After we made it back to Dushanbe the previous day, we awoke with a slightly better mood than the previous days. Chris however had aching muscles and Fabi caught a proper diarrhea and spent a big portion of the morning on the toilet. So, the ride yesterday had taken its toll on both of us. So, we decided to take it slow and checked out at last minute. In our (especially Fabis) condition, we were not in a position to try the southern route today. So, we decided to stick around for one more day.
Mike had already left early in the morning, heading north in order to skip the Pamir altogether. So, it was again just the two of us. In order to increase our chances to meet some other travellers, we decided to head over to “THE” hotspot in Dushanbe: the Green House Hostel. We were lucky and snagged the only available room. Fabi instantly went to sleep and Chris had a look at our bikes. While doing so, he was invited by a Tadjik guest to have a beer with him. The hospitality in Tadjikistan is unbelievable!
Chris had noticed that his left saddlebag had gotten a puncture sometime during the last days which had to be fixed. So, everything out of the bag to let it dry while the bag got fixed (thanks duct tape) During this process, an other biker from Germany arrived on his F700GS. His name was Karl and he was from Dieburg – which is only about 100km from Würzburg! Once again, our itinerary was similar: Germany – Mongolia – Germany. So we got into a conversation and exchanged some words about our experiences on the road. Interestingly, he as a set of panniers made by RMS metal – a company which is situated in Höchberg, around 10km from Würzburg. As we were sitting in the yard, having a beer, yet another biker arrived: Guess who it was? It was Adrian on his 800GS! The last time we had seen him in Beineu which was around 1600km away. What a coincidence. Later in the afternoon three more bikers from Russia arrived so there were a total of six bikes in the yard. This made for a nice group and we decided to go out to have dinner together. Fabi stayed at the hostel in order to cure her stomach. The Russians preferred an alternative method to stay healty: The consumption of large amounts of vodka.
The next morning, Fabi still wasn’t feeling totally well, so we decided to stay one more day. During breakfast we again met Karl. He had decided not to ride the Pamir and took off towards Osh on the non-Pamir route. Adrian and the Russians did the same as us: They also spent the day in Dushanbe and were planning on leaving for Pamir tomorrow. After having spent the morning drinking chai and eating cookies, Chris took Fabis bike to a familiar place: The workshop of the Moto Brothers.
During our “trip” along the northern route, she had bent her sidestand which we wanted to get fixed. While he was there, he was recruited on spot as assistant mechanic and “helped” troubleshooting an other bike. A Honda CBR1000RR was in for repairs: When it was running hot, it did not respond to the trottle in a healthy manner and also stalled often. Hmmm. He wasn’t really able to help much and in no time, the sidestand was fixed again.
After returning to the hostel, we went for a walk and bought some groceries for dinner. The plan was: pasta and sauce. While the first wasn’t really a problem, the latter turned out to be difficult. Ready-to-eat pasta sauce isn’t really a thing around here. But we managed to find some kind of spice-sauce which also did the trick. After dinner, we decided that both of us were fit enough again to have a second try at the Pamir Highway via the southern route tomorrow.