Khorog to Langar, (5/5); 28th June
28th June — Bibi Fatima hot springs
We headed a few KM down the road to the turn off to Bibi Fatima hot spring. The climb up was extremely challenging — sand, rock, gravel, rutted roads all part of the route along with a steep gradient.
The hot springs were very relaxing though. There are two baths, one for men and one for women, which switch throughout the day. When we arrived the men’s bath was the indoor one, with hot spring water coming out the pipe.
I walked in wearing the my cycling trousers, and walked out wearing my shorts. Unfortunately, I left my trousers in the changing room, and when I went back a few hours later to fetch them, they were gone. A gutting experience as I’d worn those trousers pretty much every day since Aktau — they were light, breathable, had zipped pockets and I liked their style.
The hotel staff even went to ask to see the CCTV to try and see who took them, but it didn’t cover the changing room.
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We met a family who were staying in Khorog for the school summer holidays, but usually lived in Dushanbe. When they heard that I’d lost my trousers, the young boy, around 10 years old, marched up to the baths with his sister as he had seen them earlier, and MayLyn and me in tow.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, the trousers were missing — so, someone had taken them after the boy had seen them.
When the search was called off, they told us they were going to another hot spring up the mountain side, and invited us to join them. After a bit of a walk up and down the path, we arrived at a small hut where there was a concrete basin filling up with hot spring water which we took turns to soak in.
The family had been living in Afghanistan, but when US occuption forces left and the US supported Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban took over, their daughter could no longer go to school, so they moved back to Tajikistan. Very chatty family, who shared their tea and sweets with us after we’d one back from the spring too. The young boy was extremely sweet — he would run up to me and stuff sweets into my hand — and before I could say no, he would run off. Then, when he next saw me round the hotel, he would do the same, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had quite a few sweets that day.
After dinner we noticed that people were going back to the main hot spring. We also decided to go back. This time the men and women’s baths were swapped — this time I was in the outdoor cave like one, where hot water flowed down through the stalagmites, and gushed out from the bottom. Hot and relaxing.
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