Murghab in the Pamir Mountains - Tajikistan

When we arrive in Murghab, the Horse Festival is in full swing or better said already over for the first day. But we learn that the next day the disciplines are identical so that we haven’t missed anything.

Many people sit or walk around with their children and are happy about the party that brings people together. Again and again, we see one or two riders on one horse in between.

We decide to leave the place again and to come back tomorrow. Instead, we want to explore the market. The shops at the market are all housed in containers, which is not particularly unusual in this region.

We ask if we can film some of them from the inside, which one allows us. The range of goods seems to be rich, probably influenced by the weather. We can imagine that the supply does not work quite so well in winter.

But this day many shops are closed, and only a few people are on the move as most of the inhabitants are at the Horse Festival.

So we make a short walk through the village to gain some impressions.

In the meantime, some guests have gathered in front of the hotel and enjoy a drink. It is warm weather, and most of the people want to be outside.

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We meet some interesting people, most of them are bicycle tourists. One is Nigel Smith, whom we meet in the lobby of the Hotel Pamir. He tells us that he has been on the road for six years. In 2011 he left Canada by bicycle for the first time.

The owner of the hotel is a friend of our driver, both are actually teachers. Our driver is a Chinese teacher, the hotelier is a German teacher, which is of course very pleasant for us.

The next morning we go for a little walk to see the sunrise. It is a nice mood to see the first rays of sun appear in the east, over the mountain ranges of the eastern Pamirs. The over 7000 m high peaks on the Chinese side penetrate only slowly through the clouds. In the west reddish light illuminates the first mountain peaks.

Here, at 3600 m above sea level, the air is actually very clean. But the low temperatures, that can also fall below 0 degrees in the summer nights, force the people to heat. Only peat or cattle dung is available as a heating material. But this produces a lot of fine dust, which spreads over the village in drifts of smoke.

Another problem is the electricity generation. Although there is much talk about a power station, one still generates electricity with gasoline or diesel generators. Solar panels are only being built slowly. Thus the inhabitants profit only partly from the clean air.

Please read on > Preparation at Murghab Horse Festival

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Soundtracks in video:

Hipster Girls by reiswerk (c) copyright 2017
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Reiswerk/55754 Ft: Thespinwires
Take me home by Dysfunction_AL (c) copyright 2014
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/destinazione_altrove/47507 Ft: kizzylotus