top: It hardly ever rains on the Pamir Highland, so the roofs of Tajik houses are usually made of tree branches, which allow sunshine to come through.

bottom: The Tajik people are natives of the Pamirs and have been here for generations.As Marco polo wrote, one sees nothing here but the endless barren mountains, not even birds.

We continued climbing uphill, and soon snow appeared on both sides of the road. As our car approached Kunjirap Pass, everyone in our car began to get slight headaches, effects of the high altitude. At the same time our car slowed down,for there was not enough oxygen at this altitude for the fuel to burn properly.