conditions meant that we were unable to include a planned stop" here at the market and it said we didn’t know if we would be able to stop this time or not. So not sure what the conditions were but we were all glad that we were able to stop.
We passed by the blacksmiths at first and the knife makers and farm implement makers. Most of us liked looking at the knives which were quite well done and some had different decorations on them. A few people bought knives and I decided to get one as well . We also found more bread stamps but it took Canada making the stamping motion again before we found someone who took us to where the stamps were being sold. So it was fun wandering the market and then a couple of us had to pay a tiny amount to use the toilet which was one of the worst around we’ve seen.
As we left the market a couple of boys wanted their photos taken. They were on the other side of a car so they thought it great fun that I shot them through the window of the car. Didn’t bother to wait to see what the photo looked like. They were just having fun. We stopped at the knife sellers again to pick up some that had been engraved while we were shopping. Then we went to the citadel above the town. There was also a toilet there in a small crenelated tower like building which was nicer than the one in the market. Slava tried to get us into the citadel but they wouldn’t let us in so we just had to look at the outside and overlook the city.
Back on the road, we stopped at a cotton field and several people got out to pick cotton. Been there, done that in Uzbekistan so I stayed in the car and dang if a great bunch of people went by with their donkey carts and cow carts and I couldn’t get photos. That’ll teach me to sit in the car .
As we go into Khojand, we find out for certain that Jamshed is leaving us tonight. This is his home city. Apparently he is a teacher and he has been pretending to be sick all this time so to miss teaching school and be our guide and he hasn’t been much of a guide but just a leader getting us from place to place. Very personable and friendly man and we all like him but still, hasn’t changed cars, hasn’t announced at dinner or breakfast what the plans for the day is, hasn’t waited for both cars before telling what we are doing and I could go on and on about his failings. And now we are stopping at still a different hotel and no lift and Canada and I am on the 2nd floor which is really the third floor.
Somehow it falls to me to collect tips. I get a couple of pieces of paper from the desk which she staples into an envelope and sit on the stairs and stop everyone. We did collect a fair bit for all three of them so hopefully they won’t be disappointed in their tips. Our program did say we did not have to tip the drivers but we all thought that was a bit odd so we asked Jamshed and he said as far as he knew, the drivers would not get anything from Peregrine so hence, we gathered tips for them.
We had reservations at a special hot shot restaurant but when we got there, they were full and said it would be a long time before we got seated so we went next door. We were the only ones in the restaurant but it still took a long time before everyone got their food and when all of us were almost finished, they still hadn’t brought Aussie couples food. They’d ordered fish and then were told there wasn’t any and the ribs were recommended but it took them awhile to find a cow and kill it and skin it I guess. In the end, Aussie couple took a doggy bag home with them with their dinner. And for the third time, the prices were suddenly higher than what was listed on the menu. I think at this point, some of us paid the menu prices and just left and others paid the higher prices but we all got out of there at the same time and didn’t have to go back and argue with the people about the prices.
Back at the hotel, aussie couple left the group immediately to go upstairs and eat their dinner. New York wandered off and so that left the fun bus to present Jams with his tip and also we gave the drivers theirs to “make sure you show up in the morning” ha ha. kind of thing. Took photos of the group and then Jams says goodbye and he is gone.
All of us are a bit nervous about tomorrow as the drivers are not crossing the border with us either. They will take us to the border and they say we will walk between the border crossings about 3 km to the Uzbek side but there will be porters for our luggage if we want it. Not happy about dragging my stuff 3 km. And then our guide will meet us on the other side to take us into Tashkent.
So we are off to Khojund and we haven't gotten too far out of town when we come upon a traffic jam. A really big one. Slava and Anatoly behind him just take off driving down the wrong side of the road to pass all these large trucks that are just stopped. We get as far as we can and have to wait. No cars are coming towards us so they are jammed in that direction too. A large herd of goats comes by and passes us. People are all out of their cars and walking around and re-arranging rooftop burdens. After about an hour, the cars and trucks start moving. Slava has maneuvered into a position to get back into the line of traffic but none of the big trucks are letting him in so finally Jams gets out and stops the trucks long enough for Slava and Anatoly to get into the traffic line. We move slowly through one of the tunnels to stop rocks falling on the road and then we are out on the other side where we see that there has been an accident with a smashed in front of a large truck and a burned out flatbed of a trailer . Then we are through and while it takes a while to get back up to speed, we are moving again. We pass about 3 or 4 miles or more of trucks and cars waiting to pass going the other way.
This road also takes us through the very long tunnels that are 6 and 7 kilometers long. It is very hard to stay awake on this drive so I am dozing but usually wake up when they pull us over for a check of the vans papers. We are passing through some higher passes again but for once the road is paved so it is going much faster now we are past the tunnels and traffic.
We stop in Istaravhan to go to the market. Our schedule said that "In 2014 travel conditions meant that we were unable to include a planned stop" here at the market and it said we didn’t know if we would be able to stop this time or not. So not sure what the conditions were but we were all glad that we were able to stop.
We passed by the blacksmiths at first and the knife makers and farm implement makers. Most of us liked looking at the knives which were quite well done and some had different decorations on them. A few people bought knives and I decided to get one as well . We also found more bread stamps but it took Canada making the stamping motion again before we found someone who took us to where the stamps were being sold. So it was fun wandering the market and then a couple of us had to pay a tiny amount to use the toilet which was one of the worst around we’ve seen.
As we left the market a couple of boys wanted their photos taken. They were on the other side of a car so they thought it great fun that I shot them through the window of the car. Didn’t bother to wait to see what the photo looked like. They were just having fun. We stopped at the knife sellers again to pick up some that had been engraved while we were shopping. Then we went to the citadel above the town. There was also a toilet there in a small crenelated tower like building which was nicer than the one in the market. Slava tried to get us into the citadel but they wouldn’t let us in so we just had to look at the outside and overlook the city.
Back on the road, we stopped at a cotton field and several people got out to pick cotton. Been there, done that in Uzbekistan so I stayed in the car and dang if a great bunch of people went by with their donkey carts and cow carts and I couldn’t get photos. That’ll teach me to sit in the car .
As we go into Khojand, we find out for certain that Jamshed is leaving us tonight. This is his home city. Apparently he is a teacher and he has been pretending to be sick all this time so to miss teaching school and be our guide and he hasn’t been much of a guide but just a leader getting us from place to place. Very personable and friendly man and we all like him but still, hasn’t changed cars, hasn’t announced at dinner or breakfast what the plans for the day is, hasn’t waited for both cars before telling what we are doing and I could go on and on about his failings. And now we are stopping at still a different hotel and no lift and Canada and I am on the 2nd floor which is really the third floor.
Somehow it falls to me to collect tips. I get a couple of pieces of paper from the desk which she staples into an envelope and sit on the stairs and stop everyone. We did collect a fair bit for all three of them so hopefully they won’t be disappointed in their tips. Our program did say we did not have to tip the drivers but we all thought that was a bit odd so we asked Jamshed and he said as far as he knew, the drivers would not get anything from Peregrine so hence, we gathered tips for them.
We had reservations at a special hot shot restaurant but when we got there, they were full and said it would be a long time before we got seated so we went next door. We were the only ones in the restaurant but it still took a long time before everyone got their food and when all of us were almost finished, they still hadn’t brought Aussie couples food. They’d ordered fish and then were told there wasn’t any and the ribs were recommended but it took them awhile to find a cow and kill it and skin it I guess. In the end, Aussie couple took a doggy bag home with them with their dinner. And for the third time, the prices were suddenly higher than what was listed on the menu. I think at this point, some of us paid the menu prices and just left and others paid the higher prices but we all got out of there at the same time and didn’t have to go back and argue with the people about the prices.
Back at the hotel, aussie couple left the group immediately to go upstairs and eat their dinner. New York wandered off and so that left the fun bus to present Jams with his tip and also we gave the drivers theirs to “make sure you show up in the morning” ha ha. kind of thing. Took photos of the group and then Jams says goodbye and he is gone.
All of us are a bit nervous about tomorrow as the drivers are not crossing the border with us either. They will take us to the border and they say we will walk between the border crossings about 3 km to the Uzbek side but there will be porters for our luggage if we want it. Not happy about dragging my stuff 3 km. And then our guide will meet us on the other side to take us into Tashkent.
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