An update from Ben in Tajikistan

Decided it was time for another update two days ago when I met another Williams kid. Nick worked for Roshan telecom with Erik Anderson ('12) and is now playing professional soccer for FC Kabul. Check out his blog. He is somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the Wakhan, where I was last week. Here is just a taste of where I've been along the Afghan border and in the Tajik Wakhan range.

Mountains on both side of the border and clouds that brought rain for the next week.

 

My altimeter showing the approximate elevation of the river corridor. When not cycling I went up to around 4500 meters where the snowline was in my riding shoes, then switched to ice axe and boots for another few hundred meters of fresh snow. Obviously, intervals are hard at 12,000-14,000 feet but a light job produces plenty of sweat and pain.

View of Town of Vrang from the 4th century Buddhist Stupa.

 

The lonely road. Some days I saw one car, others two or more. Going the other way, or not moving at all (auto maintenance consists of fixing things when they break, which often means an overnight in the nearest village and a trip to the regional center with a tire or two.