Tuesday 4th June, 2019
After finally receiving the spare parts for the car and going round various garages to get them fitted, doing oil change etc…. we are back on the road. We ended up spending 2 weeks in Tashkent but are eternally grateful to our friends for having us and helping us through this stressful period.
We left about midday as the border at Oybek is only a couple of hours away. This time it took longer on the Uzbek side and only had to pay USD 25 ( for use of the road…) on the Tadjik side.
KHUJAND
We drove on to Khujand where we stayed the night. There are a couple of sights there but were disapointed by the fortress as it has been completely rebuilt. It houses a museum but it was shut as it was still a holiday for Eid. We strolled in the nearby park (nice) and took a small cable car to cross the river and get to the statue of the national poet and hero Ismoili Somoni.
Khujand Fortress 
ISMOILI SOMONI
Wednesday 5th June, 2019 – ISTARAVSHAN
Arrived early afternoon and as we parked the car, 3 teenagers approached us and volunteered to be our guides (free of charge!). They spoke reasonably good english and wanted to practice.
Saw the local landmarks but nothing too remarquable. There is a large fortress dominating the town but it has also been rebuilt so we gave it a miss. Left late afternoon with the intention of camping. Took a side turning on the road to Dushambe, leading to the Okhtagi region.
Istaravshan – Kok Gumbaz (Blue Dome)
Thursday 6th June, 2019 – ISKANDERKUL LAKE
Woke up under the rain and low clouds. Drove on to junction with the road leading to Panjakent( west and close to the border with Uzbekistan). The intention was to go in that direction to get access to a side road which leads to a base camp (Artuch) for hiking in the Fann Mountains. The weather was really quite bad and we could only have short glimpses of the snow covered peaks around us.
On the way we passed a few tunnels, not great but at least they had some lighting which is more than the Anzob Tunnel, so called “Tunnel of Death”, which is practically pitch black, with potholes and as it is single lane the cars have to vere into the oncoming lane to avoid them. It seems to go on for ever ( it is 5km long!) and has no ventilation, hence the name, as if you breakdown you will probably choke on the exhaust fumes…. On the good points the tunnel avoids a long twisty road up to a pass and cuts down the journey to Dushambe by a couple of hours.
As we stopped at the junction, we must have gone over a sharp piece of metal as we got a flat tyre: the first one in 20,000km but of course it had to be when it was pouring down ! We were near a petrol station and one of the attendant came to have a look. A passer-by also helped and went down the road with Paul to get the puncture fixed. ( for some reason we could not get the spare tyre down from below the car). The not-so desinterested helper then asked for 40 Somoni ( around 4 dollars) not a great sum but it seemed to be high by local prices and we negotiated down to 20 Somoni.
As the weather was still bad and we were not sure on how long the fix would hold on the tyre we decided not to go to Artuch as it involved going on a rough mountain road in the middle of nowhere. A real shame, as we really would have liked to do some hiking….
We continued on the way to Dushambe but as the weather improved we decided to take the side road to Iskanderkul Lake 30 km away (unpaved and bad in places but manageable). We had some nice views on the way. The lake has some legends attached to it. One is that Bucephalus, Alexander the Great’s favorite horse died there and if you look into the water at night you can see both Alexander and Bucephalus… We did not stay to find out if this was true !
Road leading to the lake 
Iskanderkul Lake
We rejoined the main road which went through some great scenery too.
Traffic jam… 
We arrived in Dushambe late afternoon, had a quick look around but then decided to camp on the outskirts. Had some trouble to find a suitable place as the mountains around the capital have numerous little villages. In desperation we asked a local if we could park the car by the side of his house and spend the night. He readily agreed and his wife later came out with a tray full of sweets, biscuits and bread. He even invited us to stay in his house but we decided to sleep in the car. We could hear the young children in the courtyard next to us until quite late so it would have been noisy anyway.
Friday 7th June, 2019 – DUSHAMBE
Drove back in town and found a place to have the tyre better repaired.Had lunch in a self service restaurant popular with the locals then had a walk on Rudaki, the main avenue (running north-south), pleasantly shaded by tall trees on each side and in the center of town with a pedestrian central walkway ( a bit like the Ramblas in Barcelona). Walked as far as the Ismoili Somoni monument. Went to the Ethnographic museum. Tried to find our way to the town of Hisor where there is a citadel, mosque and mausoleum but some of the roads were blocked by roadworks and we kept running in circles so gave up and took the road to Kulob instead.
Dushambe – Rudaki Avenue
On the way to Kulob, we stopped at Norak (also spelt Nurek), small town on a reservoir with a dam built in soviet times ( 70’s), the second higgest in the world. The dam is very high but not so wide. The road then climbs to a pass and we had some nice views over the Reservoir itself.
Nurek Reservoir 
At the view point, we asked a typical older man if we could take his picture. He was pleased to pose and invited us to stay in his house in a town further down the valley. He was on his way to Dushambe but “his son would welcome us” he said. We only had to ask for him in the bazaar and everyone would know which house it was ! He kept repeating his name and even said he would come back with us if he could…. very friendly and welcoming: a national trait.
Saturday 8th June, 2019 – KULOB
The town has no particular appeal apart from having the Mausoleum of the 15th century persian writer and missionary Khoja Mir Sayid Hamdani ( of whom the town of Hamedan in Iran derives its name from ). This is a pilgrimage site and women are not allowed inside the Mausoleum.
It is also the easier access route to the Pamir Highway and the road is mostly well paved.
