I went on the Sunday Hike for the first time today. I had a great time, and will certainly be going again - weather permitting and all that! Here's the published description of the hike - it's much better than what I could try to describe!"Dear friends,
This Sunday, October 18, we are delighted to invite to the easy or difficult (your choice of group and distance) hike to Diamalik valley.
It's situated in 48 km from Dushanbe (50 min by city car) towards Takob town. We leave our cars in a picturesque Diamalik village and divide into two groups straight away (one for easy hike and one for difficult one).
“Easy group” will be slowly hiking by the path following small stream with few water till the shoulder top of the mountain for about 1, 5 hour and stop in the shady place to have rest and picnic, enjoy reading, meditating or just relaxing by the stream, waiting for the rest of the group to get their portion of adventure.
The “difficult group” will go faster and ascent a rather steep range (about two hours), from where is breathtaking view suddenly opening to our eyes: the panorama of Hoji-Obi-Garm plateau (where we go next week) surrounded by high, snow-covered mountains. At this picturesque spot we are enjoying the views, and after having lunch and rest, making a small loop by the ridge and coming back to our path to meet with first group.
In this time of the season, surroundings are beautifully painted by autumn colours; don’t miss your chance to enjoy it!
We will leave the city at 9.00 am and return at about 4.00 - 5.00 pm.
You should take some food, water, a cup for tea or coffee, camera, and etc. We will provide guiding, coffee, tea, cookies, beautiful landscapes, wonderful views for taking pictures and good mood. We'll meet at 9.00 at the crossroads of Rudaki and Karamova streets (near the Agriculture University), in front of billiard "Zvezdnaya noch". Transportation can be provided but cost extra. If you are ready to join our group, please let us know by mobile phone...."
This Sunday, October 18, we are delighted to invite to the easy or difficult (your choice of group and distance) hike to Diamalik valley.
It's situated in 48 km from Dushanbe (50 min by city car) towards Takob town. We leave our cars in a picturesque Diamalik village and divide into two groups straight away (one for easy hike and one for difficult one).
“Easy group” will be slowly hiking by the path following small stream with few water till the shoulder top of the mountain for about 1, 5 hour and stop in the shady place to have rest and picnic, enjoy reading, meditating or just relaxing by the stream, waiting for the rest of the group to get their portion of adventure.
The “difficult group” will go faster and ascent a rather steep range (about two hours), from where is breathtaking view suddenly opening to our eyes: the panorama of Hoji-Obi-Garm plateau (where we go next week) surrounded by high, snow-covered mountains. At this picturesque spot we are enjoying the views, and after having lunch and rest, making a small loop by the ridge and coming back to our path to meet with first group.
In this time of the season, surroundings are beautifully painted by autumn colours; don’t miss your chance to enjoy it!
We will leave the city at 9.00 am and return at about 4.00 - 5.00 pm.
You should take some food, water, a cup for tea or coffee, camera, and etc. We will provide guiding, coffee, tea, cookies, beautiful landscapes, wonderful views for taking pictures and good mood. We'll meet at 9.00 at the crossroads of Rudaki and Karamova streets (near the Agriculture University), in front of billiard "Zvezdnaya noch". Transportation can be provided but cost extra. If you are ready to join our group, please let us know by mobile phone...."
ps - you may have already seen some of these pics from facebook - but, not to worry, there are new pics, too!! :)
The drive up to the starting point of the hike was itself quite amazing. We drove N. on the main road out from Dushanbe (not sure what Rudaki is called that far north). We drove along the river for a while, and saw these sights. Not sure you can really see from these pictures, but at some point (probably Soviet era) alot of work was seems to have been done to control the water flow -based on the metal works left behind. (some of the pics taken from behind a closed windown on a fast moving car on a bumpy road....)
We turned off the main road and the road was more 'rustic'....
And here are some images from the village - evidently they store hay in the 'attic'
As I sure you will have expected, I did the easy hike - which was not all that easy! It really winded me! And it was gorgeous. After leaving the cars from this area (see these pictures) we walked *up* through a village and then ascended the valley until we arrived (1.5ish hours later) at our rest stop. While resting, we encountered laden donkey going down (to the village?)and horses doing up higher into the valley. The donkeys were laden with sticks&twigs, presumably for fires.
Donkeys going down ......
....and horses going up. Evidently they were going up to watch after their sheep (I didn't see any sheep at all)
Then we headed back down the valley.....here are some images from our descent.
How many animals can you find in this picture?
(answer: 3 ....2 cows and a donkey)
And just to give you a sense of what the road was like....looking through the car windshield - which was regularly cleaned with the wipers & windshield wiper fluid....(gives a bit of an idea how bad the dust gets!)
I've uploaded many more pics to picasa. Let me know if you need help seeing the pics or need a login!
Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".
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