【過境筆記】前幾天是中亞旅行以來第一次下雪❄️ 因為太開心了，完全忘了一下段從烏茲別克到塔吉克斯的陸地過境需要經過高山，有可能因為大雪而關閉🗻
這是一個我們從五小時車程，變成將近十三小時路程的故事😭 也是一個車費幾乎變三倍的一個記錄 😂 文長小心🙊
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一早我們就從青旅準備步行到三公里外的公車站🚏 路途中一台車子突然停下來叫招我們上車😶 想說這就是傳說中的搭便車嗎？！
上車沒多久，老先生表態說他是計程車司機。當下暗自叫苦，不經想說等下到底要給他多少錢。老先生用俄語表示說如果給他一點小錢，可以載我們到邊界😅 我只好用英文說：「No money...😖」
從撒馬爾罕到邊界小鎮的小巴大約是四十分鐘，每人 USD$2。雖然看當地人付錢感覺應該又更少...🤔
一到邊界就開始有人問我們要去哪裡。「Dushanbe?」Dushanbe 是塔吉克斯坦的首都，過邊界後大約需要五小時車程，每人約 USD$10。「Dushanbe 路關了，今天過不去！」司機先生嘗試阻止我們前往邊境。
「你理他們幹麻？搞不好騙你的！」York 把我叫走。也是，計程車司機常常為了賺錢都跟遊客說公車沒開，於是我們匆忙走入海關。
「Dushanbe?」「是的。」「今天下雪路關閉喔！你需要從另一個邊境到塔吉克斯坦。」邊境警察拿起我們手機並指一指地圖。
先前就有部落客說冬季需要繞到名為Tursunzoda 小鎮那邊的海關😶 只是前幾天都確認這條通往 Panjakent 小鎮的路是通的，於是就沒查資料😖
「你們需要回到撒馬爾罕，再找共乘計程車到那個邊境，可能一人三十美金吧！」邊境警察說。
從這裡繞到那個編輯再前往今天的住宿，大約要多十一小時的路程！不過誰也不知道山路什麼時後開，只好趕快另外想辦法😖
「到那邊邊境兩人USD$100！」計程車司機開價。雖然知道路途很遠但我根本不想花那麼多錢，情願回到原本的城市再做打算。「USD$80」「USD$60」就這樣一路砍，最後威脅我們直接要搭車回撒馬爾罕，就以兩人USD$55成交😶
「還要等一個人。」計程車司機說。眼看目前已經十一點，我就踏出車子拍拍照（離邊境大約三十幾米）。沒想到突然出現另一個背著AK47槍枝的軍官，要我把手機交上。
「照片。」他拿起我的手機，把隨手拍邊境的兩張照片刪除。原本還要跟我要相機，但 York機靈地跟他說我們只用手機拍照。事後手機當然把照片直接從垃圾桶還原回來😛 說真的根本沒拍到什麼，真的有夠敏感😑 這也是我沒愛中亞的原因，軍官都嚴肅要死，不愧是前蘇聯國家🙄
終於在十一點半的四個人搭上車了！滿了就可以直接出發！
事後用翻譯軟體才知道原來這兩位先生都是從塔吉克斯坦邊界小鎮 Panjakent！他們原本不用過境就可以直接搭乘五小時的山路一路到首都 Dushanbe ⛰️ 結果現在卻要過境一路讓到深夜才能夠到達目的地，實在有夠辛苦😲
這裡的車子都使用天然氣取代汽油🚘 每家一次全體都要站到外面。室外溫度越來越冷，周圍都是雪山，感覺自己好像來到了西伯利亞 😐
而且這趟中途的食物也很難吃，而且比上次魚大餐配酒貴！悲哀到我連照片都不想拍👀
就這樣我們就在幾乎看不到前面的路況開了450公里，從11.30AM到 8.30PM 才到了邊境...😔 「這錢真的不好賺啊...」跟食物比起來，開車在烏茲別克確實難賺多了！
值得一提的是當地人在開車前都會集把雙手蓋住臉，祈求平安🙏 不管是出發前、中途用餐重新上路，都會做這個動作。「你很討厭人家摸臉，我看你待在這裡一定會發瘋！」York 事後跟我說😹
過邊境還蠻順暢的，每個關卡兩位大哥都會等我們，直到我們抵達塔吉克斯坦，準備計程車搭車前往首度 Dushanbe🚖
我們老早就知道從這個邊境到市區是每人 USD$5，其實算蠻貴的。果不其然其中一位大哥是塔吉克斯坦人，他代表我們全部（另一位大哥是烏茲別克人）幫忙講價。
雖然聽不懂，但是他們講話過程還蠻激烈的。我猜內容大約是：「遊客的公定價就是五美金，你不要為難我們了！」「你看看這些人，他們分別是澳洲人、紐西蘭人、烏茲別克人，你怎麼可以收那麼貴的費用！」經過許多爭執，一位司機大哥出來握手：「好好好，但是你們一定要保密。」就這樣我們每人 USD$2.5 搭上車，雖然還是猜當地人應該更低。畢竟是不到一小時的車程...🤔
這台計程車並沒有載我們到目的地，而是距離市中心約十三公里的侯車站！其中一位大叔請他朋友順便載我們到青旅，終於在晚上十點半我們順利抵達住宿 😭😭😭
「那條山路大約九個小時前就開了啊！」櫃檯先生看著電腦跟我們說。「什麼？！」花了那麼多時間跟金錢，原來只要我們晚點出發就沒事了😢 「千金難買早知道...我們也不可能等到下午一點...」York 說。
「你們應該在塔吉克斯坦的邊境小鎮Panjakent 住一晚，就算今天沒開，明天也有可能開啊！而且他們關路其實也只是五公里而已。」只可惜我們行程都很滿，不太敢冒險卡在那邊。
果然隔天那條公路早上又關閉了😅 真的很慶幸我們可以當天來到 Dushanbe 😆 這真的是一個很舒服的城市！食物好吃又便宜，住宿乾淨、浴室又有地熱，另外衛生紙是離開伊朗後最軟的衛生紙😍 人生的小確幸也不愧如此 😛
Ps. 記得要跟蹤 IG 唷 ↪ www.instagram.com/travelwithwinny 😘
Pss. 想環遊世界嗎？ Winny 的環遊世界書在博客來打七折唷 👉 http://goo.gl/RYPSTp 📚
#塔吉克斯坦 #烏茲別克 #陸地過境
Snow was fun until it became a blizzard and blocked the mountain passage on our border crossing day from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan😠
The intended border crossing route was from Samarkand to Panjakent border (40 mins USD$2 mini bus) then USD$10pp from border to Dushanbe (5 hours)🚗
However, the day before departure it started to snow ❄ We arrived at the border crossing not realising the roads were closed! So we had to decide on an alternative route on the spot!
The other border (Tursunzoda border) crossing into Tajikistan requires bypassing the mountain (450km of windy road)⛰ which is another 9 hour car ride from the original boarder!!! Only then we can cross into Tajikistan and catch another taxi which will take another hour drive to our destination at Dushanbe😣
We haggled the trip fare from USD$100 to USD$55 for two👀 Then after the border crossing the Tajik man who was on the same car helped us to negotiate the taxi into Dushanbe from USD$5pp to USD$2.5pp so we won't need to pay the tourist price😬
When we arrive in the outskirts of Dushanbe, the Uzbek man in the same car did us a favour and asked his friend to give us a ride to our hostel🏠
We were exhausted by the time we reached our hostel at 10.30pm😩 Devastatingly we learnt that the original route reopened 9 hours ago which was only 3 hours after we left the place 😰
Apparently it was only 5KM of the mountain pass that was closed off due to snow which they had promptly cleared.
We could have stayed at the boarder for 3 hours and travelled to Dushanbe in 5 hours. Instead we travelled for 10 hours on the long route😭
So the timeline of the day was:
Left hotel at 9.30AM and was going to walk 3KM to shared taxi stop🚏 Met this lovely old taxi driver offered to take us there for free! 👴 He was hoping we could pay him to go to the border but we declined the offer. He didn’t charge us anything for the short ride 😅
Got on the mini van at 10AM and off to the border with the locals. We arrived at the boarder at 10:30am only find that the route is closed due to snow❄️
Snapped some photos of the boarder gate and the border guard came and demanded that I step out of the car😠 He then took my phone and looked at the photos and deleted ones he deemed inappropriate📸 First time getting treated like this. Thankfully he didn't see my camera nor he knew the deleted photos goes to a "bin" section in phones😂
Negotiated the fare by 10.40AM and finally got our last shared taxi passenger at 11.30AM!!! These people were at Panjakent (Tajikistan) already but bcz the route to Dushanbe was closed, they have to take the alternate long route 😲
The other drivers and the passengers then collectively touched their faces with both hands and mumbled sth. I think they praying for safe journey🙏 They did this everytime we start the drive again.
We did not anticipate this whole journey was going to take this long!!! The driver even did a wrong turn, weather was so cold he had to go borrow hot water from shops to defrost his engine. The car here runs on gas so everytime he tops up we have to get off the car into the freezing cold 😑
We didn't reach the border till 8.30PM😱 Poor York who sat in the middle seat got a really sore ass...
We successfully crossed both borders around 9.30PM and the two men in the car waited for us and made sure we crossed safely❤
After an intense fare negotiation, we finally arrived in outer Dushanbe city at 10.15PM (13KM from our hostel) and the man's friend gave us a ride 🚙
What a journey just to cross the border!! The hotel dude said we should've just waited and the road may open in a few hours/days time. We were not prepared to gamble with this route opening time as we were on a tight schedule😝
Ps. Food along the journey was SHIT and expensive 🙄 Didn't even bother taking a picture...
#Uzbekistan #BorderCrossing #Tajikistan
