Jetzt gehts zu den hohen Bergen!:
In Tajikistan the most people are greeting you again, also if you have to go around 60 km away from the border till the influence of Uzbekistan is getting less and less. In some villages I meet some small children's which where starting screaming “tourist!, tourist!!, tourist!!!”. But the problem here is the road, which is just a few times asphalted and normally a crushed stone road or
1.) Finally in Tajikistan, in teh back the
mountains come back again.
3.) But the roads were in a quiet bad condition.
simply a dust road. Also there was hardly any good water from the bottles which you can buy anywhere here, because this water simply tastes like some chemicals. Here
2.) And so I was following the rivers.
4.) And so I was riding the bike until the night was
coming, and the moon was rising up behind the
mountains.
the first time I wished to have an water filter on board, because as I was drinking water from an spring in an village, where also the people here were drinking that water, I was getting diarrhoea again and so I started working with chemicals from now on which was ok then. Before I can reach Dushanbe the capital city of Tajikistan I had to go up to a pass with an height of nearly 3400 m, the so called Anzob pass. The road up to this pass was very dusty and in very poor condition, so I needed one more day to Dushanbe then planned. Well but because I needed one more day I had to sleep at an height of 2400 m above sea level, which was quiet convenient for me because here I had to use my sleeping bag again, and it was an ideal temperature for sleeping here. Also the view to the mountain range here was amazing. On the next day I had to go up to the pass, but I want riding my bike any longer I just was pushing my bike all the way. As I was coming to the top of the pass, I cant believe what my eyes were seeing there so amazing the view to the mountain range on the other side of the valley was. The view down to the valley let me cringe, because it was getting down there as I was coming up there and this means for me I have to push my bike all the way down. Well I just had my back brake left and I don't wanted to risk it to overheat my back rim. I was really glad as I came down to the valley where the downhill grade of the road was not that big so I was available to ride my bike again without pressing the brake all the time. I can say that the really adventure of this trip is beginning with the Pamir, because here you are reliant on yourself. In the Pamir I also have to pass a sea level up to 4000 m, and also in my mountaineering crier I never had passed such a height. Also on the Anzob pass I felt the thin air up in such a height and so I have to acclimate myself before I pass the first 4000 m pass. Well it will be also functional without acclimatisation, but this is much harder then. Here in Dushanbe I am just waiting for the China visa, which I ordered on Friday and on Wednesday I hope I will call a 90 day china visa mine. But I also have to wait for the parcel, which my parents were sending per DHL. No, there is no Manner waffle or any other sweets in it, this is just a parcel with spare parts in it. Also the final winter equipment for the Tibet is included. And a brand new mp3 Player which should give me the right rhythm and beats when cycling across these mountains in a record time.
Well that's it, it wasn't so long ago that I was writing the last Report 005. So, finally I have to wish everybody which is watching this tour all the best and hopefully you are on board the next time when also "hopefully" it is said, "Across the Pamir to the empire in the mid (China)".
Hearty regards
Yours Carl Steiner
Life is not anything, its a wonder god gave to us, so let us live it in dignity and integrity, don't let us waste it useless