Tajik trek

 We spent just over 24 hours in Tajikistan to cover the 7 lakes tour - the Haftkul in the Fann mountains, so this one's going to be a short one with the pictures doing all the talking (mostly). 

The Haftkul can also be done as a trek over the day, but thankfully, we decided to take the off-road. I'm not a fan of trekking and hiking - don't get me wrong, love the views at the top. Absolutely HATE the route to get there. The Fann mountains are famed for their beauty - they form part of the Palmir highway route. The highway, known as the roof of the world, crosses Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Our trip was far too short to do this, but we did cover a portion of this during our stay in Kyrgyzstan. But, back to our sojourn in theTajik mountains. 

Tajikistan showcases a different kind of beauty from Uzbekistan. This is a country rich in natural beauty; it's much greener and has a completely different topography to Samarkand - it's hard to believe that it's just about an hour and a half away. 

some of the houses dotting the Tajik countryside

We took a taxi to the Jartepa border and crossed into Tajikistan. We took a taxi from Samarkand, and at the border checkpoint, we met a local who wanted to travel to Panjakent just like us. Didn't speak a word of English, but that didn't deter him from expertly guiding us to a shared taxi, taking it upon himself to negotiate the fare and then dropping us off at our guest house at Panjakent. Total rock star.  

Our host in Panjakent was a chap who had converted some of the rooms in his home to dorms. We were lead to a room, within a room. The room was a private one. which opened out to a... dorm. Want to visit the washroom? Sure, just down the spiral stairs and to the left. All tickety-boo during the day. But at night? 'm holding my pee, thanks. Breakfast the next morning had the entire family pitching in to cook and serve: from the oldest son to the youngest, who was picking up English rapidly from the tourists and was the make-shift translator for his mum and grandmum. It was a lovely spread of fresh salad with local bread and eggs. Delicious.  Panjakent didn't have much to offer in terms of tourist attractions, so we set off pretty early after breakfast for the Haft Kul tour. Our co-traveller was a vlogger from Belarus - Alena, who's visited about a 100-odd countries - she was fantastic company. 

The lakes are said to be formed from the tears of 7 damsels, but of course, our guide (who spoke only Tajik and Russian, but we had Alena who translated for us) quickly dispelled that magical fairytale dosh, telling us about the far more plausible story of the Shin river and seismic shifts. 

Nezhigon - It means eyelashes in Tajik, perhaps because of its shape. 

The water apparently turns bluer in the summers

Soya, or Shadow - the second of the lakes (why am I suddenly comprehending Tajik? Perhaps because the Persian influence on the language is strong - soya/ saaya? )

I personally found this much bluer than Nezhigon

Hushyor/ Gushor: Our guide mentioned that it once housed thousands of poisonous snakes. I wasn't wading into the water anytime soon; I didn't want to risk any chance encounters with anything remotely poisonous.   

Hushyor/ Gushor - vigilance. There certainly was plenty of that at my end, jumping at every stray 'hiss'

Nofin: The umbilical cord. Again, very confusing - Hushyor looked far more 'umbilical' to me. But hey. 

See? Not really umbilical. But loving the shades of each of the lakes

Khurdak or baby - the smallest of the seven. Finally, something that's on the nose. We had to cross a riverbed to get to Khurdak - much, much fun! 

The weather kept changing every minute, but it cleared up nicely for this lovely view. 

 

This was the most fun I could have without getting motion sickness and throwing up all over my copassengers. 

Marguzor - the largest of the lakes - and my favourite, because of the reflections it threw up as we circumvented it. This was the only lake where I let my inner photobomber loose for a bit, and so the phone now has an unnatural amount of Marguzor pictures. 

Marguzor - or Medow in Tajik

Another shore of Marguzor. You can see why I'd want so many pictures, right? 

Hozorchashma: The lake of a thousand springs. The last of the lakes was at an elevation of about 2400 meters and was just about thawing out for the spring. Our guide, who incidentally was an expert at skipping stones (we counted at least 15 skips for one particular throw), said it was a regular fishing spot for the locals.

Not the clearest image, but I had to show you our stoneskipper and the breathtaking 360-degree views. 

Our return to Samarkand was pretty uneventful - with very friendly encounters with locals, some lovely food, a few Russian candies we needed to try, and a reminder to check if local taxis have working seatbelts before getting in (Calm down. Yes, I live in India. Yes, the irony has not escaped me.) - Next stop - The Kyrgyz mountains!