#broderwalk

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Reaching the Tajik border

Reaching the Tajik border #borderwalk #theborderwalk #kyrgystan #tajikistan #wateraid #mcsuk #sony #solo

Throughout my time in Kyrgyzstan, I was told that the border to Tajikistan was going to be dangerous, and I had heard about the border guards and their disagreement of a road being built there which had heightened tensions. Eventually resulting in the exchange of gunfire and mortar rounds in the weeks previous to me arriving and subsequently began to be told that the border was closed. But as I…

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Journey through the mountains

Arjun's journey through the mountains #borderwalk #theborderwalk #Kyrgyzstan #solo #wateraid #mcsuk #sony

Not only was the uphill walking a struggle but also trying to find camping was a struggle because the ground that looked the most suitable to camp on didn’t look safe, there had been large amounts of earth moved all over from either natural causes or just work on the roads, I couldn’t tell. My only choices were to camp out in the open next to the road. The noise from the cars kept me up all night…

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Leaving Bishkek

Leaving Bishkek #borderwalk #theborderwalk #solo #kyrgyzstan #wateraid #mcsuk

So it turned out that the Afghan embassy in Bishkek was really relaxed about handing out visas, not even requiring a letter of invitation. I rolled up to this large mansion of a house around 10am and asked for a visa. He asked what I was going to do there, looked at my passport and told me to go to the national bank of Pakistan, pay a fee of $60 and then return with two passport photos… I was…

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Weighing up my options

We were dragged out of jail at around 2.30am and taken to the hostel where they had copies of our passports on file. As we entered we both eyed up the water dispenser next to the reception unable to stop ourselves from gravitating towards it. As we filled up on as many mini cups of water our bodies could handle in one sitting, they took the copies and after a lot of back and forth with the girl…

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Still banged up abroad

Still banged up abroad

Our time in jail, contrary to popular belief was for the most part… Not pleasant by a long stretch, but mostly hassle free. There were no fights but some people came and others went, and naturally some people got on and some people didn’t.

We kept to ourselves but answered the usual questions about where we were from etc, as we obviously stood out amongst the usual local crowd and managed to get…

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