Firsts at Last

I had the first tomato from our garden today. It was almost red. I touched it. It fell off. I ate it. It was delicious.

I held my first university lecture. "The power of the visual message". 28 people did not fall asleep. That was my goal. Matthieu said 'he was impressed'. I didn't expect that. Put a smile on my face.

I finished the first day of my "intensive design and layout workshop for small business owners, most of which have no clue". The room had space for four. We were six. At 4.30pm the electricity went off. I should have told them to save their projects more often.

I spent the first night alone in my gigantic Pamiri house. Worked. Made a big plate of 'Bratkartoffeln". Watched a movie. Woke up at 3am from some noise. Maybe the dogs. Maybe a mouse. Maybe the magpies stealing walnuts.

Today, is the first day of my last week in Tajikistan.

A Pass a day...

A pass a day keeps the headache away! At least that's a recommendable receipe when planning to climb a 5000m pass. With Iluka gone and well taken care of in France, we managed (quite well, I have to admit) to forget our role as parents for a while and took advantage of the situation by 'coughing our lungs out' as Matthieu likes to put it. 'A nice, serious trek with just the two of us' is how I would describe it.

After studying the map for a few days, Matthieu picked for us, what he assumed to be one of the harder treks in the region - the crossing of 5,080m Vrang Pass, which connects the Roshkala Valley with the Wakhan and crosses the Shokhdara Rande. Close proximity to peaks Engels and Karl Marx (6,507m + 6,723m respectively) promised for some panoramic views.

As one might get bored just trekking along a valley, crossing over a glaciated pass and then trek down the next valley, we included some diversions along the way. Two additional passes (4,600m, then 4,800m) made the approach to the Vrang Pass varied and exciting and proved to be excellent acclimatization opportunities.

Check out our exact route here. (I know, the picture is a bit confusing...If you really want to know: our route was the furthest one one the left...oh ok, fine! Next time I draw my own map again!)


In short, the trek was amazing, just what we needed and had wished for. Some pathfinding, some snowcrossing, full moon lit nights, a few bear tracks and otherwise...just us and the mountains. The rest is best told in pictures:

Home sweet Home

Who picked the music? Have a guess... It reflects the mood. Big house. Empty house. Pamiri house. Wonderful. Glu glu in the garden. Carrots and cucumbers as well. We love it and it's almost a shame that we are just taking it for one month...

Our Tajik time is slowly coming to an end. We've booked our flights to Nice (Aug 25th) and Munich (Sept. 1st). Iluka must be landing in Paris as we speak. He'll spend a fantastic summer with his grandparents in South of France, while his parents weep (and sleep ;-)).

Iluka (while walking towards the small plane taking him, Isabelle & Dominique from Khorog to Dushanbe): "Iluka geht mit Baba und Babi ins Fluuuuuugzeug! Mama Papa arbeiten. Bye Bye Mama Papa."