In Khorog our car got new rear brake pads, we bought some bread and water, and changed money (in Tajikistan only banks with strange opening hours are allowed to change, you can easily end up without cash.). Since there were still a few hours of daylight left, we decided to continue and to find a place to sleep somewhere enroute. Tajikistan is only 3 hours ahead of central Europe, meaning that the sun rises around 3am, but it sets already around 8pm. Not very convenient.

The road was unpaved but much better than the first part and we were quickly ascending to 4200 meters. We found a small lake and decided to put up our tents there (well, the others decided, I sleep in the car and save the effort of putting up and packing away the tent). But then all of a sudden, just a few minutes after having admired the millions of stars, a snowstorm arrived.

Wet and cold we jumped into the car, and after half an hour of trying to fall asleep, decided to continue. There was not too much to see anyway. It took us another 12 hours to get to the Kyrgyz border, passing beautiful mountains and a dark blue lake, but also villages where you cannot find anything to eat.

This is where we wanted to sleep but had to change plans because of the snowstorm:

And this is the border crossing between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The border posts are several kilometers away, but similarly simple.

We arrived at the Kyrgyz border post around 2pm. It was cold, raining and sleeting alternately, we were cold and tired. I hoped for a smooth border crossing and a quick descent to Osh, the second biggest city of Kyrgyzstan. But things were to turn out quite differently.

Before even entering the fenced Kyrgyz border post, we were asked for some travel permit, which we had never heard about before. At almost 4000m altitude, without mobile network and Internet access, I was pretty lost. It was Friday afternoon, I saw us spending the weekend in no-mans land between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan already. With a few liters of water and two pieces of dry Tajik bread.

But in Central Asia most of the problems are smaller than they look. One of the officers of the border post knew whom to call and soon we had an offer for an emergency road permit, which would be issued by 6pm on the same day, for only 250 USD.

In lack of alternatives (and in lack of food and water) we decided to pay. We have never seen the permits, but at 6:30 we were allowed to pass the border and go to Osh, where we arrived around midnight. The shawarma at Lavash Center, a fast food chain in Kyrgyzstan, and the only open place after midnight, was one of the best meals I had during the whole trip.