Even though it was late in the tourist season and there were few tourists because the Pamirs had been closed for a couple of months, Megi and I didn't have to wait long for a jeep from Murghab to Osh, as we obtained one leaving the morning after our first inquiries. Although we were supposed to leave well before 10:00, we spent a while waiting for additional passengers and then going to a few houses to pick up cargo, so it wasn't until after 11:00 that we actually hit the road.
The M41 leaves Murghab to the east and then curves north through a wide, flat valley, while another road continues straight east from Murghab towards the Chinese border at the Qolma pass.The first stretch of road, before the valley narrows and the road begins to climb the the Ak-Baital pass, runs through a wide, dry valley.
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| Looking east, just north of Murghab. |
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| Barren but beautiful in the autumn sun. |
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| Smudges on the jeep's windows made it hard to take pictures. The road to Rang-kul lies through this gap in the mountains. |
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| The mountains close back in on the valley. |
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| A little further north the mountains have a bit more colour, as I saw from the mountain-top on the northern outskirts of Murghab. |
