Khorog- Bulungkul, Tajikistan 04 June 2011

We took our Diamox tablet since last night. It is supposed to help the adaptation to high altitudes. And we were right we never felt so out of breath for just a few hundred metres walk, with headaches and a strange feeling of vibrations in the fingers.

We went past Jelandy with its hot springs. A very disappointing horrible building in the middle of nowhere and hot smelly common baths. We left after 5 minutes. Ride through the Koj-Tezek pass at 4 272 m, our personal record . Roads winds down slowly to the driver’s suggestion – BulungkuL. No one on the road except a few Chinese trucks. Then the off the main road two lakes Tuk-Kul and Sasyk-Kul. Salty lakes frozen In winter. The track continues to the an empty space. No one nowhere, Finally just a few houses, some children running around, an old man with a herd of cows, yaks, sheep and goat. The driver seems to be known.

After some discussion, we are taken to the “hotel”. Simple lunch of fried eggs, non and some yogourt. We are shown our quarters, 2 floor mattresses and loads of blankets. We understood why after. Toilets are a hut with nothing around within 100 m radius. Fried lake fish for dinner and sleep at 21H00. The night is freezing cold for us even in summer. This place is known to be the coldest in Tajikistan. One can imagine the winter nights.
This is the place where we had the strongest “edge of the world” feeling. It is like 30 km beyond the edge. In fact we did drive beyond to see this unique lake Jasil-Kul, accident of nature. Immaculate span of water half the size of Geneva lake and nothing around except us.
In the middle of the night arrive two French cyclists from Shanghai. Breakfast with them and we are off.