Splitting up: And getting back together

June 5, 2014

I woke up in the morning because of cows chewing grass outside of my tent. And also because its a common thing to wake up in the morning

After three days together a few tensions had been building in the group and on the fourth morning it seemed that Gayle and John had found a solution by cycling off as fast as they could to get away from us. And by 'us' I mean 'Gabor'. In any case he was still polishing his tent pegs. After cycling a little way I was alone and felt a bit stuck in the middle, not sure whether to go ahead with Gayle and John or wait for Rob, but I decided I would wait to make sure Rob was okay. Gayle and John were too fast for me anyway. They were very fast sloths. Rob did in fact have a problem with his brake pads and it was a good decision to wait. Gabor joined us and we decided that we would stick together and leave the other two to do their own thing.

Gabor getting his feet wet at one of the many river crossings as the road deteriorated

Gabor approaching the next river crossing at speed to avoid getting his feet wet

Gabor trying very hard not to get his feet wet

Around lunchtime the three of us came across Gayle and John at the side of the road playing scrabble with alphabet biscuits.

"We think its best if we split, you two can cycle alone and us three will ride together" Rob said.

"Good," replied Gayle. And it was all settled amicably with a smile.

Rob and I rode onwards but after a few kilometres there was no sign of Gabor, who we assumed had been just behind us. As he wasn't just behind us we thought it best to stop and wait. We waited and waited, until we saw a cyclist coming towards us. It was John, closely followed by Gayle, closely followed by Gabor. I'm not sure he really understood the teams.

Rob you're going the wrong way! Road's over there mate!

Gayle was very popular with the young girls

At most check-points they don't like photos being taken but these guys encouraged it. I think the guy on the right had come straight from paintball

So we pretty much cycled the rest of the day as a five again until we arrived in the small town of Tivildara. This was the last place to stock up on supplies before the high and difficult pass that loomed ahead. It was the kind of pass that made 'Big Mountain' look like a molehill. I bought plenty of biscuits. In the shop I met a friendly man in his thirties who spoke excellent English. Mahmoud told me that although he left high school early he taught himself English so well that he now worked as a language teacher in the town. He was a lovely guy, flashing his golden teeth as he spoke. We got to talking about his family.

"How did you meet your wife?" I asked.

"She was my student" he said proudly, raising his hand to give me a high five as if it was a tremendous achievement.

I greeted his hand with mine, slapped him on the back and told him "In England you'd get arrested for that."

As I went to walk out of the shop the skies were suddenly black and a huge thunderstorm swept in like a nightmare. Rain and wind lashed down and the prospect of cycling on anywhere seemed somewhat unappealing. Fortunately Mahmoud came to our rescue and invited us all to stay at the shopkeeper's house, who happened to be his uncle. The opportunity to spend an evening with a real Tajik family was too good to miss, so we agreed (and, also, you know, thunderstorm.)

And it was a really great experience as Mahmoud's English skills meant we got to learn a lot about the country from him as we sipped our tea and ate our bread and sweets while sitting on the floor. He told us a lot about the problems with the country; the widespread corruption at all levels and the general discontent most of the country has with their dictator. Tajikistan is a divided country, with a large number of ethnic groups, and the President supports primarily only his own people. Mahmoud made me nervous saying that this area was a major focal point for the civil war in the nineties, and that it was only a matter of time before the people rose up again. The recent troubles in Khorog were because of the divide between the local people and the government-controlled police, when an angry mob burned down the police station and other official buildings. Listening to Mahmoud made me wonder if we weren't being a bit naive to be cycling into this region now.

I got a bit more nervous when he told us that his uncle had just been contacted by the police, and it had nothing to do with teachers marrying their students. What were we doing in his house? What were we talking about? Why were we there? At first it seemed the police wanted us to leave, but the hotel in town was fully booked and there was nowhere else to go. The goings-on with the police were conveyed to us only through Mahmoud and his phone, his uncle didn't arrive until later by which time things appeared to have been smoothed over, no doubt with a bottle of vodka and a couple of somoni for the coppers.

Mahmoud's uncle and his wife made us feel very welcome in his home. A third man also arrived, wearing a black bomber jacket and bursting in so suddenly that it made me sit up with a start thinking that the police had really arrived. But he was not the police, he was another family member that was introduced to us and continually referred to simply as 'the relation'. Conversation swung towards the subject of families and us five travelers all admitted that none of us were married or had any children. Heads were shook in disbelief. To people in such parts of the world family, and having children, was the very main point of life. Not having any children by a matter of choice was apparently quite difficult for them to understand. Fortunately 'the relation' made up for our collective reproductive shortcomings by revealing that he had three wives and 12 children. 'Oh boy, 12 kids, we could have such a great game of mulberry wars' I thought, but they all lived a long way away, and it was raining.

(From left to right) - Mahmoud, Mahmoud's uncle, and 'the Relation' (you can see he's got it goin' onnn!)

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 20,310 km (12,613 miles)

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