I and Francis planed to take a 2-hr helicopter flight to Dushanbe to enjoy the views, but we were told at the airport that the wait list was one week. I immediately decide to take 15-hr carshare ride and survived the trip.
When the hostel owner dropped me at the bazaar around 7:30 am, most of the cars were full and the last two cars were not interested in taking foreigners for the extra check point stops. Finally, one driver kindly took me and I had a great ride with a local family which took me under their wings and shepherded me each stop on the way. There were many gorgeous views along the ride.
Fortunately, my four passport checks did not take any bribery money and only took about half hour of the group's time. In contrast, my carshare with three other foreigners took about 15 minutes each time and unknown amount of bribery.
My seat on the Landcruiser van was spacey and with the best views of the river and valley the whole way which worth every penny of the 300 TJ$ ($34USD), not to mention that the driver and the whole group helped to drop me at the Green House Hostel where the Map.me marking was confusing. I was so thirsty after the ride that I drank over one liter of coke after the shower and laundry.
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