http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Tajikistan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Tajikistan en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:56:36 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:56:36 UTC After spending a night in Murghab which is indeed a pretty wild and slightly offputting kinda place nathaniel and I headed up to the Murghab Eco Tourism Authority to see if we could organise a car and driver for the trip north. We had a few days to spend in the Pamirs and so organised a trip. First the driver dropped us off on one side of a ridge and we walked along the Gumbezkul over the pass http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-326661.html My search for a travel buddy to share costs to rent a car and driver for the Wakham valley turned out well meeting Nathaniel a French guy doing a silk road trip from Instanbul to Kasgar. Time was pretty short so we organised the 4x4 through one of the agencies paying US500 for the full trip from Khorog on the western boundary of Tajikistanian Pamirs to Murghab in the middle of the Eastern Pamirs http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-326644.html Well I had heard so many bad things about the road down from Penjikent to Dushanbe whether to go through the tunnel of doom or the pass of many nightmares It seemed like the choice that Frodo and the rest of the nine walkers had to make whether to cross the pass of Caradhras or whether to go through the mines of Moria.... had to get a bit of LOTR somewhere into this blog Added to this the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-323897.html The trip south into the Pamirs was the real definitation of a road journey. The total trip virtually nonstop was 20 hours along very scenic but often quite frightening mountain scenary. My day started early leaving the Adventureer's Inn at 6am following by a taxi ride across town towards the airport and shared taxi stop for the Pamirs. I met a guy who looked like a 'good' driver and we decide http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-323373.html Today I ventued out to Hissar a town with at least a 3000 year history. The remains of a fort with restored gatehouse and a couple of Madrassas and a great museum. AFter the conventional tourists part I found the Stone Mosque in the South of Town which dates with sections from the 9th century. But looking at it I'd have to wonder if this is really true. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-322748.html A little of the journey follows. With Katherine an english historian I met in the hostel I caught a shared taxi from nearby the hostel. This was a first mistake of a couple made which clearly just adds to experience without all that much danger. He drove us literatly 800 metres and stopped at a share taxi station. The problem was it was the wrong taxi station and then after heavy price negia http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-322747.html You need a special permit to explore Pam Ayres because this is a highly sensitive area. It's well worth it though to see giant peaks and dramatic vistas into the valleys. If you go deep into the valleys and hunt in amongst the bushes you find all sorts of hidden wonders that will bring you great pleasure.I am of course talking about the Pamirs of Tajikistan where I've been for most of the l http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-285338.html Big day of tasting today. 31 wines in two caves before and after lunch a day of two caves as you might say and the lesson is that the French are not going to let just any geek off the street taste their best wine. We learned that the 2000 reds are in decline and the Burgundians are trying to get rid of them The 2004 reds were mostly no good. We tasted one worthwhile red and one wo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-219632.html Thurs 18th Tuesday 24th July 2007I don't know what this blog says about me the people I met or just Tajikistan in general but the most memorable things that happened to me in my remaining time in Tajikistan involved bus taxi journeys and two journeys in particular. During the remaining seven days that I was in Tajikistan I visited the capital Dushanbe and a couple of other places but eve http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-199807.html As I wrote last time we arrived safely in Alichur and checked in to the home stay of the local English teacher a 50 year old woman.She was living with her husband two of her children and a nephew who was on visit from Khorog.We explored the huge village and found out that it is half Tajik and half Kyrgyz with the city hall in the middle.The Tajiks live in the Western part where you find a T http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-199269.html Safely arrived in Dushanbe I took my time to relax and regain strength for the next step of my journey...The city itself is very nice though unexciting and not very interesting. Yoursquoll find treelined avenues filled with Russian cars big Land rovers of development aid workers and the occasional Mercedes of a Tajik who made his fortune with his contacts or by selling out the country's reso http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-199260.html Thurs 12th July Wed 17th July 2007I'd been undecided me never about whether to go to Tajikistan since planning this trip. It sounded like a wonderfully scenic country and would be the nearest I would probably get to being in Afghanistan without actually going to Afghanistan itself. On the other hand I wasn't sure whether I had the time or inclination to go especially as it seemed to be http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-193730.html ...as I wrote you my little bath had an influence on my onward journey...So after the nice evening in the small Tajik village I prepared myself to get up around 9 o'clock as the bus to Iskander Kul was meant to leave around 11 from the city.That night I couldn't really sleep well and you can imagine my surprise when I was woken up at 5 in the morning....we have to goWHERE WHYEverydboy wa http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-189122.html Hey Everyone Sorry for taking so long to post again we're too lazy to go to an internet cafe and Rafo's computer was having some trouble running Travelblog. How is everything in your parts of the world Peru is as gorgeous as ever we've had mixed weather a little bit from everyone. Here's a brief overview since we last postedSATURDAY January 13th Elena took a two hour bus ride and half h http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-121024.html So this is only the third entry on www.travelblog.org for Tajikistan. Unfortunately the country doesnrsquot get much coverage but I aim to change that. I will be working for over half a year in the Rasht Valley and my job will be taking me to some of the more remote areas of the country. The country is already pretty remote considering the limited number of flights in to the capital Dusha http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-82820.html There is a weekly flight from Munich to Dushanbe which saves a transit in Moscow and if you have a letter of invitation you can get a visa on arrival.Dushanbe is a peaceful city in the trees everybody walks street sweepers are out in the early morning to brush away the leaves. The cars are mostly Lada's a perfect car for the environment since you can fix it yourself. Electric powered buses http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-56620.html Boy oh boy Tajikistan is crazy This email is going to run a bit on the longer side but I think yoursquoll enjoy the read. First of all I'll tell a little bit about Tajikistanrsquos recent history so you can get an idea about where my brother and I are. Basically during the Soviet era there was alQaeda and Taliban backed Islamic Fundamentalism simmering throughout the region. For t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Tajikistan/blog-22146.html