DRIVING the ROOF OF THE WORLD! - TAJIKISTAN 🇹🇯 - Australia to Scotland by road - Episode 70

[@ahmadkabul3275]

Tourist of the whole world . Come to beautiful Tajikistan

[@mehdiali9846]

Absolutely amazing! As an Afghan living in Australia It’s so inspiring to see you guys travel to some of these beautiful counties and show the culture and landscape. Thank you.

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks Medhi, from what we could see of this part of your country from the Tajik side it looks incredible!

[@skibum96]

I see you have Kermit chairs. I love my Kermit chairs and after almost 15 years of ownership the customer service is still exemplary! Rock on!

[@TheWayOverland]

We love them, we've only had them for about 6 years now though they still look new. A good investment!

[@NoSenseOfReality]

Hi guys, absolutely love your videos and have followed for a long time - I even bought my own Troopy after you inspired me and I hope to do a similar trip! I would love if you could do a new Q&A regarding the planning of your trip. I have so many questions I am desperate to ask. Did you regret lumping your surfboard around the world? What clothing did you pack for your trip? How did you plan and budget everything? How did you break the news to your employers and friends? How long did you think you would be abroad versus the reality? Do you use any safety equipment like an EPIRB? What maps are you using? Did you earn any income whilst overseas? Would you have skipped any countries? How did you enter Thailand to get to Cambodia from Malaysia with their strict vehicular rules? Sorry, i've been holding them in for a while :) Keep the videos coming!

[@c17-j5s]

I would love to see them answer those questions

[@TheWayOverland]

Ha few big ones there, might have touched on some of these in our Q&A vid a while back but here goes: We were in surfing countries for about 10 months and used the boards a lot so no, not really. Finding surf in surprising places like Thailand and India was good. They don’t weigh much and we can’t think of anything we’d put in that space so they weren’t a hinderance. We will use them again once in Western Europe. We had planned to complete the trip in 12 months with a detailed timeline to pass through countries in the warmer months. Once we left Aus we realised it simply wasn’t long enough, purely as we had an epiphany we would gain so much more if we didn't rush. Subsequently we bought a set of winter clothes on the road. Generally, only a few items of clothing for each season is sufficient. I have completed several international overland trips before so used that experience for budgeting combined with research on avg. cost of the essentials for each country. An allowance for these essentials, as well as an emergency contingency, and a ‘to-do’ activities fund spread across all countries vs time made up the budget. We resigned with the explanation that this was something that needed to be done before the kids came along. Thankfully very understanding employers, with the option provided for a sabbatical. Telling friends was a much less stressful experience as I have travelled on long distance international trips with them before so they understood. Thankfully we didn’t have the need to use an EPIRB though carried one as well as a Sat phone. We used Maps.me for route planning with paper maps as backup. The generous support from our Patreons allows us to make our videos and continue to travel. The trip though was originally and entirely funded from savings. As for the Thai crossing, due to not wanting to publicly and potentially jeopardise other Overlanders opportunities to travel Thailand all that infos over on Patreon! Good to hear about the Troopy purchase! Cheers

[@adityapant514]

So good to see you guys doing great. I remember we in Varanasi and its been 2 years since then. Stay safe and healthy. With Love from India

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks! Wow, that feels like a lifetime ago! Great memories of Varanasi. Hope you're doing well!

[@adityapant514]

@@TheWayOverland Yeah I'm good. Atleast not in train now ..... hahaha

[@WarriorOneGaming]

Lovely community. 😍 Everyone's waving at you

[@TheWayOverland]

They were very friendly!

[@noumantravel7698]

Amazing 😍 Wakhan corridor is love ♥️

[@gemmarawsthorne6231]

Helluva good drive and a gorgeous camp spot!😍👌

[@francodelbono319]

We can’t get over how remote you guy’s are! It’s truly amazing to see how beautiful it is there, thanks for sharing👍👍

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks, it's remote though we were always surprised at where you would see people. Like the 2 little kids on the road in the middle of nowhere!

[@maxsdroning6192]

great to watch while stuck in lockdown in Sydney again

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks Maxs, no good about the lockdown! Hopefully everything's sorted out by Christmas.

[@philjachowski1709]

Beautiful!

[@elroy8138]

Love it as always. So stunning.

[@chrisbull3838]

Love a good campsite and a good fire. My wife and I travelled across Afghanistan in 1973. Still looks and feels the same.

[@TheWayOverland]

Sounds amazing Chris, looks like it would’ve been a beautiful country to explore.

[@OverlandTravellers]

Awesome guys, such an adventure! We were watching in the back of our troopy.

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers guys! Hope the Troops going well.

[@Venture2Roam]

Love the scenery

[@ceo2417]

Sky so beautiful

[@stevestott3652]

Always like reading your information about the video then watching your video . Thanks for all the great work you do in bring your awesome adventures and videos to us all your over landing friends . Cheers from Steve Stott in Sutherlin Oregon U.S.A........P.S.......Merry Christmas to you both .

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks Steve, perhaps we should fire up the blog again on our website! Merry Christmas to you too! Cheers

[@robkeith1776]

Hey Jolie and Mark. Magic scenery and fascinating country. Enjoy your view of Afghanistan, but don't get too close !

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks Rob, I don't think you could get much closer than where we were!

[@amadsaleem8949]

Wow guys. Beautiful 😍. U guys have done amazing content. Bless u both to too.....

[@TheWayOverland]

Thank you 🙌

[@Kazm1xGaming]

You guys are so cool. Stay happy and safe travels

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks!

[@creatorstoronto8111]

Nice way to look at this planet

[@farazhassan6417]

Lovely :)

[@schulzrichter466]

I wish you a happy and safe journey

[@nadeemahmed640]

Good job sir

[@mariamaqbool8954]

So beautiful 😍😍😍

[@navgoraya3198]

Great video. Antenna on the hood is a bit of distraction while watching the scenery. Really beautiful and prestine landscape. 👍👍👌👌

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks! The antenna cable is straight through so we can't take it off without cutting it, think of it as a visual indicator of how corrugated the roads are: more shakes = bad corrugations!! ha

[@pakistan2378]

Tajikistan is so beautiful 😍

[@OverlandVagabond]

Hi - Not sure whether you noticed it, but the fences shown in the 1st minute of the video are actually the border with China. It looks like you eventually made it through the Zorkul, the camp at 12' looks very familiar, happy for you! We got severely bogged down by the melting permafrost in May and had to reverse out.

[@TheWayOverland]

Sure did, a quietly creeping and controversial border at that! No, unfortunately didn't make it to Zorkul. The guards at the checkpoint wanted and tried to assist though the decision was out of their hands. One for next time.

[@999mrkhaled]

Can u please mention the date of ur trip in each videos we want to know how the weather like at specific time

[@debradaugherty8287]

Where on the map were you roughly when you camped?

[@TheWayOverland]

Hard to say exactly Debra though at this spot would be a rough indication: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoineXWAeJKgebM

[@debradaugherty8287]

@@TheWayOverland I guess it was somewhere along the Pamir River between the turn off for the Wakhan valley and Langar. Close enough! ;-) Cheers!

[@ceo2417]

♥

[@jasurislamov91]

Great👍 Guys, is Uzbekistan in your list?

[@TheWayOverland]

Sure was, we head there after Tajikistan.

[@jasurislamov91]

@@TheWayOverland Cool👍

[@colinross6259]

Lol, another "boring" drive in the hills. Are you doing Tajikstan at the best time, if not when is best time? Covid has stuffed things and you were "guests" of one country for awhile which would have screwed with your timetable. Friendly people. Google translate does 109 languages, so is that how you get by? If on the main tourist track English is not that hard to come by, or lol, are you on the main tourist track? If so, no probs so far. How are the border crossings with speaking/understanding English, or lol, should I say Aussie Strine.

[@TheWayOverland]

Yeah that landscape isn't too inspiring! This time of year is probably a good time, it's not too hot in the lower areas and not 'too' cold up high (compared to peak winter). Coming off the back of winter though the roads are still in poor condition with the seasonal repair works only just beginning towards the end of our time on the M41. Surprisingly in this region (and yes this is on the main tourist track!) English, especially in the youth, is very common. Australian isn't widely spoken so we spoke slow English to converse. Google translate helps a lot, especially the live camera option for signs/menus etc. Apart from that, sign language, and the basics of each language get us by. The border officers are usually proficient at their job so most of the time it's only a matter of going through our document folder and they take the information they need. The information on the CDP cover pages is usually sufficient. Not sure if being Australian was a novelty (as the majority of overlanders are European), though for most crossings all the officials at borders were very friendly usually involving a discussion about kangaroos and surprisingly one on rugby in another Stan country.

[@colinross6259]

@@TheWayOverland That's a rugged beauty. Imagine the geological upheavals in the past to create that landscape. And people live there? We are a resilient mob. And look happy doing it. Iiifff you did breakdown (unlikely in the Troopy) could you get a tow to get something fixed at a major town? Always scary leaving a car broken down stacked full of possessions in a remote area anywhere in the world. Lol, is there a Royal Auto Club Tajikstan? Or have to wing it?

[@TheWayOverland]

Some of the folds/wrinkles in these mountains further down the valley are incredible. Beauty of being close to a plate line. We've found most of the places we've visited in our travels over the years where people live simply, off the land, with minimal to no technology are usually very happy as they appear satisfied with what they have. Potentially a universal question on issues with balance in modern society there? Less is more? IIIIIIIffffff we did breakdown, depending on the region finding something to tow with/waiting for another vehicle might take a while. Not that it was a breakdown though we rebuilt the swivel hubs in Pakistan as the bearings were shot, thankfully land cruisers are everywhere there. We carry the spares so it was reasonably a straight forward job. We left the Troopy for a month in the high mountains of Nepal which was a bit daunting at first. We paid a small fee to a guesthouse owner to watch it and he stayed true to his word even attempting to cover it with a tarp (he couldn't find one big enough to cover the Troopy though won points for trying). No auto club that we're aware of in Tajikistan, just good natured people.

[@troopydoopydoo5859]

Yep, I'm going to sell up and hit the road.

[@TheWayOverland]

Do it. I think the kids say something like "you only live once"?