In Khorog, we treated ourselves to another rest day. We figured that the never-ending 130-kilometer ride \u2018downhill\u2019 warranted a day for our bodies to recover. Already, it felt like our time up high in the Pamirs was a part of a dream; in Khorog, the weather was warm and sunny with a soft breeze, there were people and decent cell service. \u2018How did we manage to cover what we did in just 5 days?,\u2019 I wondered. When C\u00e9dric and I gathered enough motivation to leave our hotel, we wandered to the local bazaar to buy some odds and ends: a hex key of a specific size and shape, hair ties (over 8 months, we lost the 5 that we had), and snacks. Already, we could sense the harvest season since there were boxes and boxes of grapes, watermelons and other produce filling the market \u2013 a lot more vitamins than the rice, potatoes and bread that composed our meals the previous week. After we wandered around Khorog\u2019s short downtown and adjoining park, we spent the rest of the day writing blog posts (what we do on days off) and uploading pictures. In addition to being loved by cyclists, our hotel also seemed to attract a revolving group of politicians, looking more like Mafiosi than locals, surrounded by politicians-to-be and other military-personal with shiny decorations on the shoulders and jackets. They trickled in and out of the hotel gates at all hours, making apparently serious-sounding calls to other officials \u2013 it was funny to see the juxtaposition of these two types of clientele.<\/p>\n