A caravanserai is the original motorway service station, and the one at Tohir shows how much trouble medieval travellers took to rest. These fortified inns stood at intervals along the trade routes of Asia, a day's journey apart, with a gate big enough for a laden camel, an open court for the animals and rooms for merchants and their goods, so that a caravan could stop safely at the end of a day. Tohir lies in the south of Tajikistan, in the hot valley of the Panj river, which forms the border with Afghanistan, and the tracks that passed it probably linked the Oxus crossings and the old cities of Bactria to the mountain valleys of the north. The place has the hushed look of a ruin in a farm landscape, with clay brick walls and arched openings catching the afternoon sun.
The landscape is that of south Tajikistan: hot, dry hills of loess, patches of cotton and wheat in the valleys, mud-brick villages with flat roofs, and a long wall of mountains on the horizon. Farkhor, the town some twenty-nine kilometres away, is close to the border, and the Panj is wide and brown here, with Afghan villages visible on the far bank. It is an extraordinary thing to look across the water at a different country, with donkeys and men on motorbikes going about their business on the other side.
Riding here requires care and preparation. The area is a border zone, with checkpoints, so carry your passport, visa and registration documents, and ask local officials or your host about permits and restricted areas before you travel. The roads are paved on the main routes, but patched, with potholes, and the side roads are gravel or dirt. In summer, the heat is intense, over forty degrees, so start early and drink plenty of water, and in winter, the days are cool and clear. The ride continues to Shahrtepa through villages and fields.
Farkhor has fuel and basic shops, but the choices are limited, and fuel quality varies, so fill up when you can and carry some extra. Dushanbe, the capital, to the north, has a much wider range of services. In the villages, tea and bread are offered freely, and the hospitality is generous. Learn a few words of Tajik, or Russian, and be respectful, particularly of women and of religious customs, as this is a conservative region.