May 18, 2013
Unfortunately, after our
trip to the waterfall, it was A’s turn to fall ill with the stomach bug. B was
still under the weather, and N wasn’t feeling too hot herself. Somehow I was
the only one feeling healthy, and I had a rather uncharacteristic amount of
energy. N and I walked into the center of the village for the purpose of buying
juice, water, and toilet paper for the boys. We also bought a bucket. There was
only one pit squatter at our homestay, and we were worried that there might be
a time during which more than one of us needed to make use of the facilities,
as it were. Walking into town and back pretty much drained N of what little
energy she had, so she decided to stay home with the guys.
I set off on my own with the
goal of hiking to the panorama. Five years ago when K, J and I hiked to thepanorama, we hiked to it from the waterfall. We found the route difficult and
spent much of the time wondering if we were going the right way – although we
did make it there. This time, I hiked up past the waterfall but could not find
any sign of the trail J, K and I had taken five years ago. There was a track
that went in rather the opposite direction, but thinking that it might wind its
way up to where I needed to go I took it. The trail definitely wound its way
upward, but in a decidedly wrong way laterally.
Eventually a local boy (he
turned out to be 17) came hiking along with his camera and we started talking.
His name was Hassanboi. He had been born in Arslanbob, then moved to Tyumen in
Russia at the age of three where he lived for six or seven years. As such, his
Russian was excellent (not everyone in Arslanbob speaks Russian) and we were
able to actually chat. I asked him how to get to the panorama, and confirmed
what I had begun to suspect: I was going in completely the wrong direction.
Hassanboi said that as he was meeting friends not too far from the panorama he
could show me the way there. Unfortunately the way to the panorama from the
spot at which I encountered Hassanboi essentially involved going straight up
one side of the mountain (all the way to the antenna on top) then back down the
other side.
When we reached the actual
road to the panorama (albeit from the opposite side than I’d intended to
approach it) Hassanboi directed me to remain on that road, saying that it would
take me first to the panorama and then back down into the village. He went off
in one direction in search of his friends, and I went off in the other, heading
for the panorama. The panorama (as the name suggests) is a wonderful place for
viewing the village of Arslanbob, the valley, and the surrounding mountains. I
could see my homestay’s tapchans across the valley (quite clearly through my
long lens) but alas, none of my companions were out there, having all
apparently returned to bed.
After photographing the view
I sat down and had a picnic of apple juice and chechil, which is where
Hassanboi found me about half an hour later. Apparently his friends had already
gone on, and he was returning to the village. He offered to accompany me to
make sure I didn’t get lost. The road/track went directly into the village (and
it is not located past the waterfall at all, haha – it’s the last “road” to the
right BEFORE you get to the waterfall). I doubt I could have gotten lost
following that track home from the panorama by myself, although given where
he’d found me, Hassanboi probably had a pretty poor assessment of my
navigational skills.
After thanking Hassanboi and
returning to my homestay, I utilized the bucket for washing laundry (no one had
utilized it for anything else, and I needed to wash some clothes), and then
spent the remainder of the day relaxing.
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