Hotel Grand Asia Dushanbe

<br><br>I'm away early and enjoy the rest ride to Dushanbe. I book into the Vakhsh Hotel which, the LP solemnly informs me, was occupied by bearded mujaheddin rebels during the civil war. Perhaps that is why the president is busy issuing edicts! I spend the morning cosseting both the bike and Miss D so I hope we are back on ...

... and I fall off while gently gliding to a halt. The reason soon becomes apparent. The other two bolts of the topbox frame have sheared and it and the spare tyres have been hanging to one side. At least a little pride is salvaged. Everything off. Bike up and careful thought to repacking and I'm away again. Strangely with the repacking, I and the bike feel more secure so I attack the rest of the day with a vengeance. Well, sort of. Let's not get too carried away.<br><br>Another ...

... like an oven. Luckily for us help was close at hand &#8211; old-style Soviet hotels almost all had a lady on each floor to hold keys, arrange laundry and generally help guests survive their stay. In no time at all ours arrived at our room brandishing a shiny new fan for us to use.<br><br>Before heading for dinner we made a plan to contact the Adventurers Inn the next day and see if they had rooms available for the three of us. We then headed out to eat, going again with ...

Here are some photo's of our first and only little plane flight of our trip so far- from Khorog to Dushanbe. To explain the flight Ý have lazily deferred to the email that i sent to my parents afterwards. Here it is: "Mum + Dad, we are safe and well in Dushanbe. we flew down from Khorog today in a little ex-soviet prop-plane, crossing at one point over northern afghanistan - quite a flight. At many times ...

... ich damit, dass wir bereits um 8 Uhr losgefahren sind (kann Stunden dauern bis die Fahrzeuge voll sind) und dass der Fahrer ziemlich gut unterwegs war, fuer die 650km haben wir nur 15h gebraucht, 20h sind die Norm (und ich habe Traveller in Khorog getroffen, die solange unterwegs waren...). So war ich um 22:00 in Dushanbe und konnte noch ein Hotel suchen (US$10 fuer ein ziemlich schlechtes Dormitory:-) Der Lada Niva verfuegte ...

... on both sides, very prone to landslides. So bulldozers consistently have to dig the road deeper in the mountain making a road that was by far the worst I've ever taken. And the joys of a 20 years old Russian jeep and 2 Tajik kids throwing up every 5 minutes in the backseats did not make it more comfortable... The best part is when you get to the highest point of the trip and need to cross what the local ...

... wars following the Revolution. Not much remains of Gissar. As the story goes, the communists destroyed much of the ancient city/fortress following its surrender, and now only the Ark, or gate, remains, with its two quite lonely and desolate towers. The bitter cold on the day of the visit set the perfect mood for the visit. My friends and scampered around the ruins, viewing the ...

... little legroom. When everyone was waiting on their bags, people also already started breaking open liquor bottles and drinking shots of vodka and cognac. I found the expeditor, and we got through the airport, but to be honest, I didn't think he did anything that I couldn't have done myself. Sure, I had to put my bags through an x-ray machine, but no questions were asked with reference to my luggage (I was not even sure what the customs regulations ...

... Schotterstrasze zu einer alten, verwahrlosten russischen Intourist Anlage, die durch die bisher dreckigsten Toiletten glaenzt. In der Frueh allerdings eroeffnet sich uns der Blick ueber einen tuerkisen Gebirgssee in die gewaltigen Fan-Berge, der zweiten groszen Gebirgskette in Tajikistan und entschaedigt fuer die Hoellenfahrt der letzten Nacht. Der weitere Tag, nachdem wir noch kurz einen gewaltigen Wasserfall besichtigt haben, besteht darin unseren Niva durch ...

... content but because of the filter - it makes it taste all rubbery and plastic like - hmm - maybe not such a good buy. We do a 12km walk back to the "main road". Along the way we come accross more kids playing football wanting pictures and old women shying away from cameras. nice little waterfall up there too - I'd say there is loads to explore - but gotta be careful as there may be mines left from ...