Location: Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan
It had snowed a little overnight beautifully sugarcoating the entire landscape. It was -10°C but it felt less cold in the dry air. We are not sure if our host, who had said we can get coffee in town, had contacted someone to invite us in because when we passed one of the houses the lady came out and waved both of us in as though she had been expecting us. At this time of the year people here tend to use the kitchen, the only heated room, as the bedroom. We warmed our hands by the coal stove and sipped our coffee while three kids who had been sleeping on the mats spread on the floor were starting to wake up.
We really appreciated this warm break to kick start the final ascent up the pass. The road was a bit icy in parts but the ride was beautiful. Right at the top the wind blew so strong and whirled up so much snow that we were not sure for a while if we could continue because we could hardly see. The trick was to just feel our way closely along the guardrail around the bend in the road where there was more shelter from the wind. The icy road conditions made the descent to Sary-Tash was very slow because we had to walk about half of the distance.
Sary-Tash is a small town with very limited services and but a gorgeous view of the beginning of the Pamir mountain range. This settlement is significant in that it is a gateway to the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan and en-route to the only Kyrgyz-Chinese border crossing open to foreigners.
We could not set up our tent out in the open this night because the wind was too strong. After several unsuccessful attempts to get a sheltered camping spot we finally humbled ourselves to paying for a room at one of the guest houses. Luckily bargaining got us from 500 down to 300 Com for both of us.
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