Jinji Sadan

the Pamirs highway to enter china was a chapter to remember.

china was really close (air distance ) but because there is no border crossing from Tajikistan to china i needed to enter Kyrgyzstan for some days and the road was “very interesting”…

the road is very high almost always above 4000m and i needed to crossed to mountan passes in 4600m and 4300m but i really love it, to climb and to feel alive its my way.

the road was bad and some river crossing but once it was a special place the road ended where the bridge was and i can see the other side of the road but between use there is a 10 meters of a river that i needed to cross but carefully first alone with no bags or the bike , just to see where is more safer to cross without be a part of the river for some time…

i needed to cross it for 3 times until i was safe and cold with the bike and the bags on the other side of the road, i was lucky to cross the river in the early morning when the snow and the ice in the mountain didn’t melt it and so the river was safe (more or less) to cross.

in the first pass i had flash back from south America and the Andes when i needed to stop every 2km just to rest and bring my breathing to a normal rhythm.

going up

i celebrated the high moment on the pass with some sardines in a can and some bread it was happy moment and then was a descending to a lake name karakul lake that’s is one of the highest lakes in the world in the altitude of 4300m high, beautiful place with yaks and nomads near it.

kara kul lake

the wind was cold and strong in the afternoon so i camp in a shade from the crazy wing for a night without so much oxygen and sleep but that’s the mountain and if i start to complain on the oxygen in the high mountains i will sound like a nomad in the Sahara desert complaining about the crazy sun….

another pass in 4300m and a stupid border crossing in the Tajikistan side, when there is a calculator in a border crossing its mean the they will want a bribe for nothing but i knew this and told them that i am only a stinky cyclist without a job or life so they let me go with a smile…

the kyrgi side was much better and i enter this nice country, much greener then tajikistan and everywhere there is yaks and yurts.

yak yak yak

i only spend 2 days in this country but felt that i missed a lot but i cant see everything and china was calling me.

to chinaaaaaaaaaaaaa

in the last 3 weeks i was happy without Internet and connection to the real world, your world,and i needed the quite and to listen to the mountains they told me many things the a knew and forgot and i didn’t care whats going on in the “real” world as long as i crossing my world with emuna.

this is life

i was happy to use a gift from my friend liron petrushka that got me the spot device that my friends and family knew that i am OK with my progress in this wild places it was useful and i could be in quite to know that my mom is not climbing the walls in Israel when  i am climbing the mountains of the world.

the road to the Irkeshtam pass was nice with interesting sights like you can see her:

dont drink and drive

and it was a study climb until the pass to one of the most memorial moments in my journey:

in the altitude of 3500m in the 1111 day in the journey i celebrated not only entering china but also the 50000 km in the journey!!!

i stoped to cycle kiss and dance with emuna (yes i know that its not normal but i will not be her without her or if i was normal…) and celebrated this magice minute.

i wish you were her.

50000 km!!! wish you were her

that’s it behind me its central Asia with many places and kilometers of desert and mountains that i crossed and now in front of me is the enigma of my journey the big red giant.

ready or not china her i come just pleas don’t eat me….

wake up and start to dream

roei ” jinji” sadan

kashgar

xinjiang province

china

Asia

the world

wow a month in the mountain of Tajikistan.

it will be hard to described it but you can imagine.

i waited long time for this ,THE part of Asia chapter.

i could skip it and go to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan but the mountains is why i am her.

choosing the long and hard cuts in my journey is one of the most important things in it, to go to the less traveled road where not many people can experience its one of my goals.

in 4400m i have to rest sometimes

that’s why i choose to do the Pamirs highway and to add 2 long cuts to some of the most amazing places that i have ever been.

next to the wakan Vally between afghanistan and Tajikistan i cycled where Marco polo walked many years ago when this places wasn’t explored before and i cant say that it changed a lote.

the Hindu kush of

Afghanistan

it was very high and hard but i took the road to the zor kul lake where every 5 km i needed to crossed a big river and the water was really strong and cold but i felt warm in my heart.

in the last small vilage i bought food for one week :

2 kilo of rice

0.5 kilo onions

a lot of garlic (the yaks dont car about my smeal…)

bread for a week

and sea of cans of sardines  and tuna fish and optimistic mind.

a food for a week in no where

to be in this place i needed to have a “special permit” very hard to get and i didnt  have it but there is nothing that money cant buy in this places(the Beatles will say “except love…) so i pay 10$ and got my way and that’s how i moved with a fake permit and a true emuna(faith) with me, dont need more then that.

harmony

ha, and i totally forgot to tell you, my friends, that a stupid and crazy big dog taught that i am one of his girlfriends so he bite me in a nasty way so i needed to give him some kicks in  the head to change his way from my beautiful ass….

the zor kul lake was something to feel it was true harmony every day to feel my heart beating in above 4000m was something that i missed since 2 years when i have been in Bolivia.

zor kul lake

only nomads live there and the hospitality was amazing , we drink tea and eat there cows and goat meet( no frizzier in this places its ok…)  and slept with them (not in the same bed…) really nice people that have nothing in the western eye but they got a smile on there face so they got everything in my eye.

the road was bad and the rivers crossing took from me a lot of energy in  this height but the view from the mountains of the Pamirs in one side and in the other side the hindu kosh was rewarding.

i took a wrong turn in one place and the “road” finished in a lake then i knew that did a mistake but my navigation skills with a good map saved me from being frozen in the mountains of Tajikistan i wasn’t on a risk(i had enough food ) but still it not that nice to be lost in this harsh places so after crossing this lake (walking with emuna on the side of it) i want down with the vally until i saw a yurt(the amazing tent the the nomads live) and i knew that i am  ok , after a very long and hard day they saw that i am about to collapse so they gave me a shelter and food and we enjouy each other stories they gave me fish from the lake that i crossed and i gave them my tuna cans….

the yurt

for a day i have been with them to learn how they live and grow the cows and yaks they are very hard working people and all the family share the work.

in one day with this simple people i learned special  lesions one of them was that some times you can get lost but you will find yourself in the end.

some milk?

it was hard cycling but worth every sweat from my body.

now i am after it.

i got to the small village of morgab and from there i got to china but i will tell you on this crazy part later.

untill then be strong from the rivers of life and dont forget to lose your way maybe you will find yourself.

love you all

roei “jinji” sadan

kashgar

china

Asia

the world