Day 10: Langar- Alichur
Today was a long day. We woke up expecting to drive, complete a difficult height to our highest place yet, and then to meet our drive and continue onward. The first part of the morning went fine and I reached highest point of hiking yet: about 4,600 meters. It was a bit difficult to breathe and we didn't enjoy the hike much, but I felt accomplished. We got to see lots of Marmots! We also drove to see a beautiful lake.
Then the chaos started. We arrived where we were supposed to meet our driver, however he was not there. We waited for awhile and continued to try to get signal in any of our phones, but to no avail. We suggested driving to the next city where we might get signal, however as it turned out our driver did not have enough diesel, and there was no diesel available in the next town. At this point we were slightly out of water and all saving our last 250ml for emergencies only. All means of contact were attempted, and we even tried the "throw the brick phone in the air" method. As we waited we began to feel like we had wasted our water in the morning hydrating before attempting our hike. We tried to come up with plans: hitchhiking, walking, but realistically we had seen very few cars and still had to go 30km.
Eventually we managed to get reception and found out our driver was still not coming, however, we were able to get to the next city with our driver being promised some form of diesel to make sure he got home.
In the town we found very little water, and worried again about if we had enough. After looking at some Yaks we walked back to the homestay and found a well where we planned to purify water in the morning. We ate a delicious dinner of lagman(spaghetti soup), and had some tea and vodka in an attempt to hydrate once again. We met a very nice older Italian man who was traveling around on a motorbike and he joined us for a drink. Once it was dark we went out for a bit to look at the stars, but it was quite cold now that we were so high up, and I was tired from the day of confusion so I passed out pretty quickly.
Day 11: Aichur- Murgab
Happy 4th of July America! I managed to find a beer to have with dinner and that put me at a whopping 4 beers for the entirety of this trip. We spent most of our morning sitting around and waiting for Omur to return to us. We had a lot of tea, I finished my book, we hung in the yurt, we filtered water, and edited photos. The best part was just watching the local life and playing with the 4 girls from the family.
Eventually we determined it was time to pack and relax. At one point I heard a loud squeal and was overjoyed to run outside and find out Omurbek had arrived! We still weren't exactly sure what happened with the police, but he showed us his new official Tajik document. I feel like in any other country we would have been stuck in shitty Khorog for an entire week, but people were so kind in accommodating us and making sure we were able to continue our journey. After making sure we were well fed with lunch we began our trip to Murgab. Along the way we saw Marco Polo sheep and Omur was so happy to be back with us that he went off road to make sure we could see them closely and attempt to take pictures. I asked if he could show us snow leopards, and of course he managed to find a statue just to make a joke about it.
Once in the city we went for a quick detour to the police, and you'll never guess what was outside....A Lenny! On our short walk we headed to the market to try to look for a present for Omur to lift his spirits. We checked several shops and eventually landed on a stuffed Marco Polo sheep as a present. We also managed to walk all the way to the far away market to get me a beer and ice cream to celebrate the holiday.
At dinner, talk turned to my move to the desert and my hatred of sand. I was laughing/ crying when I wholeheartedly said "I'm going to die in the desert." After 1 beer and 1 vodka at 3,500 meters I was a bit tipsy and honestly ready for bed.
Day 12- Murgab- Lenin Peak Base Camp
Today was an insanely long day of driving with a bit of hiking in the morning. We had to make a decision about which hike to do: The one through the beautiful valley that was filled with wild animals, or the one to just about 5,000 meters. It was decided that we preferred to enjoy the beauty of the country rather than tick a box on out lists.
After driving through a gorgeous valley we ended up in a small yurt village filled with yaks, donkeys, and cute kids. We began walking up with no real intention other than to get our legs moving and take some pictures. Then we looked up and decided on a goal: touch the snow. We meandered around rocks and water and could not get over the beauty of the pinks and tans in these mountains.
Once we reached the snow we had our morning chocolate, and tried to go faster on the way down to make up time, but we just had to keep stopping to take pictures. After being welcomed in to see the inside of the yurt we took off again to continue our journey to the highest pass on the highway: 4,655 meters. As we got out of the car we noticed that it was snowing, and freezing! We took a quick selfie and continued on our way.
The drive continued along the Chinese border and we kept joking about just hopping across one of the areas where there was a gap in the wall. We stopped for a quick lunch of soup near Karakul Lake. While we waited for our meal the children of the house played hide and seek with us and kept squealing with delight as they ran away. On our way to the border we continued to see marmots running all around. The border control joked around with us about how beautiful we were and we ran into our German friend from the very start of our journey in the Fann mountains. As we continued our drive it seemed we were in the clouds.
Eventually we reached a point where we were able to view Peak Lenin through some clouds. After a long drive along, hoping the clouds would part ways so we could get a better view, we arrived at the yurt camp and stuffed our faces with salty food and tea while the fire did it's job to heat up the yurt. It was still sort of snowing and definitely freezing. After eating we very quickly crawled into our warm beds in the yurt to try and get some sleep before our hike to Lenin Peak Base Camp.
Day 13- Lenin Peak Base Camp- Osh
We woke up with the intention of seeing Lenin Peak, but it seemed like Lenny just wanted to hide away for the day. The walk to base camp was relatively easy with only a few minor inclined bits. We saw many marmots and started guessing about what their name as a group would be. Continually stopping to remove and add layers was a bit annoying. Once back down, we packed up and went into the village for some lunch and wifi. Quickly discovering that a group of marmots is called a madness, we switch our name from "Vodka drinking girls" to "Madness of Marmots". We continued our journey through more beauty and gradually got warmer and warmer. Once in Osh I said goodbye to the best driver ever and did some sink laundry and took my first shower in 5 days. I met the girls for burgers and pizza. Then I did a quick evening walk to find the Lenny and headed straight to bed to prep for my early morning journey to Uzbekistan.
