Pamir Tour Day 8 & 9: Around Murghab

From Bulunkul it was only a short drive to the Yashil Kul lake and its natural dam. The lake was calm and mirrored the surrounding mountains. Over bad, dusty and very bumpy roads we got back on the Pamir Highway and arrived in Murghab in the late afternoon. Murghab itself did not have any attraction. The bazaar, however, was quite interesting: Chinese containers being used as shops.

Though Murghab is still in Tajikistan, more Kyrgyz than Tajiks live there. The Kyrgyz people look more Chinese than the Tajik people. So it happened often that people thought I would be Kyrgyz. Also Chinese people do a lot of business in Tajikistan. When kids saw me they rather shouted 'ni hao' instead of 'hello'. We also noticed that sometimes people understand more Chinese than English.

The next day we drove to Rang Kul that is very close to the Chinese border. Close to Rang Kul there was a jailoo and a yurt where we planned to stay overnight. We got off the car and walked the remaining kilometers to the jailoo. It was hot and totally calm: no other noise apart from the wind and the little river. Before it got completely dark, the goats and yaks returned from the side valleys to the jailoo.