We had the usual chores to do today, get money, get groceries and try and buy a SIM card for my phone. So after breakfast and the usual morning crap we walked down the hill into the main part of the town. Our initial efforts to get some money were unsucessul as the ATM we tried swallowed our card, but thankfully a bank official was able to retrieve it for us - the problem, contrary to the signs on the ATM the machine only accepted Visa cards and we had tried a master card. Groceries also proved difficult as in this part of the world there are no large super markets and the local stores that sell grocery items are simply buildings with a normal domestic front door, so we wandered around asking directions from anyone that looked handy. We eventually got a limited supply.

The SIM card for my phone was a similar story, find a shop with a Beeline sign out the fron (thats the name of the Phone Company), and then in sign language and mime try to explain that I want a SIM card and 5 GigaBytes of internet data. It took a while but finally got done. While doing all of this we bumped into Ron and Barbara - a German couple we met in Osh and spent a few minutes exchanging experiences.

Following all the shopping we walked back up the hill to stash the new stuff in the truck. Throughout the morning we had been exchanging SMS messages with a young lady named Mehrafruz. We had been given her contact details by a friend in the US and had been in contact with her off and on during our trip. We arranged to meet her for a chat during her lunch break. So after packing away our morning's shopping we headed back down the hill. Turns out that Mehrafruz has very good English, works for a local electrical transmission company, has been to the US a couple of times for study and is currently part way through an MBA, and needs to go back to the US to complete it. We had a pleasant chat in a local cafe. The cafe was interesting, they could offer coffee, but no milk (they had run out), and after Nina bought one bottle of Cola they were out of Cola.

After our pleasant meeting we walked back up the hill preparing ourselves for the ordeal of getting the truck out of its predicament and back onto the main road. As it turned out extracting the truck was not as bad as we had feared. Choosing a very low gear and hence moving very slowly, I backed out of the lodge yard, down that straight street, over the canal and then found a place to turn around so that the remainder of the winding street to the main road could be taken going forward. I should acknowledge that during the reversing exercise I had a lot of help and guidance. Nina (and a lodge guest named Micheal) walked behind/infront of me while I backed and pointed out obstacles. Also the 5 or 6 children from the lodge and nearby also got into the act and waved their hands and arms in all directions immitating the two guides I was actually taking notice of.


So once on the main road we headed out of town on to the Pamir Highway and up the valley of the River Gunt. Our plan was, that over the next couple of days we would drive the Pamir Highway maybe as far as where we turned off into the Wakhan Road thereby completing a circuit. By all accounts we had read the part of the highway that travels through the Gunt River Valley is spectacular. But tonight we drove only 20 or so km before finding a spot by the river and off the road for our nights camp.