Today we woke up and walked through a shortcut to the other hotel, where we had breakfast and took full advantage of the internet.
We then got a speech from our guide about the Stans and some more details about Tajikistan before embarking on our hike through the mountains to a local village. We followed the river down the valley in the hot sun, occasionally stopping to wet our hats in the river to cool down, while also passing the occasional donkey carrying hay up the mountain.
As we reached the village, we walked around and visited a local blacksmith, who showed us how he did his work and built horseshoes, among other things. Next, we stopped for tea at a family’s house and got to try some local candy, which was kind of like a harder version of meringue.
After our tour of the village, we headed back down the way we had come and went to a local campsite to try rice pilav, a meal eaten across most of the Stans made with rice, vegetables and meat. It was delicious.
In the afternoon, we found an outdoor area where we could lie down and nap with as much shade as possible, while still enjoying the luxury of Starlink Wi-Fi.
For dinner, we went back to our hotel, where they served us some delicious manti again, this time with a great onion sauce.
Since we were quite tired and there wasn’t much else to do, we decided to go to bed early and get as much sleep as possible for the next day.