A Border crossing and Tunneling to Dushanbe

Finally, a fab city!
An Irish pub? I guess they're everywhere, and you two have an excellent way of ferreting them out--bravo! Love the parks and tulips, but I'm pretty aghast at the $20 museum for pottery shards. And yes, that mountain scenery is incredible! I'd never even known of these safety tunnels until I crossed the Andes between Santiago and Mendoza, which I imagine you did, too, when down here, though the SA ones have windows, so there's more ventilation and light, so no claustrophobia. Pretty trippy to be able to whip through these little countries so fast.

Working your way through the Stans
Now I'm curious about what Tajikistani hip hop/techno sounds like :) I love a country that claims to have the tallest and biggest stuff! We were told that a flagpole in KL was one of the tallest in the world, and I'm guessing we made the same jokes you did. I just did a quick google search and looks like there are a few claims to fame about the tallest flagpoles, and did you know that there's a difference between supported and un-supported tallest flagpoles? Also apparently, it's not just the height of your flagpole but the size of the flag you fly too. Hehe. Seriously ;)