reaching Qalai Khumb – the border to Afghanistan

Sitting at the riverside of Obikhumbou, a wonderful turquoise mountain river in Qalai Khumb, I am trying to reflect and digest many impressions that I experienced throughout the last week since our departure from Dushanbe. I feel very blessed by what I could witness, explore, experience and I received many gifts along the way.

I have cycled 600 kilometers by now and when I look out of the terrace, I can look directly to the bordering afghan mountains, Afghanistan being only a few houndred meters away. It feels strange and exciting to be here. You can feel that this is a border region, you see much more militaries present in the town, I am curious how it will be when we are going to cycle along the border from tomorrow on.

I will try to bring again the essence of the last week, which was the first one on the road with our beautiful team. We had many beautiful and also challenging moments, reflecting on them now I can say our group grew immensely together within this week and I am very happy and feel very blessed to cycle in this unique constellation.

After our last preparations, adjustments and fine tuning our gear we left our hostel in Dushanbe, finally hitting the road, the moment we all anticipated. Unfortunately I started already with a nauseous stomach, but was feeling confident to start our ride. It was a beautiful feeling to cycle in this group, we were truly a small caravan with all the bags we had on our bikes.

We could cycle through a pretty flat landscape, slowly approaching the mountains in a very agricultural valley. Looking left and right, taking in the many impressions of this unknown territory and culture.

We had to stop many times to make contact with some locals, it was also something our friends from India enjoyed a lot. Yogendra, one of our elders explained to us what a role India played after the independence of Tajikistan in the 90ies, where India became an economical partner and many Tajiks went there to buy all kind of goods and commodities in that time, after the breakdown of the Soviet Union.

Everywhere we went, again huge groups of kids and adults came to ask us questions and to make contact with these cycling strangers.

By sunset we found an abandoned campsite and were happy to pitch our tent right next to a lake, having the beginning mountains right above us. Two of us hitchhiked into the next town to get some water and vegetables for dinner, the others were setting up the camp. It was the first time that Bharat and Yogendra were camping outside and we helped each other out to pitch the tents.

The night was not easy for me, I couldn’t eat anything and I had a very upset stomach. I was trying to tackle the issue with strict intermittent fasting, but it was not easy to get energy into my body.

The next morning we continued to cycle up the valley which offered ever higher mountains surrounding us. After the second flat tire we decided to have our siesta in a village we passed, luckily a car mechanic helped us to fix one tube as it had a big cut in it.

I used the Siesta to go for a walk and to loosen up my stomach, it was very hard due to the intense buildup of gasses. As I was feeling ever weaker I played around with the thought of staying for a night and catchingt up with the group the day after by bike. The idea released a lot of stress I felt and so I told the group when we came together. It started a beautiful process of realization that we all have to change levels from individual riders towards a group that had to take care of each other. I was open to all outcomes, but they decided to stay as well and use the time for some group building, while I could rest and rejuvenate.

Jose and I could rest in our own rooms while the others slept in these nice tea and rest furnitures that you find all over the country.

This hotel could be a story for itself, the hygiene was horrible, especially on the toilets and I was asking myself how the hack should I get rid of my diarrhea in such conditions?

Unknowingly we were in a hotel that had a Hamam in it, using the hot springs that were coming out of the mountain here, so we could all have a bath in the super hot basins – a great treat for our bodies.

During the night we had thunder and lightning, rain and wind, we all were happy to not be camping in our tents.

The following day was decided to become a rest day as well, so Jose and I could really relax, both of us were not ready yet.

I felt the need to walk around to help my digestion and loved to explore the town we were in.

Finally I could buy a new long jersey, as I lost mine during a visit at one of the many toilets – while undressing to make my business on one of the potholes it slipped out of my hands and fell directly into the whole, which could for sure only happen to me. You cannot imagine how much I was swearing afterwards, it is very hard to be cycling the whole day with diarrhea and the facilities to go for your business were mainly discusting wholes in the ground with some metal construction around it to protect from other viewers and then this!

With new energy and finally a more calm stomach we continued. We were greeted by a wonderful side valley which became ever more narrow and the rocks were ever steeper on our sides. It became a very impressive show as the landscape changed after every turn we took.

It was a lot of climbing and descending and the roads turned into very challenging gravel patches. We had to realize that we will not reach the bottom of the pass in the time we calculated as we expected much better roads.

In the evening we finally reached the border into the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan and we could take a rest on an open field next to a small settlement, where the children organized a hose for us so we could shower and have some water to cook.

It was a night full of beautiful stars and I played again around with some long exposure shots.

The next morning we entered another valley that would eventually lead us to the bottom of our pass, again showing us jaw dropping creeks and cliffs which we were joyfully cycling through.

The waters were not clean at all until now, as the mountains were made of very loose sediments. It was a gray, milky appearence and after you bathed in it, your skin was very dry, yet it was always a great refreshment and cleansing from the sweat and dust of the riding.

The whole cycling in this region is very demanding, you get fried by the sun and the roads are very stiff and made of uneven gravel. You have to constantly focus and it was hard for me to also take in the surroundings I was in. For this I use my diary, so I can let the images of the day pass again through my inner eye and let them settle in.

In the evening of that day we reached a wonderful town in the mountains at an altitude of about 2000 meters. As we were taking a break to cook dinner we had a man coming up to us offering to sleep in the school area where we could access water and a toilet. We felt very blessed and accepted the offer. While cooking, a neighbor came and offered us some selfmade kefir, minutes later the other man came again with local honey and fruits from his trees – what an amazing hospitality.

It was a great meal that gave us all the necessary energy for the next day. After washing our bikes, cleaning and lubing the chain we went to bed early so we could get enough rest to climb the upcoming pass.

Waking up at 05.00 in the morning we packed our gear and started cycling the hour later.

This ride had quite some difficulties for us, which was a broken rack of Yogendra after the first kilometers. Luckily I was very close and I had all the tools that could solve the problem. The broken screw broke in a way that I could still get it out with my pliers, so I could replace it. Unfortunately the hooks of the one pannier didn’t survive and we needed to rebalance the whole load and even take some off. So I had another load to carry up the hill. Luckily it was possible for my legs and we could carry on.

After we reached the rest of the team who was waiting for us we continued our climb. Every few hundred meters in height uncovered more layers of the stunning mountains around us.

Every now and then we stopped so the group could come together as we didn’t want to risk that anybody would be left in case of an emergency.

Around lunchtime we finally made it to the top, empty stomach and empty water bottles, but all happy for what we have achieved.

What we didn’t know at the time was that from here we would cycle down a really demanding route for the slim gravel bikes, a 2000 meter descent that took quite some focus and energy from us.

We thought to quickly find a spot to have our lunch, but it was a very hard undertaking due to the steep terrain we were in. All of us lacking energy decided to carry on, until I realized a flat tire. After fixing it we continued and found our friend Yogendra on the street again unloading his panniers, the other side of the rack was broken. He prepared everything in a way so I could also fix that problem. We were all exhausted, trying to hide from the sun and wondered what surprises could come next?

Luckily we came closer to the creek that was before unreachable and I told everyone to go swimming as the ice cold water would rejuvenate us. So we had a swim and guess what, everyone felt happy and energized to continue in a more focused way.

After again another checkpoint and more riding we finally arrived in Qalai Khumb and with the negotiation power of Yogendra and Jose found an affordable place to stay with a stunning terrace right over the mountain stream.

The night was very restful and I am collecting all kind of impressions from this new land, people and circumstances. As I mentioned you see way more people from the military, we now have areas beside the roads that you shouldn’t walk into as there are still land mines burried. I am curious what the next kilometers on the road will bring to us.

Right now we are enjoying the hospitality of the place and the great company of each other, I was very impressed with how we all held together throughout the challenges of the day before. We had a great sense of humor for the whole time and even in the negotiations about the place in the night after the very hard day everyone maintained their gentleness, kindness and cool to finish the day like true champions 😁.