Tajikistan Day 1, 2, and 3 and maybe 4?, I'm losing track...

 September 23 (written October 3)

oh, I am soooooo far behind.  It has been a whirlwind and then I was sick and needed to sleep and then two nights with no wifi.  

But here I am so let's go back a country and discuss Tajikistan.  Tajikistan is the smallest, and I believe poorest of the Stans but you would not know that from Dashanbe, the capital city.  

We arrived in tha late afternoon after our flight from Almaty.

smog? dust?

Even as we flew in, we could see the terrible air quality.  Sometimes they said smog, sometimes dust.  In the capital city, it is a combo, but everywhere else, just dust and more dust.  

We didn't have a lot of time in Dushanbe so we immediately launched into a city tour, in the dark.  It turned out to be an excellent time to see the city since it is awash with colourful lights.  

I am still reading my Sovietistan book and the author does not have much nice to say about the president.  He was president when she was here in 2013 and still is.  He was/is on a building boom, with grand palaces and library and the biggest mosque in Central Asia.  But where is the money coming from?  Some is declared as from other countries, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia but she speculates that the very porous border with Afganstan and the smuggled opium trade with the complience of the government is probably the biggest cash cow.  But our guide did not mention any of this.  It is all sunny and wonderful.  

I have to admit, it is impressive if you don't think too hard about it. 

Another proposterous purchase, 
the tallest flagpole in the world 
(a the time)

presidential palace

Presidential palace

Apparently, I didn't take a picture of the biggest library where they had to ask the citizens to bring a few books each to fill it.  Our guide said, in awed tones, that there are SIX MILLIION books.  This building is a behemoth!  It would take 100 million to fill it and maybe more.  

I am pretty sure it was bedtime after this tour.  I am exhausted now and I am pretty sure it was the same 9 days ago. 

September 24. 

We went to a museum.  Visiting museums are the WORST!  Not that I don't love a good museum but A) this was not a good museum and B) our guide had a very strong accent, a low and melodious voice so it was so easy to tune him out.  I learned NOTHING.  Tajikistan Antiquities Museum my itinerary tells me. 

Who's this?  No idea. 

Who's this?  No idea.

stay awake, stay awake, stay awake...

Then we went to the giantest mosque,  not in the world, but in Central Asia, by far.  Again, impressive and beautiful, but why?

Oh, and the women had to do full coverage. 

you can't pray in there, but 
keep the place clean, ladies

I will say, the Imam had the perfect voice to fill that gigantic room.

Our flights messed up out timing in Dusanbe.  We were supposed to have free time but I don't think we had any.  If we did, I didn't take any pictures. 

I think we left that same day to our next guesthouse in the Fan Mountains. 

A stop at Alexander the Great Lake.

this half man, half octopus is Alexander the Great, 
reduced to a gold spray painted bit of driftwood.

We all wondered how G Adventures found this guesthouse. To say it was remote is not enough.  It was hours on a windy mountainous highway before we turned onto a dirtroad, goat track?  for more bumpy hours.  We speculated that we may have actually crossed into Afganistan by accident, it was that far from anything.  

Here are some road pictures. 

so many switchbacks

this is known as the 'tunnel of death'
half built by Iran and abandoned before it 
was done.  But it was the only way through
the mountains.  The potholes were massive
and the lights were only installed 6 months ago

We finally got to Ghazza village, where we arrived at our guesthouse in the dark.  This is a tiny village so no night walk this time.  Straight to dinner and then to bed. 

September 26

The next morning, because Ghazza village was too bustling (haha) we had a 5 km hike along the Voru River to Voru Village.  I opted for the spine adjusting ride up instead of the 'walk'.  

Voru Village, despite being even more remote is quite big.  2000 inhabitants or so.  They have a medical centre and a school.  Have I mentioned the school uniforms here?  The girls look like every private school girl in the world,  but the boys are decked out in three piece navy suits with red ties.  I kept thinking they were junior Republicans on their way to their first debate.  I missed the kid with a little white pocket square! 

Tie off for lunch break

We were met by our guide, the local french teacher, and his charming, adorable grandson

Here are some general pictures of the village upon arrival.   

you know I bought something from this lady

And this one

Tandoor oven for bread

Our first stop was the blacksmith shop. I am going to get these numbers wrong but the timeline is unbelievably long.  His family has run this blacksmith and ferrier shop for hundreds of years and 10s of generations.  He is the last though.  His sons and grandsons learned the trade but have no interest in living in this remote village.  They have moved to Russia to make money (maybe teach a granddaughter...?  don't be crazy, Joanne).

The price to pay to bash at some molton metal is to endorse some Russian propoganda.  

Hammer and Sickle!  

Then some tea with some homemade bread and store bought cookies.  With our little host to sample all cookies in case they did not pass the required high standards. 

This grandmother is only one year older than me

Time to head back down the mountain.  But first a stop at the worst toilet so far. 

I dropped my phone so close to this 
hole, I will have nightmares for years

I did not opt for the ride downhill.  I walked it and it was beautiful. Not a lot of time for pictures though.

Believe it or not, we got back to Ghazza in time for lunch!  We got to have the very famous Central Asian dish, Plov.  which I think it Pilaf, but so much better. 

arrives at the table, family style

this family was hungry!

After lunch, we had some free time, and no wifi, so Isela and I went for a walk around Ghazza village. I think there are only a few hundred people here. 

I should mention, up to and including Tajikistan, we were often the only tourists to be seen.  And in this tiny village, we were rock stars. These lovely people have not been completely inundated yet and so are not yet jaded.  

As Isela and I walked away from the guesthouse, we were accompanied by a woman and three kids, not hers apparenlty. 

Bye!

I think they were trying to get us to their house for tea but we were terrible at following instructions so they finally said goodbye and headed in the other direction. 

This guy has angry eyebrows

Then dinner up the hill at a different guesthouse.  Some of use ended the night on the roof with some bevvies,  looking up at the milky-way. 

This was before dinner
Viginia, Isela, Kate behind Don, me, Ro, Bich.

I did not take this photo, Don did. 

Then to bed, we had an early start to head out of the mountains, down the death-dirt road, onto the death-highway,  back around the death-curves, through the death-tunnel and back to normal Central Asian roads (so not normal, but less death defying)

September 27

The sun so wanted to break as we were driving away but not quite.

And then not much more to Tajikistan.  We stopped at Istaravshan, home of the largest Lenin statue still standing.  

We spent that night in Khujand of which I have zero memory. 

Ah, yes, another mosque and another museum, how could I forget? 

The historical museum of Sughd, resembling a castle (I am direct quoting from the itinerary since I literally don't remember any of this).  The pictures are reminding me this was not a good museum. 

This was the one and only time anyone mentioned the Tajikistan revolution that lasted years and killed countless people.  They do like to gloss over the nasty bits of their history and culture so this was a bit of a change.  

Case in point

I have a picture of a bed in this lot so I guess we stayed here.  

Ok, let's call this one.  Tajikistan was pointy and dusty and had charms that the other stans did not.  Namely, a complete lack of other tourists and therefore people who were sitll excited to see us and visit with us.  

Random photos. 

Time for bed.  Unsuprisingly, early morning tomorrow.