My Book on Amazon
- Follow Are we there yet? on WordPress.com
The “Frontier School of Character”: Travels along the Pamir Highway Part II
“I shall wander the wilds of Central Asia possessed of an insane
This entry was posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and tagged Akbaital pass, Army, Border Post, Francis Younghusband, Karakul, Karakul Lake, Kyrgyzstan, Land Cruiser, Montains, Osh, Pamir, Pamir Highway, Police, Road travel, Russia, Sary Tash, Tajikistan, Toyota. Bookmark the permalink.
You make nothing seem like everything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the one-liner description of the Pamirs I’ve been looking for, thanks MMM!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Magnificent desolation. “Mansions of the lonely spirit”, as James Michener once called such places. It takes a profound spirit to appreciate these realms. Your tale is a spellbinding combination of history, place, and personal perception. This is what it’s all about. Bravo, Fabrizio.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Julie! I really liked Michener’s quote (frankly somebody I’d never heard before, should I be ashamed of myself?). Hope your moving is going alright.
LikeLike
He wrote massive tomes of historical fiction about various regions and cultures. This mini quote is from The Drifters, which is an uncharacteristically sordid novel.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds interesting, I’ll check him out. Thanks for the tip!
LikeLike
I’m with you on the appeal of that “unfiltered emptiness.” My guess is that the world’s highest road is the Friendship Highway in Tibet, a long span of gray, brown, and white, dry elephant-skin vistas that likewise captivated me for days. In a way, I’m sorry you had the misty, dreary weather; in another, it seems perfectly fitting. What a great destination (and journey) – on my list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Lexi, that’s a good candidate I suppose!
Frankly, the drizzle wasn’t bad at all, and – believe me – it got better as we progressed, I’ll write about it in the next few weeks and months.
If you’ve got the chance, do the Highway. It’s incredibly good fun, and I’m damn glad of having done it!
Fabrizio
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with Buzz Aldrin’s “magnificent desolation.” What a landscape you have captured both in words and photos…it’s like glimpsing another planet. I find it interesting too that in so many of these inhospitable regions one finds military installations of various governments.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey there BT! It does indeed feel like another planet up there. As for the military installations, well, as remote as it can be, the Pamirs have always been a bit of a flashpoint from that point of view, from the times of the Victorians on, and the war in Afghanistan has given a new life to the whole shebang. We arrived in Kyrgyzstan, where a large American base used to be, now gone and replaced by a Russian one. All the installations we’d seen in Tajikistan, vacated by the Russians, have now been replaced by a much larger one bang on the border between Taj and Afghanistan… I hope I’ll get to that point one day or another, but there really was quite a movement of troops on the border. Thanks for dropping by!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my gosh, driving through the Pamirs, along with land travel from Kazakhstan to Turkey, are part of my absolute dream adventures. This post just fueled the desire even more. Lovely photos, and even lovelier words!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Julia! Well, I’ve got good news for you: if you have time on your side, the Highway is as cheap as it gets. And even if you’re short on holiday time, it still is pretty inexpensive. And it’s incredibly good fun! Stick around on the blog, it’s just started 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a joy to read your posts about this journey. I so hope to do this in the future when the kid is older!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Anna! I’ve seen people doing the Highway with a 4 years old girl, and she was having a blast. Plus, having a young child means queue jumping in both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan! So… worth considering!
LikeLike
Pingback: A Huck Finn state of mind. | Are we there yet?