We were only traveling 240 kilometers, but due to road conditions and the construction work, it took us more than seven hours to get to Khorog, and that does not include the time stopped for lunch!
Being stopped did not bother me too much since the scenery is gorgeous, although it was frustrating to not know how long we would be stopped. This meant that although we could get out and walk around, we could not go too far.
For the entire day we were right along the Panj River, with Afghanistan on the other side.
We passed another bridge across the river.
We were surprised to see ice and snow at some point, and some of the ice was even floating in the river!
At another place across the river in Afghanistan there was a surprisingly large and clean looking military compound.
At one of the construction stoppages I did go for a walk along a little stream. I thought the wild poppies were very pretty.
We reached Khorog, which happens to be Mammad's hometown, at 16:00. Here we stayed at a nice hotel called the Pamir Palace. After checking in, I headed out for a walk around the town. Khorog is by far the largest population centre in GBAO, with over 30,000 people.
The Ghunt River runs through the town and joins the Panj.
The Chinese are here, too, building a new bridge across the Ghunt.
The first vehicle to ever traverse the Pamir Highway was in 1933 and is on display in Khorog.
There is also a remarkable mosque, built by the Aga Khan Foundation along the Ghunt River and inspired by traditional Pamiri architecture.
But, by far the most memorable thing that happened to me in Khorog is I was attacked by a dog as I was walking around last night. I was walking, minding my own business, when next thing I knew a dog had come out of nowhere and bit my leg. By the time I managed to turn around, he had bit my left leg three times. Once I was facing him, he seemed to back off slightly, although was still barring his teeth and making eye contact with me aggressively. I began walking back the way I had come and he seemed to settle down, so I turned, not quite sure where I was going to go, just knowing I was no longer going to go the way I had been going! A lady was behind her wall in a yard nearby and she called to me; clearly she had seen what had happened. She brought me into her yard and next thing I knew there must have been a dozen people around, but one lady in particular seemed to know what she was doing and she had some disinfectant and a hose and washed my leg (there was a lot of blood) and bandaged me up. No one spoke English, but they were very kind and the lady extremely efficient and they sent me off to the hospital, one of the men walking with me a block or so and handing me off to two school girls who walked with me a little further and pointed me on to the hospital. I found it eventually.
A nurse had me sit down and she called the doctor. Still no one was speaking English, but we did not struggle too badly--my wound was obvious and "dog bite" is neither too difficult to mime nor too hard to guess. I waited in this room less than ten minutes before the doctor arrived. He asked if I spoke Russian, but I do not, so the hand signals, inadequate Google translator, and nice lady from the pharmacy who knew a few words of English would have to do.
They got my leg cleaned and bandaged again. In all I have six spots where the dog broke the skin, but by far the worst are these two on the inner calf.
After a rabies shot, I was asked to rest for 30 minutes. The hospital is very basic, but clean and the staff were all very, very kind.
This was not how I had hoped to spend my evening, but honestly it was quite interesting and added to the Pamir adventure!
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