Vitali

3rd  of October:

 

We still drive through a corridor which is free of mines. But all the way until Kalaikhum we often see the signs mines along the way. It was just a civil war between clans and families of different valleys but still has such an effect on the present. At checkpoint after Kalaikhum before the mountain street to Dushanbe starts we pick up a guy from White Russia. He (Vitalie) was hitchhiking from Belarus to here. For us he is very interesting to see once more how different can be travelling. Since his Russian skills are perfect and he is somehow citizen of the former Soviet Union most Locals treat him as a brother. With this he has even much more opportunities to experience the culture of the different countries of the former Soviet Union. A year before he was just hitch hiking until Jordan and Egypt from Moskau. Almost no money is needed for his travel since most people on this way treated him with great hospitality. And he is wondering why some Italian guy pays almost 6000 USD just to go along the Pamir Highway.  He made some money in Mobil phone business and got a little bit crazy about money. Then he went to India and his life totally changed. He understood that money is not the only thing and started to make his dream from his childhood true. There was always the interest for different countries and cultures, reading about the faraway places and seeing pictures of world’s nature always fascinated him. He even studied Geography teacher. And now he make is dream true and preparing for a trip around the world just by hitch hiking. We really enjoyed the conversation with him because he really has a wide and living knowledge about history and geography. After a cold mountain pass we make a camp together with Japanese food. And we help him to build up his tent, which he used the first time that day.

 

(N 38.69032°, E 70.70831 °)