Blogs from Tajikistan, Asia - page 12

So much has happened, and I’m afraid I’m going to forget it all—but I think I should resign myself to forgetting many things. When you are first somewhere so new and other, everything is a something, and you ride in a bumpy taxi thinking, “Look at that boy carrying a bag of flour on his shoulders bigger than he is! I have to remember that! Look how that woman is swathed head to toe and she’s walking next to a girl in a strapless top! What situational irony! Remember that! Look at how this little girl is putting on my shoes and trying to walk around! Remember, remember, remember!” And then you realize that there is no way you can remember everything, and that the day will come when deadly potholes in the middle of the ... read more

May 19, 2012 Hotel: Hotel Sugd; Khujand, Tajikistan; $75.50/dbl After the long day on the road yesterday it was nice to again have two nights in a place. There aren't a huge number of sights to see in Khujand itself. We started with an early breakfast at the hotel, it was decent enough with eggs, bread, cheese and watery dumplings. We caught a marshrutka (shared taxi) minibus to the Panjshanbe Bazaar (Thursday market) and the mosque/mausoleum of Sheikh Muslihiddin. The mosque was the first major example we had seen of Central Asian/Persian style with a tan brick minaret and curved domes. The area in front of the mosque was filled with pigeons and some children playing among them. The huge square between the mosque and the bazaar was filled with people this morning and very colorful. ... read more

What was it that made me fall in love with the place? I like challenging and remote destinations, but here Soviet-constructed roads link every settlement to its nearest town; I like culture, but here much of that has, on the surface of things, been lost, men wearing T-shirts and caps, often drinking vodka and almost invariably leaving, at least temporarily, to work in Russia, the old pre-Soviet ways of feeding one’s family having been forgotten. The scenery here is stunning, with several peaks towering above 7000m, but scenery is never the reason I travel or something that endears me to a place other than as a secondary factor. It was, of course, the Tajik people that I found so amazing. Of the fifty five countries I have visited, only the people of Vanuatu and Yap State ... read more

From Frichtamo homestay in Jawshangoz we slowly made our way out, as the path is bad, swampy bogs and dodgy bridge and river crossings, 2 locals jumped on the back of our 4wd to guide Kevin on where to go and which turn is safe to take, we made it to a gravel road and along the way we met up with a push biker, it's Ricky, the Kiwi dude we met in Pamir lodge in Khorog, we chatted a bit and then stopped at a small magasin where there is nothing worthwhile to buy, Ricky is heading towards the pass so we said bye to him. It was a long but gorgeous ride towards our target destination Turumtal Kul, an alpine lake at 4,202 meters, scenic drive it was, we felt like we are in ... read more

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. ... read more