Langar

20 july 2012

This will definately be a birthday to remember!

Roma, Keith and I have been travelling through the southern border area of Tajikistan in a jeep with a driver who has managed to get this vehicle through some off the roughest tracks I have seen yet. We have driven from Murgab, over a high pass into the high alpine area that borders with Afghanistan.

We stopped to see some ancient cave drawings and to sample a smelling hot spring bath at a weird hunting lodge where people come to kill Marco Polo sheep in the winter time.

We stayed with a family in a yurt last night. They live in this remote area during the summer, grazing their yaks and goats. It snowed in the night and we woke to find cloud low over the high Wakhan mountains surrounding the area.

We drove on today pass the famous Zor-Kul lake, which lies at 4125m and is said to be the source of the oxon river. At the Kargush check point, our driver talked his way out of the fact that we did not have the necessary permit and offered to take the commander down to the village as an alternative.

We entered the small village of Langar, dropped the commander off to see his friends and settled into a fantastic guest house run by two lovely warm and friendly ladies.