Ishkashim

Unfortunately something I ate tipped my delicate stomach back into diarrhea mode, the 3rd time since arriving in Central Asia. I began to wonder whether I was suited for this kind of trip. I regretted turning down the previous day an offer of a lift in a Landcruiser ferrying UN staff to Ishkashim. They were working for the UN office on Drugs & Crime so it would have been interesting to have learned about that aspect of this region. However I felt better in the afternoon & was able to make it to Ishkashim.

Back at the main road to Ishkashim after coming back down from Garm-Chashma I was hassled even further by what appeared to be a plain-clothed Russian policeman. I'd thought that the Russians had pulled out of Tajikistan some time ago but wasn't sure. As with the previous evening lots of Russian was said to me, the gist was that something was wrong with my GBAO permit. I wasn't sure if it was a shakedown & I figured the best thing to do was to repeat that I didn't understand & stand my ground. After a short while he let me continue. I wondered how the coming checkpoints would go, imagined being turned back & having to go back to Khorog. I took a close look at my permit, which was written in Russian, indeed only 6 of the 7 districts were listed, but I couldn't understand which was missing. As I went I passed by a couple of groups of soldiers, I deliberately kept my speed up to reduce the time they'd have to think of stopping me to check my passport & permit. Later when I arrived at Ishkashim I asked a local who spoke English to look at my permit. Indeed 1 district was missing but it was 1 that I'd already passed so I shouldn't have any further issues.

I was beginning to become accustomed to the spectacular scenery of the valley & even the first view of famed Hindu Kush mountain range only stirred me a little. In hindsight I think this was because I was exhausted. I only realised this when I arrived in Ishkashim, collapsed on my bed in the guesthouse & couldn't bring myself to get up to even have a shower.

It was very nice to stay under a cover that I didn't have to build for a change. Having a soft & comfortable bed was luxurious. The guesthouse was run by a team of friendly woman who made me tea & later dinner & organised candles so that I could take a shower when the electricity went out. It was clean though fairly basic. I compared the cost (15USD with dinner & breakfast) to that of the guesthouse in Samarqand it was a little expensive but I think this is due to everything being more expensive here than in Uzbekistan despite being considerably poorer.

In the evening I had a long chat with an English speaking local who'd come over for dinner. We spoke mostly about Ismaelism, the offshoot of Shia Islam & of the central role that the Aga Khan has in it. The 5 districts of Badakshan East of the Sagirdasht pass are almost entirely Ismaeli, including the area of Afghanistan immediately adjacent to Tajik Badakshan. This is in contrast with surrounding Sunni Tajikistan & Afghanistan. I learned that a significant difference between Sunni & Ismaeli Islam was that the latter relied heavily on the Aga Khan's interpretation of the Koran & not at all on the Hadith, the collection of attributed sayings of the Prophet Mohammed that forms part of the dogma of Sunni Islam. This, I was told permitted Ismaelism to more successfully move with the times than the rest of Islam. I felt that I needed to learn more on this & resolved to read about it on my return home.

I cycled 74 km in 6 hours & 4 minutes
Total so far 7764 km in 113 days