点评:Had a great time driving this highway. Beautiful beautiful views. Awesome to see this part of the world and meet some of the people. And quite the adventure!
One person in our group spoke Russian which was very very helpful. Would have been hard with just English even with google translate since some people don't read and you don't have service in many spots.
There is no gas between Zong and Alichur, get it before!
We went with a company called PAMIR HIGHWAY TOURS (also called PAMIR CENTRAL ASIA and PAMIR HIGHWAY ADVENTURE -- pamirhighwayadventure.com) and rented our own car for self driving. I would rate their company a 2 or 3 stars though the overall driving experience was 5 stars.
We started in Dushanbe and drove the Pamir Highway to Osh in Kyrgyzstan. We met in our hotel lobby in Dushanbe to do paperwork and pick up the car. They did not bring the GBAO permit, which means we could not cross the border from Tajikistan into Kyrgyzstan. They then insisted that this was our fault and that we did not say that we needed this, though I showed them the email where I had requested it and they had confirmed that they would do this, and added the price to our bill. They then said it was the "offices fault" though the person delivering the car was listed as the sales manager on their website. We argued about this for about an hour and said we were not going to pay for the car if we couldn't do our trip, and they said they were just going to give the car to someone else in Dushanbe. Finally they Agreed to arrange this permit the next day, though it did delay us in Dushanbe for >24 hours.
The also needed the entire payment in US dollars, which they had not told us in advance. I had bank transferred the down payment to them but they would not accept this for the final payment. Couldn't be Tajik or Kyrgyz money, had to be US dollars. So we spent a day trying to find US dollars in Dushanbe. Not easy and expensive to find them and with the exchange rate. They then couldn't provide us with any form of receipt, which seemed totally fishy. We ended up having him write out on a piece of bank paper that he had accepted this money. They also wanted an extra 500$ I think in cash as a deposit, which I had not been aware of initially. They did give this back on pickup.
The vehicle was a 2006 Toyota Sequoia. It was in decent working condition, was 4 wheel drive and did get us through the trip over lots of rough roads.
□ Right front tire brake wasn't working and they knew about this but they didn’t fix it before the trip
□ No seatbelts in back. Had been removed previously.
□ Back windows are tinted so the people sitting in the back seat can't see the view as well.
□ Car has a regular gas tank as well as a natural gas tank, which is a bonus.
Overall, they are nice people and had a good car for the trip, but make sure everything is very clearly outlined and confirmed in writing, and perhaps plan a day for snaffus on the pick up. Bring cash. Drop off with them in Osh was easy though they searched the car thoroughly for any damage and malfunctions.
翻译:沿着这条公路驾驶真是乐趣无穷。沿途的景色美不胜收。能游览到世界的这一隅并结识一些当地人,真是太棒了!这绝对是一场精彩的冒险之旅!
我们团队里有一个人会说俄语,这帮了大忙。即便有谷歌翻译,如果只会英语也会很困难,因为有些人不识字,而且很多地方都没有手机信号。
在宗和阿利楚尔之间没有加油站,所以一定要在之前把油加足!我们选择了一家名为PAMIR HIGHWAY TOURS的公司(该公司亦被称为PAMIR CENTRAL ASIA或PAMIR HIGHWAY ADVENTURE——官网:pamirhighwayadventure.com),并租了一辆车以便自行驾驶。虽然整体的驾车体验堪称五星级,但我对这家公司的评价仅为两到三星。
我们从杜尚别出发,沿着帕米尔公路前往吉尔吉斯斯坦的奥什。我们在杜尚别的酒店大堂碰面,办理相关手续并领取车辆。不过他们并未带上前往GBAO地区的通行证。这意味着我们无法从塔吉克斯坦进入吉尔吉斯斯坦。随后他们坚称这是我们的错,说我们没有事先说明需要这项服务;尽管我给他们看了我请求提供该服务的邮件,他们也确认会这么做,还把相应费用加到了我们的账单上。后来他们又说是“公司办事不力”,可他们网站上列出的车辆交付负责人明明就是销售经理啊。我们就此争论了大约一个小时,表示如果无法成行,我们就不会支付车费。他们则说会把车交给杜尚别的其他人。最后他们同意次日为我们办理许可证,不过这还是导致我们在杜尚别滞留了24小时以上。
此外,他们要求全额费用必须以美元支付,而这一点事先并未告知我们。虽然我已经通过银行转账支付了定金,但他们却不接受这笔款项作为最终付款。不可能是塔吉克斯坦或吉尔吉斯斯坦的货币,肯定得是美元才行。于是我们在杜尚别花了一整天时间试图找到美元。不过既难找到,成本又高,汇率也不划算。更可疑的是,他们根本无法提供任何形式的收据。最后我们只好让他们在一张银行专用纸上写明已收到这笔款项。此外,他们似乎还要求额外支付500美元作为保证金,这一点我起初并不知情。不过在取车之时,这笔钱也如数退还给了我。那辆车是一辆2006款丰田Sequoia。车况还算不错,是四轮驱动车型,确实帮助我们顺利完成了这段路况恶劣的旅程。
□ 右前轮的刹车失灵,他们也知道这个问题,但出行前并未予以修复。
□ 后排没有安全带,它们之前被拆除了。
□ 后窗贴有隔热膜,因此坐在后排的人很难看清窗外的景色。
□ 这辆车既配备了普通汽油油箱,也有天然气油箱,这算是个优点。
总体而言。他们都是很好的人,也为这次行程准备了一辆不错的车。不过一定要把所有事项都清楚地列明并以书面形式确认下来,或许还可以专门安排一天时间来检查车辆状况。记得带上现金。虽然他们在奥什仔细检查了车子是否有损坏或故障,但把车交还给他们的过程倒是很顺利。