The road ran along the border with Afghanistan and we kept watching what was happening on the other side. We saw fields with cattle and few people. Sometimes, we saw vehicles – regular cars, trucks with cargo or the armed Taliban. In other wors, life went on as usual. On Tajik side, it was military patrols and shelters to watch the neighboring country. Our permits to visit the border area were checked only once. Normally, the military paid no attention to us or waved and smiled.
It took us all day to get to our next stop in the city of Khorog. An excellent modern hotel and a restaurant dinner – something we missed in the past few days. We slept in guest houses, 2 or 4 in one room, narrow short beds like for kids. Even with my average height, I was unable to fully stretch my legs. The shared bathroom was outside the room, sometimes on a different floor. The hotel room in Khorog with an en-suite shower, a huge bed, and A/C felt luxurious.
We spent another day going slowly from Khorog to Kalaikhumb. The traffic became denser; we saw more villages along the road and reached Kalaikhumb in the evening. The hotel again was very nice; we definitely were returning to civilization.
