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Published: September 14th 2010
Got up early to get ready for my long journey back to Dushanbe, Beha told me he will go to the share taxi stand and get a taxi to pick me up from their apartment, I told him I will go with him and take all my stuff and he can leave me there as i can manage to wait in the station, he and his mom had a conversation and for some reason they did not want me to leave the house, they made me sit and wait while Beha grabbed a taxi to take us to the station, it's like a door to door service and I feel like they are hiding me from someone, police perhaps, is their homestay needed to register and they have not done that? everything is lost in translation. The taxi took us to a station in town, not the Chunchuk Aral bus, apparently it is now shut. we passed by the big Lenin statue along the way, at last I saw it! At the station we got mobbed as expected by drivers, the English speaking driver with a Mercedes Benz won out, Kaka his name is a University student in Dushanbe and sidelines
Khojand to Dushanbe road
women selling fruits, side of the roadas a taxi driver when school is off, he informed me he just got married 3 months ago, beaming with pride.
The whole neighborhood realized there is a tourist in town and everybody crowded me after Beha left me, one dude spoke good English, a computer programmer originally from Khorog, he now lives in Khojand and told me tales of his hometown and the surrounding mountains, and volunteered to find me a relative of his to stay with in Khorog, nice fellow, he is also the 1st christian I met here in Taj. It took an hour before 2 people filled up the taxi, we left in a hurry, the LP said 12 hours but the driver said the tunnel, newly operational will keep it under 7 hour. The young girl with us threw up 2 times, and the ladies keep stopping the car, for water, to buy fruits, one to see a relative in Ayni, to go for a pee, i was relieved we stopped for lunch after the rough roads in the mountain passes, the weather is gloomy and drizzly, sun is not out so I did not dehydrate this time. scenery is spectacular once again, beautiful
Karatag CSurfing
going fishing in the river near Shakrinav, my hosts(Iskandar,Shokir,Alisher and Firuz) multicoloured hills, some parts are bone rattling scary, the Chinese are still paving the road, traffic is slow in areas, then we got to the super tunnel!NOT!)it was dark and full of smoke belched by all vehicles that went through there, no exhaust fan or holes in the tunnel wall to circulate air, we needed fog lights to navigate through the bumpy semi asphalted road, if you are claustrophobic, keep your eyes shut on this section, and the utility vehicles don't bother to put hazard lights on! 20 minutes or so we are out and what a relief.
The weather got gloomier as we approached Varzob, passing through an immense house complex along the river bank, apparently the President's rest house, extravagantly nice. Kaka borrowed my map and wahted to know where I will be dropped off, after we passed the cement factory/taxi stand station, he put on his seat belt as we drive into Rudaki St. and told me if the police stops us I should tell them I am a friend of his father's and that we know each other, hmmm. ok..we did not get pulled over, a miracle if you are driving into Dushanbe, the sharks
Karatag CSurfing
cooling off and showing off at the river canal are all over the avenues. They got me to my homestay and met Manfred from Germany, we exchanged travel stories and then we had dinner at a nearby eatery, lagmans and salad, not bad.
The next morning is still gloomy, after breakfast I went to town and visited the Antiquities museum, surprisingly interesting particularly the reclining Buddha. Nice small collection of finds from different archaeological sites in Tajikistan. Then the ethnographic museum next door, housing costumes and daily wears of locals, boring! The I walked back slowly to the city center, found Tsum department store but cannot find the Tajik shirt I want to buy, the Barakat market was half empty when I got there and only fruit stands are open, no arts and handicraft or any souvenir things, I sat in a small restaurant near the Bagh-i-Markazi park, the woman does not speak English and menu in Russian so we got out of the restaurant and I strained my neck pointing to what I want from the picture on the wall, at one point I threw ice cream sticks at it to make sure she understood which I want,amusing for her, tiring for me.
Back at
the GH 3 bikers arrived 2 Germans and 1 Swiss coming from Penjikent. Manfred my German roommate knows them from Samarqand. In the eve we all went to dinner at this Turkish restaurant called Istanbul, so so food and the promised free wifi was a disappointment as most establishments here in Dushanbe so far, slow connection, better off at internet cafes. There is a babushka begging for some money while we are eating, the waiters telling her to scram but we pitied her and gave her a few somonis, she was very happy. We noticed a lot of beggars in the streets of Dushanbe, mostly kids, an unfortunate sight. Alex the Swiss biker and I went to club plazma for some internet session, 3 hours we sulked there and even in the late hours the streets are pretty safe, still a lot of people walking around in the tree shaded wide avenues, occasional kids hi fiving us. The Germans were drinking vodka when we arrived I passed and went straight to bed.
Manfred left us for Bishkek the next morning, i went to the Shah mansur bazaar to pick up a souvenir Tajikistan shirt, Tsum dept store does not
have it and the staff at Hotel Tajikistan where I used the ATM told me about this bazaar all the way down the southern end of the town. And while there I checked out flight schedules as well in case I don't get to cross borders by land for my next destination,had a hearthy lunch at the GH, bought Korean pickled veggies from the market. Later the bikers joined me and a new guy from Korea arrived, Mitchell, we were fed dinner by our kind host, very nice of them, then I went to town to do some internet.
I arrived back late in the GH and Mitchell was already snoring away, the bikers were still out, they took their bikes with them to meet some fellow bikers at the Italian restaurant in town, they don't want to walk. After a lazy morning the next day, the bikers finally left past 10am while I try to get hold of my CS host, Firuz, who will be in town for some business. Most of the day I spent trying to get in touch with him,by phone, since I have no mobile I borrow from people, the taxi driver in the
corner, the reception desk at the internet cafe, everyone is kind enough to lend me their phone. I finally got a definite meet up place with Firuz around 3pm, we meet at 102 microrayon taxi stand, so I said goodbye to Mitchell and took the #8 bus, took awhile, a good 20 minutes and finally arriving at 102 microrayon I heard my name AS I come off the tram.
Firuz was waiting for me with his brother Iskander, turns out they spent most of the day trying to buy a new car for Iskander, Firuz is as friendly and down to earth as I remember him from a week ago when we met the 1st time at his cousin's wedding. we drove towards the Karatag valley, Iskander drives like a race car driver, and in no time we arrived in their parent's summer home. beautiful with a big garden and lots of separate buildings, they have orchards of a variety of fruits, from apples to nectarines, veggie patch, and also a pond where they keep live fish they caught from the river nearby. Lots of water too, springs, fountains etc, abundance of it in this dry arid condition, the
glacier mountains gives them more than enough. I met their mom who welcomed me like a son, and the father later, coming from an excursion at the Iskander Kul area welcomed me warmly as well.
Firuz' father is a very interesting man, his occupation as a well known Engineer and good reputation in their village commands respect in itself, and I can see how the people around him have high regard for him and at first I was a bit uncomfortable being around him, I don't know whether I should bow to him or genuflect, but seriously he was a very warm father like figure once I got to know him. his English is not excellent but through his sons as translators he related to me life during the Soviet times and how he was sent to Afghanistan to fight the war, he knew Afghanistan very well and offered tips as I planned to travel there(inshallah!) His sons respect him so much that they refuse to be seen drinking alcohol in front of their Dad, Firuz explained to me his father must know they drink but out of politeness as this is his house they don't show it to
him, now that's what I call respect!!!
Later on his other brother, Inom came later with his family they come home to their summer house for the weekend, everyone wants to practice their English, I am more than happy to converse with them.I was given the honor of having to drink with the father, he laid down a few booze on the tea bed, and asked me which I want, I chose the cognac as they have excellent cognacs here surprisingly enough,unfortunately none of the boys is willing to drink with us. This 3 brothers immediately became my surrogate bros, we got along so well and quickly, finally when their dad went to bed Iskander chugged a few to keep up with me but passed out quickly and started snoring on the tea bed, quite funny.
Firuz and I slept in the other tea bed above the fish pond outside, it rained and got a bit windy but comfortable for us as it was very hot earlier on, even when it was cloudy. the next morning I got up early we all had breakfast quickly and the boys in the family have to attend their cousin's circumcision
ceremony, I did not know I was invited, we got to the place and everyone is shaking my hand and being introduced to the family, we sat down in the table and ate some plov, all the guests were men, I did not meet the lucky boy whose manhood will be snipped soon, but a bunch of kids found me and surrounded me, curious where am from etc. I got bores so I taught them a few words in English and before you know it all the neighborhood kids are being introduced to me, I was a hit to every kid in the block even to a few old men, no women here except maybe for the females in the family. Firuz finally pried me off the kids and we left to drop off Inom's Mercedes Benz for service, we have to leave it there as there was an alignment problem, we took a taxi back to their house.
Firuz and I took a nap as it was too hot to do anything anyway,then the 4 of us boys went up the canal and had a swim, the water comes from the river it's is numbingly cold but occasional
trash shows up, it's not entirely clogged up and the water is clean just have to dock a few cotton fruits and watermelon rinds. we had a great time jumping like little boys. then their Russian cousin came for a visit from Novosibirsk. They were talking in Russian and I can't understand them, they luckily rescued me from my 2nd day of booze session with the Dad, drunk and inebriated I sat in the table with the family and just ate everything on the table as they converse in Russian. We walked them back to their house and the Dad of the Russian girl wants us to stay for a few rounds which we luckily dodged.Before bed I had a 30 minute conversational English with the borhters to practice their skills, all 3 of them can speak it just needs to engage in regular conversation to get better. I practically collapsed in bed after that, really spent.
The next morning after breakfast all 5 of us boys(inclduing their cousin) went out to do a few chores, 1st to pick up Inom's car at the service place, an older gentleman came up to us and all the boys shook his
hand so I did as well, with Inom getting an extra, getting planted a kiss in the cheek, later on when the man left he asked his brothers who is that man??? I thought they knew everyone we shake hands with, but it's just a polite gesture when greeting an older person I guess. Next up to the bazaar where we did some food shopping, tomatoes, onions, eggplants, heaps of fruits, and so cheap here I think i can live here and be prosperous! We stayed in one part of the bazaar while Firuz did most of the buying and I got to conversation with the vendors, a woman asking me what the fruits she is selling are in English. a young boy sat next to us asked Inom if I was from Azerbaijan?huh?
From the market we stopped at the Aluminum factory, the brothers do service maintenance on weekends to 2 mobile phone loader, part time on weekends and they get 3% from the profit, I helped them count the money when we got to the drop off place,they earned $10 , a decent amount considering they have to do nothing other than get the money from the
machine and count it in front of a man in the office. A stop for beer at a local beer factory, crap beer, very flat. Then to the local butcher to buy some beef and then quick stop at their uncle's vineyard for some quick snapshots of the grapes and finally before we headed back, watermelons on the side of the street, phew. What a day and it is only 12pm. scorching hot we retired to their family summer house and had a heavy lunch.
Had a quick nap then Iskander thought we should go and fish in the evening in the river so I helped him take the net weighted on the ends with lead, quite heavy and we mended the holes, we drove about 1/2 hour out to the better part of the river at Shakrinav, Iskander was driving like mad weaving through, goat, sheep and cow herds on the road, music blaring in the car, quite fun but dangerous, we picked up their friend in Shakrinav then to the river. At first Iskander can't catch a thing and the mozzies came out at dusk and pestered us for the rest of our time there, we were
losing hope of catching anything, then Firuz had a go and caught 2 mid sized fish one after the other, unfortunately that was the only catch we had, we drank the beer we bought earlier in town then headed back home to another hearthy meal,my adopted family is so good at feeding me I probably gained a few pounds on my 3 day stay here with them, fruit trees abound, apples, plums, apricots, some berries, and a vegetable patch, my kind of summer house, when I get home I will try to copy their garden set up, they are so ingenious, they make do of every space in their yard efficiently, anyway my stay here has ended and I need to move on to do some hikes again.
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