Lake Iskander-Kul

After spending one night in the very hot and humid Dushanbe we decided not to waste any time getting to the Fan Mountains. But before slogging it out in the Fans we decided to have some chill time at Lake Iskander-Kul.

We heard the road north of Dushanbe was a bit treacherous. The five kilometre Anzob tunnel en-route was notorious for accidents. Thankfully it was closed as road works were taking place, but that meant we would be heading over Anzob Pass instead, which is also known to be a dangerous stretch of road. With this is mind, we decided to size up the taxi drivers wisely before committing to get in any cars. Upon arriving at the northern taxi stand we were inundated by taxi drivers shouting destinations in our faces, 'Iskander-Kul? Alaudin? Khojand?' It was overwhelming, but at the same time gave us some leverage to bargain. I think they were originally asking 400 somoni. We accepted a ride from an older driver who spoke a little English and wasn't too pushy. We bargained him down to 100 for the two of us for the drive to Sarvoda. Unfortunately, that was a share taxi price so we had to hang around for an hour or so while some other passengers arrived to fill up the car.

I'm glad we were warned about the drive. Not only was the road steep and dangerous but many of the drivers on the road were completely reckless - overtaking on blind corners and going way too fast on gravel roads. Thankfully our driver was sensible and even stopped so we could take photos while going over the pass.

View from Anzob Pass 3,372m 

He dropped us in Sarvoda quite late in the day, so we decided to stay at a home stay in town called Mehmonkhona Yazdon.

Our homestay in Sarvoda 

It was only 10 somoni a night (AUS $2.20) and the host family was lovely. The taxi driver gave us his phone number before dropping us off in case we ended up in Khojand - his home town.

The people in western Tajikistan are very hospitable. They seem less interested in making a profit off you and more interested in getting to know you. For example, the next day our taxi driver to Iskander-Kul invited us into his home for 'tea' as we passed his home town on the way to the lake. 'Tea', we soon discovered, meant a small feast, including bread, yoghurt, biscuits, and fresh apricots (straight from their tree)!

Our taxi driver and his son having us for tea.

He even loaded us up with two bags of dried apricots on our departure.

The drive to Iskander-Kul is stunning. The road follows a river through a deep gorge with corrugated rock formations on either side.

The pastel blue lake is surrounded by high mounds of granite rock overlooking the water.

We hadn't even set up our tents next to the lake before our neighbours invited us over for dinner and vodka, and insisted we join in their target shooting. We passed on the vodka, but weren't going to say no to the rest...

Apparently Iskander-Kul is quite the party lake for local tourists, and where we stayed (Turbaza Iskander-Kul) gets busy and loud on the weekends. Despite this, it was relatively calm and peaceful where we pitched.

Thankfully for us, we were just there for two nights and took off on the Saturday morning. But not before a group of locals insisted we join them for breakfast (and vodka) at their chaikhana, a little platform off the ground with cushions and blankets.

Once again, we took up the offer and made lots of hand gestures in order to communicate our ages and marital status. These are inevitably amongst the first questions we get asked. I got my first marriage proposal, but am still way behind Claire.

After eating way too much food, we decided it was time to hitch back to Sarvoda. It has been pretty easy to hitch hike in western Tajikistan compared to anywhere else we've been in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan they always expect payment due to just about every car being a taxi. But here hitching appears common and the locals seem to do it as well as travellers.

After sitting at the boom gate entrance to Iskander-Kul for an hour or so we got a hitch in a truck. Claire and I perched awkwardly in the front bench seat next to the driver and another man crammed against the gear stick. Our legs got pins and needles after the first twenty minutes, but who can complain when a local gives you a lift out of the goodness of their heart. They were kind enough to drop us right to our homestay in Sarvoda. Loving the local generosity in Tajikistan.