Country #134: A Tale of Many Lakes

My idea to visit a couple of the 'Stans was born out of a tour I saw on G Adventures. I liked the itinerary, which covered both Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan but not the dates offered or the price. I really didn't like the price. As I have done so many times before, I started researching whether I could do it all on my own for less. The answer was yes, with the caveat that I would still need to join a tour for Turkmenistan. Not surprising, considering the answer is always yes. My process is always the same. I get intrigued by a small group tour, think about it for a minute, balk at the cost and end up using said tour as a template for my own version. This not only saves me money but I get to focus more time on the parts that interest me. For example, a tour that would have covered two new countries was easily reworked to include a third.

There are plenty of day trips online from Samarkand to Tajikistan to visit the Seven Lakes. Applying the same principles as before, I took the Viator itinerary and replicated it for a fraction of the price. The first step was getting to the border, which was super easy with a Yandex (read Uzbek Uber). Thanks to some phone calls from my hostel in Samarkand, there was a driver waiting for me on the other side. I was warned that he did not speak English, which was pretty accurate.

As soon as I exited Tajik customs, I spotted him holding a sign with my name on it. He said hello (first English word) and led me to his spotless SUV. With that, we were off towards the Fann Mountains. All attempts at conversation along the way failed so I figured "hello" was going to be the extent of it. 

That is until we reached the first lake and he proudly announced "Lake One". That's all there was to say on that one but Google tells me that this is Lake Nezhigon, the lowest of the series of mountain lakes we would be visiting. It is high in sodium and calcium, giving it some really cool shades of blue. 

We drove along  the dirt mountain passes until we reached "Lake two" aka Lake Soya. As with the first (and the 5 that followed), I got out of the car and went nuts taking photos, knowing that they were not going to accurately capture the beauty.

It was a quick hop to "Lake Three", Lake Gushor.  All the lakes are connected by the Shing River, with the water melting from glaciers flowing from the highest lake to the lowest. 

It was at this lake that I met an Uzbek family on a road trip who became my official photographer and thanks to their perfect English, the answerers of all my questions. 

Since it is just one road in and one road out (which are coincidentally the same road), I saw them again at "Lake four". Lake Nofin is the longest of the seven. 

It is possible to stay in the Fann Mountains in guest houses located between Lakes four and five. I assume it was because of those accommodations that "Lake five" or Lake Khurdak had a handful of locals selling knick knacks and posing for pics. 

 

"Lake six" or Lake Marguzor is the largest and per Google, the most beautiful. I'm not sure how that determination was made because I was six lakes in and there was not a dud in the bunch.

"Lake Seven", Lake Hazorchasma is the highest of all the lakes and also where I saw the greatest number of people. There is a big grassy expanse next to #7 that serves as a campsite. Families were picnicking, sitting around having drinks and even swimming in the lake.

My personal rule is: if you can use the water to chill your drinks, I'm not swimming in it. No way, no how. 

This was the only moment that the lack of communication between my driver and I posed a problem. Had I known there was picnic possibility, I would have insisted on a stop at the local mini-mart. That aside, his mastery of the words "hello", "lake" and the numbers 1-7 was more than enough. 

We returned to town the same way we'd come, meaning I got to see each lake twice. The fact that no tour operator has dubbed this the 14 Lake tour is just a wasted opportunity, in my opinion.

I wanted to see more of Tajikistan than just its lovely lakes, so I made arrangements to spend the night in nearby Panjakent. People in Samarkand had warned me that there wasn't much to do, which isn't exactly wrong but after the tourist hordes in Uzbekistan, it was nice to just walk around the small downtown.

A guy from the hostel asked where to get local currency. We were sent to the bazaar and told to "look for a money guy."

I had exchanged $20 at the bazaar but even after dinner and drinks, I woke up with way more than I needed for the shared taxi back to the border. A helpful taxi tout helped me with this pressing issue. For $5, he would get someone to take me up to the ruins of Ancient Panjakent and wait while I wandered around. 

Did I know what I was looking at? Not exactly but the views over the city were nice.

When I returned to the taxi I was stymied by language difficulties for the second time in 24 hours as I desperately tried to convey the question "Are there fucking foxes up here?"

Between my video and google translate, it was determined that yes, there were fucking foxes up there. We returned to the bazaar so I could catch the shared taxi to the border, but in yet another miscalculation on my part, the ride was only $2. I was on the doorstep of Uzbekistan with $4 in Tajik Somoni burning a hole in my pocket. 

Add to that my FOMO- addled necessity to see everything possible and I was once again leaving the border.  This time, I was in another taxi headed to the Sarazm Archeological Park.  This UNESCO world heritage site features the remains of one of the most ancient civilizations in Central Asia. 

My driver, who thankfully spoke English, accompanied me from one excavation to the next, making sure I did not miss a thing. 

Once I had seen them all, we returned (once again) to the border, where I actually crossed and returned to Samarkand. It had been a quick but wonderful time in a country I would have missed altogether on the G Adventure tour. Perhaps one day, I'll leave all the planning to someone else and actually do one of their tours but I'm just happy that this wasn't that time.