Pamir Highway: Ishkashim

This is the third part of a six-part series recounting my misadventures on the Pamir Highway. Pamir Highway: Ishkashim

This is also the first part of a five-part series under Coronavirus Travels

Ishkashim

En route: Khorog - Ishkashim

Oh the man-made marvel of electric heating and its effect on a warm night’s rest. I will not take household appliances for granted again. In the morning we set off for a town called Ishkashim, but first took a detour to Garmchashma hot springs. Pamir Highway: Ishkashim

Garmchashma Hot Springs

For those shy about their naked bodies, feel free to give this a pass and go visit the botanical garden in Khorog or something. Or, face your greatest fear and go skinny dipping in the public pools which are segregated by gender. For 10 somoni each, experience what it is like to be slow roasted. The temperature of the water was intense, easily exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. Took us multiple attempts of screaming and swearing to finally fully submerge ourselves. The hot springs are said to have healing properties, and the locals come here to alleviate skin, heart and other ailments. We heard it was great for fertility too, but surely that was not why we went.

Arrival in Ishkashim

Afterwards was a level of calm I have not felt before. Nature is the best drug. 100km later we arrived in Ishkashim. We had manti for lunch, which are large dumplings typically filled with mutton and potatoes and served with sour cream. If anyone is interested, a 500ml bottle of “organic Tajik vodka” is 15 somoni here. The price increases by 2 somoni the deeper into GBAO you get due to scarcity and transportation costs. Just conducting some in-depth research for you guys.

First encounter with coronavirus troubles

Until now we hadn’t had trouble with our Chinese-looking faces, apart from some curious stares. With the coronavirus paranoia circulating more furiously in other parts of the world, Central Asia was no exception as speculation of when the first cases would be reported ran rife. Naturally people would be suspicious of foreigners in their country. Nonetheless, all our hosts were, and would continue to be, nothing but hospitable towards us. Instead, corrupt public servants lived up to their notoriety as they tried to leverage on the pandemic for their personal benefit.

We were walking on the streets exploring Ishkashim when a policeman approached our guide and spoke to him in Tajik. The exchange started off calmly. Our guess was that our guide was explaining to him our presence here. Our appearances, after all, did stick out in Tajikistan. Increasingly the policeman became more agitated and our guide brushed him off with mild annoyance. Sensing something was amiss, we quickened our pace, and to our relief, the policeman did not follow us.

There was not much to see in this sleepy town, so we made a U-turn to our hotel, which involved taking that same route back. And who would have guessed? The same policeman appeared out of nowhere and targeted our guide again. This time he was more persistent, but we did not know what his motives were, and our guide did not want to worry us. We decided to just spend the rest of the day in our rooms, which we thought were out of reach of everyone else.

Ignorance is bliss

We found the following part out days later; our guide kept it from us hoping we would enjoy the rest of the trip. Bless him. He was right, but our ignorance only lasted three blissful days (more about this in part 5). Later that night around 9pm, a group of policemen came to our hotel looking for the four of us. They suspected, baselessly, that we had coronavirus and wanted to take us in for testing. We had already established with our guide that we had been in Kazakhstan since the start of January, a country free of coronavirus at the time, with Tajikistan being the only other country of visit. Plus, none of us showed any symptoms.

Having not qualified for testing, quarantine or any other further investigation according to their government’s rules, it was clear they wanted a bribe and would not leave without one. After some calls to our tour agency’s HQ, the policemen decided it was best to drop it. Till this day we do not know what was said in that phone call, but it is clear that without connections, playing by the rules will still not shield you from trouble.

So with that, we woke up the next morning blissfully unaware of last night’s events. Pamir Highway: Ishkashim

Hi! I am Joey, a University student from Singapore, attempting to show my appreciation for the world’s most powerful passport by literally milking its visa-free benefits one country at a time. I describe my travel budget as shoestring and travel style as audacious.