Australia and New Zealand Old Boys

28th May

Australia and New Zealand Old Boys

Leaving the hotel can be a challenge. The chrome lady draws attention and with it, many 'paparazzi', included the hotel manager.

 

Even though our change in route to pass through Panjakent meant that we no longer needed to visit the Tajikistan capital, Dushanbe, we decided we would anyway. This would mean us going down to Dushanbe and then coming back up on the same road, but so what - all is going well.

 

We are now in scenic territory and the road east from Panjakent to Ayni was both beautiful and in brilliant condition. It was also not very busy, so we enjoyed ourselves pootling along at pretty low speeds for the 90km or so before our tea break. The usual blowing of the horns and thumbs up along the way, the children running in the middle of the road in the hope of a high five, lots of 'hellos' and smiles. We do not ride unnoticed. We are getting quite adept at stopping at the Chaikanas for a pot of green tea and this one even managed some pre-packed chocolate brownies - we did ask for baclava but all that drew was a puzzled look.

 

Then South following the Valley, but gradually climbing to 2,700m where we have the infamous Anzob tunnel. 5km long. No lighting or ventilation. Occasional pot holes. Single lane with oncoming traffic and people overtaking you. Think Rotherhithe tunnel, but smaller cross section and not much visibility because of the fumes. Oh and the dipped beam on the bike had given up, when being shaken about in Turkmenistan. The rumbling noise inside the tunnel was deafening too.

We covered our faces with wetted buffs to deal with the fumes as best we could. No sunglasses now. Visibility was pretty poor. One could follow red lights in front; many people especially the lorry drivers were flashing us because we were riding on full beam - that or nothing.... It was either first or second gear all the way. The beam was picking up a deep open drainage channel at the side, so we stayed in what we assumed was the middle of our lane. We stopped completely once or twice to manoeuvre around pot holes that we saw but overall, and let's not hope its famous last words, as we have to do a return trip. It could have been an awful lot worse. We reckon it helped enormously that the tunnel was a pretty straight line - we could see lights what we thought was a long way in the distance. It was also described as being an awful lot worse on the internet. Maybe it was and it has been upgraded?

 

Needless to say, no photos flash or otherwise, from inside the tunnel. 

It was possible to pull over on exiting the tunnel to literally have a breather. View was magnificent and we were not quite sure why but, this was where people were selling rhubarb? Just outside the tunnel. Is it the Tajik equivalent for carrots helping you see in the dark?

 

The ride down to Dushanbe post tunnel was quite serene. There were a lot of tunnel-ettes that we think were primarily land-slip protection, or melt water, or snow. They gave us a little fright every time, in case they were more long tunnels.

Getting close to Dushanbe we could see lots of sweet looking cafes with terraces cantilevering over the white water river. Actually the water was concrete coloured in some areas, red in other and just grey by the time we got to Dushanbe. However none of these cafes were open, not one. Together they could have dealt with tens of thousands of people and the location was great. We didn't understand.

 

Dushanbe is not tourist town. We are not saying that we were the only visitors in the city, but the others must have been hiding themselves. There were a number of things we could have done, but what we actually did was :

Cafes: 5 visits

National Monuments: 2 visited

Bazaar: 1 visited.

Parks: walked along side one.

Museums: saw one from the outside

Mosque: saw one in the distance from our hotel room.

But we were quite tired from the walking we had done, so we must have done a fair bit. It is also very hot now and that is taking its toll on us.
 

Heading back north though the Anzob tunnel again and also the Shahriston Tunnel, another supposedly joyful 5.25km underground.

Our new friend the Anzob tunnel was not as fearful in the other direction. There also seemed to be some tiny little lights in the ceiling that weren't there when we came down two days ago. Perhaps that stationary lorry we had come across in the tunnel was something to do with repairing them? The Shahriston did have small lights and cats eyes on the walls and nothing compared to the Anzob.  There are a few things on the internet about the Anzob.

 

After the Shahriston Tunnel a straightforward ride down to Khujand, Tajikistan's second City. And if we thought we were the only tourists in Dushanbe....

Emerging out of the Shahriston Tunnel we had a little shock when two wild rather voluminous dogs ran towards us as we pulled up after the tunnel to remove buffs and change glasses. We are always wary of dogs. Except they were calves... Specsavers?

We also learned that kabob isn't kebab. We wanted kebab. We got a plate of lumps of cold roast lamb. But everybody else at the place seemed to be getting the same thing too, so maybe it wasn't just us?