A MARVEL OF engineering crosses of marvel of nature: The Pamirs. From Khorog, 2000m ASL, on the Afghan border, passing over 4655m via just one windswept, lonely town, with six and seven thousand metre massifs along the way to Kyrgyzstan.

Completed by the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the Pamir Highway drives across "the roof of the world".

Trucks bring manufactured goods from China. They generally return empty, or the containers are simply left behind, as Tajikistan has little to offer China.

Murghab looks better from a distance. The setting is of course stunning, but the town is a ramshackle affair, although the people were hospitable and welcoming.

The road rises rapidly from 2200m in Khorog. Altitude sickness tablets should be taken. One of our passengers didn't. He was quite unwell.

A couple of dozen structures served as a town, where we had some pretty awesome food, in some pretty awesome surroundings, a few hours from Khorog.

One of the 6 passengers in our jeep from Khorog new somebody in Murghab, and that is where we all stayed.

From Murghab (3650m ASL) to the Kyrgyz border (4280m) is 180 km. We saw no other vehicle, but a half dozen long distance cyclists.