ROADWORKS AHEAD - Veshab, Zerafshan Valley, Tajikistan

....previously coming from Haft Kul, Tajikistan.....

After a rest day in Penjikent, mainly spent struggling with the internet connection (and losing), we kept moving onto the upper end of the Zerafshan Valley. This area is even more remote than Haft-Kul, and even less information is to be found about it in books and on the internet. The only thing to do was turn up and see what was going on! The drive east from Penjikent to Ayni was beautifully scenic, through the wide valley with an amazing variety of crops growing, and watermelon sellers lying on mats under the trees waiting for customers.

Our destination was Veshab, a place we had read was a short drive from Ayni by shared 4WD. We were lucky to have a lovely taxi driver from Penjikent who dropped us exactly where the vehicles left for further travel up the valley. After a chat with people waiting there, we ended up in a car with two policeman and some other passengers. There was a great mime show about the road being closed, but we were assured we could walk part of the way and pick up transport on the other side of the road block. Without any other information, we decided to go for it.

After more than an hour on a rough and bumpy pot hole-filled road, we came to the point where the road was closed. We looked up the long steep hill where the driver was pointing, and felt our hearts sink. We set off and tried to keep up with our fellow passengers. Our packs were heavy and the walk up and down the steep, dusty and hot mountains back down to the road was completely exhausting. We felt drained as we collapsed on the other side. Rich went to investigate the road with some drivers and witnessed another landslide into the river where the road used to be, not far from where he was standing. After a rest, we continued on for nearly another hour, admiring the sweeping views of the raging river hundreds of feet down below, and finally to Veshab village and our homestay.

View from our vehicle, the Zerafshan Valley

Looking up at what lies ahead, Zerafshan Valley

Starting the "detour", Zerafshan Valley

Landslide part 1

Landslide part 2

Landslide part 3

Our experience in Veshab was quite different to Shing, as we were hosted by the local English teacher and his family, so there were fewer communication problems. The accommodation was not quite charming, but still perfectly adequate. We had our own room with mattress, cushions and doonas galore, a large table/dining area to eat and relax at, and an outside smelly drop toilet and separate shower room with hot water. The family was kind and the food was really tasty (yet again!). We were delighted by the two littlest ones in the family, Salmon and Bono. Their little grins every time they had to pass us were so cute. It has to be said, the drop toilet system people use here is not great. Unlike many other countries we have been to where peat, sawdust, or some other absorbent substance is added after going to the toilet to soak up the smell, here they don't use anything. The smell can sometimes really permeate the air, and isn't very pleasant, although, to be fair, we did actually get used to it in the few days we were there.

Little Bono, Veshab homestay

Little Salmon, Veshab homestay

Breakfast Veshab homestay (note the mobile phone shaped biscuit!)

Outside toilet, Veshab homestay (wish we could add the smell!)

We found Veshab to be quite a special place, and after we recovered from our journey to arrive there, we began to relax and explore, and really liked the village. Apparently there were 2000 inhabitants, and during our few days there we felt like we had contact with a fair few of them. It was lovely to see familiar faces and have them remember us and greet us like old friends. A few of the kids spoke a bit of English, but mostly it was the usual few mixed words of Tajik and Russian, sign language and smiles. People had an amusing habit of continuing to speak to us in Tajik or Russian, even when it was clear we only spoke English, as though they hoped we might understand a word or two. We noticed, that although the women were more shy than the men, a few young women who were home from working or studying in Dushanbe for the summer were very confident and much more forward in approaching us.

Village elders lined up in the shade

Friendly man outside Veshab shop

Lovely family, Veshab

Local beauty, Veshab

What a handsome man (not sure about granny in the background!), Veshab

Simple, happy man, Veshab

The village had one main “street”, running alongside a stream and most of the newer part of Veshab was along this. Another, older part of the village, with very rustic stone and mud brick houses spread up the hill and toward the many gardens people worked on in summer. It was the main apricot harvest time, and the fruit was EVERYWHERE, being picked, dried, made into jam.....you name it, they did it with apricots! Apparently, it had been a particularly good season, so they were making the most of preserving them for winter. Donkeys were a very common form of transport, and the poor creatures were in demand and loaded up during the busy time. Although it felt very remote to us, we were informed that the valley continued on for another 170 km to a glacier, with about 50 more villages after Veshab!

Veshab houses

Mystery woman in red, Veshab

Laundry day, Veshab

Typical style "new" village house, Veshab

Poor old donkey, Veshab

Off to work, Veshab

"Old" part of Veshab village

Drying apricots EVERYWHERE

Making apricot jam, Veshab

We were shown around the village by our host one morning, invited to see how the 1000 year old mill stone ran, ate home made samsas with a group of women in their home, and had tea on a farm on top of an amazing view point looking for miles up and down the valley. It was quite pleasant to have a translator for once, although generally we do like to be independent. We also were shown the area each villager takes their wheat in order to have it separated by donkeys walking around in circles on it. It was all tossed in the air, helped by the reliable wind that began every evening about 7pm, which just left the grain. It took the whole family an entire day to process about 300 kilos, to be washed, dried and then pulverized at the aforementioned mill at a later date.

Wheat growing, Veshab

1000 year old mill, Veshab

Wind winnowing by hand, donkey and wind, Veshab

Our host and son off to winnow wheat, Veshab

Lovely man on farm, Veshab

Making fresh samsa (pastrys- very yummy!), Veshab

Rare woman posing for a photo, Veshab

Old hillside village, Veshab

Spectacular setting with the river far below, Veshab

Looking down the valley from Veshab

We spent a lovely morning with the old woman who seemed to be the care taker of the local shrine, Shams-i-Tabrizi. She took a shine to us, and kept praying to us and “washing” her face, as is the custom here. People often bring their two hands down cupped over their faces as some sort of sign of respect, a greeting, or a prayer. As we were leaving, she rummaged around in her old cupboard and brought out a big bag of sweets for us.

Striking old lady, caretaker of Shams-i-Tabrizi, Veshab

After, we strolled up the hill in the direction of some music. We popped our heads around the courtyard of the village hall and saw that a huge wedding had recently begun and the whole village appeared to be attending. As we tentatively entered, a man we thought to be the father of the bride or groom, dragged us over and insisted that we sit in pride of place at one of the many tapchans with dastarkhan (area on a table or floor where food is eaten) set out with the yet untouched spread of food and drink. It was extremely embarrassing, as the entire crowd of several hundred people was watching us, and we didn't want any special treatment, but the men all insisted. They all wanted so much to talk to us, and we felt we had let them down by not being able to speak much Russian or Tajik. We constantly wondered on this trip how many great conversations we had missed out on. So, we watched the proceedings comfortably and were given tea and titbits to eat. A sneaky bottle of vodka came out and we were happy to join with the drinking. As soon as the live band started playing Tajik music many men and women got up to shake their bootys (but not together). Sal had an admirer next to her who insisted on dancing to the energetic music. As excruciating as it was, she had no choice but to dance in the middle of the entire crowd, with Rich pretending his knee was acting up. For two days after this, literally everyone we met smiled and said they had enjoyed Sal's dancing!

Wedding dastarkhan, Veshab

Wonderful colours, female wedding guests, Veshab

Enjoying the spectacle, Veshab

Man who came to dance at our table, Veshab

How embarrassing! Veshab

Another day we walked a long way up a high road where many bee keepers were harvesting honey from the hives on the hillsides amongst the juniper bushes. There were many big rocks under shady trees to rest alongside the stream, and on one break, we were adopted by one of the kindest men we have met. He insisted we come over to the tapchan (raised platform) in the shade, where he indicated we were to sit and relax. We assumed he was fixing choy, but were amazed when he, his friend and his friend's wife came out with huge plates of fried potatoes and salad (as well as choy, of course!). Although we had not long finished breakfast it tasted delicious. A bottle of vodka appeared at one point, but as it was before 10am, we politely declined. We all had fun with our Russian phrase book, with them reading out such English phrases as “I think I may be pregnant”. The man, who looked blind in one eye, and had no teeth eventually had to go back to work in his fields, but asked us to stay and rest for a while. After proudly showing us his solar torch, setting us up with pillows and even putting a blanket over Sal, he left us- happy that we were happy.

Morning walk up the hill, Veshab

Our delightful host, Veshab

Impromptu lunch, Veshab

Bee hives in the hills, Veshab

A very pleasant rest stop, Veshab

Following the river, Veshab

Stark and beautiful, Veshab

Sunset over the old village, Veshab

Evenings were generally spent in the homestay carrying on our Cribbage tournaments, crosswords and lying around being brought tea and food!

Sal in particular was dreading the return to Ayni, but we put on a brave face and hoped for the best. Our host suggested maybe they had finished the new road since our trip up the valley, but we were sure it would be the same as we had left it. We were wrong. It was a hundred times worse. We didn't realize, but there had been several more landslides, and an even longer section of road had been closed. It had obviously only recently happened, as no-one seemed to know where they were going, and the army and surveyors had to be brought in to sort things out. The shared taxi dropped us at the road block, and with heavy hearts, we set off walking slowly up the first steep hill, not knowing what was ahead. It was three hours of hot, torturous slogging up and down arduous hills, at several points climbing near vertical rises to join various paths. Poor Rich, in particular had it tough, trying to carry most of our stuff and help Sal over gorges and up and down shaley, slippery mountain sides. When we finally made it to the end, and had yet another hot uphill walk to the nearest village, we had our first encounter with a greedy taxi driver. He could obviously see we were tired and stranded, and tried to charge a ridiculous price to take us back to town. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize quite what a foul mood Sal was in, and after she blasted him (in English, but he got the jist), he grumpily agreed to a reasonable amount. Happy birthday Sal!!

Believe it or not, this was part of the "detour"!! We were trying to follow these people!!

The "track" over the mountain

The following photo shows the highest point of our detour trail around the landslides. The small village at the top left is where we started (at river level), and we walked up to this height. The river was washed away near the village, and if you look carefully, you can see a landslide covering the road towards the bottom of the photo. The walk continued for the same distance in the other direction, with us walking all the way back down to the river to find transport.

It sounds dramatic, but when we arrived at Sarvoda, a small town transport hub on the main highway, we couldn't bear the thought of moving any more, and stayed put for a whole day doing nothing in a surprisingly pleasant little gastinitsa (hotel), for only half the price of more tourist oriented places. Our bodies were aching, and our heads were all over the place. Once we'd recovered the following day, we set off again for the big smoke- Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

Travel information for the Upper Zerafshan Valley

Accommodation:

Veshab, Omar Homestay 94 som/US$10 per person bed and breakfast, 47 som/US$5 per person for dinner

Sarvoda, Green Teahouse Gastinitsa 50 som/US$5.30 per person

Transport:

Penjikent to Ayni, taxi, 40 som/US$4.20 each

Ayni to landslide, shared taxi, 25 som/US$2.60 each

Landslide to Veshab, shared taxi, 15 som/US$1.50 each

Ayni to Sarvoda, shared taxi, 20 mins, 10 som/US$1 each

Veshab beauty

Boy and his donkey outside some old village houses, Veshab

......onto some dramas in Dushanbe.......