Whilst in Khorog I visited a combined market for locals and Afghan people as the border is so close. The market is on the Taji side (the only other Afghan market was in no mans land in the middle of the river but this was closed down recently).
The Afghan people have to go through tight security across a bridge to get into the market whilst on the Taji side there are two policemen at the door but we walked straight in. It has been known that the number of tourists have been regulated and only allowed a set number in.
Throughout the market there are security and police from both sides which makes the market trouble free and felt very safe. I showed my camera to a group of locals and an Afghan policeman came over and said no. One friend who had taken a photo of a group of Afghans suddenly from nowhere had a Afghan policeman grab her camera. Luckily it was attached to her wrist and I was able to grab it back. I was also being watched when I went outside to take a photo of myself with a couple of local guys. It was all harmless but shows security was tight. Photos were allowed overall but not of police, security or the border post which is the same through Central Asia.
The goods on the market was a mix from Afghan side and Taji (mostly the food stalls and clothes were Taji), Afghans items I noticed included spices,
belts and local women's headscarves
material, old jewellery and semi precious stones were also available but these were expensive so I did not spend too much time looking.
We decided to have shashlik for lunch and opted for a restaurant on the edge of the market. At one of the tables we spoke to an Afghan guy in his twenties who spoke perfect English, he was reading Shakespeare and wanted to talk to me about the perfect present tense ( i think that is right) I had to apologise and say I was not sure what he was talking about. I asked how they felt about the west and he said that most people appreciated the assistance they had been given. He hoped that one day they would be free to travel and that people could experience their country once again.
Below are some of the photos I took of stalls and mostly people. Often they would come up to me and ask for a photo or wanted to practise their English..
