May 28th - Pamir vs Powaaaa

Today , we will have to make a decision and yesterday option B seems for us the ultimate solution in the order to avoid killing the Benelli and the Kawa on the horrible 635kms remaining until Dushanbe.

Its 7am and the owner wakes us up and ask us to follow him. He found us a Hyundai mini van able to carry our bike until Dushanbe. Unbelievable ! We were not very confident by finding a guy who will accept to put our heavy bikers into his truck / mini van but the guest house owner made it for us !

After 5 min of price negotiation, its time to try to fit the bikes inside. Task was not easy but we made it…

Our destination will be 16 hours later in Dushanbe if the Hyundai does not break on the Pamir. Believe me of not but the Hyundai made it to Dushanbe with us and the bikes at 5am this morning. The trip was exhausting, seating on the front of the minivan without moving for 16 hours of bumps, rocks, river crossing and hole poles was one of the most uncomfortable drive in our life. The bikes suffers as well with some broken stuffs from but nothing important.

The weather is great today and we will enjoy the scenery without having to ride...We drive along the Afghan border for 200km. Le left road is Afghanistan and the right one, Tajikistan. The only separation is the river. From both side, the Pamir region show us an unforgettable moment.

These huge mountains are sublimes and we stop few times on the way to get some nice pictures. The road is as expected, destroyed and completely missing. We were pretty happy to be in the minivan while his Hyundai is suffering absorbing all the shocks. 

Police controls are frequent on the Pamir but it allow us to have some break and fun with local policeman. We even met John Rambo on the Pamir Jungle (right on the picture).

The night fall at 9pm and still on the bumpy roads of the M41. We reached Dushanbe at 5.30am, drop off the bike at the Green hostel and start our short night. Our Uzbek visa will start on June 10th, which will allow us enough time to received spare parts, fix the bikes, have some beer with Marc (old friend from SH) who works here and visit the area by daily trip.