Blogs from Tajikistan, Asia - page 5

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Asia » Tajikistan » Khorog August 8th 2017

Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you either have an insatiable appetite for traveling in the more remote or lesser known places on this planet or you are a friend or family member. Either way, welcome to one of our more unique adventures. Introduction Until recently, any country containing the syllable “stan” would not have been high on our list of places to visit, but then we discovered that Shane Dallas, a.k.a. the Travel Camel was organizing a 14-day excursion to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is most worthy of note that the Travel Camel goes on the road less traveled. He is the traveler’s traveler. You will not find him hobnobbing at the Cannes Film Festival or working on his tan in San Moritz. You’re more likely to find him in Iran, Afghanistan or ... read more
One bridge to Afghanistan
Playing the sato
Mountain scenery

Asia » Tajikistan » Khorog August 8th 2017

It took us 8hrs to cover the 240km from Kalai Khum to Khorog and we ascended 1,000m to 2,150m. Pretty much the whole journey we spent in big gorges as we followed the river that marks the Tajik-Afghan border. At this point it is called the Ishkashim River but as we move up it, it becomes the Panj River. It is a big powerful river and its width varies. At the narrowest points we must have been about 30m from Afghanistan, but most of the time it is more like 100m. The whole time there was a road running parallel on the Afghan side also following the river. Gorges have sheer sides and active slips. On the Afghan side we saw where they have lost the road and were blasting out of sheer rockface 100m up ... read more
Fueling up as we head out of Kalai Khum
The truck with a little problem - we managed to squeeze through the gap between the cab and the rock
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Asia » Tajikistan » Dushanbe August 7th 2017

Tajikistan celebrates 26 years of independence from the Soviet Union on 9th September. Perhaps best known for its civil war and economic collapse of the early 90s, it has come a long way since then, however it remains one of the poorest countries in the world There is a large population of Tajiks in northern Afghanistan and also in the Uzbekistan cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. It was talking to the Tajik owner of the guest house we stayed at in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) last year that really piqued our interest in Tajikistan and the rest of the Stans. Tajikistan has strong cultural and military ties with Russia. It's economy is also heavily reliant on the paychecks of Tajik men who work away in Russia. It also has growing ties with China on its Eastern border with ... read more
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Asia » Tajikistan » Kalikum August 7th 2017

The are two options to head east from Dushanbe: "North" via the actual Pamir Highway is the more direct route, though the road condition is worse and it crosses a very high pass. Or "South" via Kulob (splitting from the Pamir Highway at Vahdat and rejoining at Kalaikhum). It picks up following the Afghanistan border earlier and while 200km longer is in better condition. Some also say the scenery is also better by a pip. This gave us a dilemma, we'd come to follow the Pamir Highway and in our minds were only going to part from the highway to explore the Wakhan Valley, but with the scenery supposedly a bit better on the South... We tried not to be swayed by the temptation to get to the Afghan border a couple of hours earlier, we'd ... read more
Our driver scoping out a damaged bridge he chose to take us through the river instead
Checkpoint entering the GBAO
The road down to Kalai Khum

Asia » Tajikistan » Dushanbe August 6th 2017

You could safely conclude that the author of this blog entry is not the one who booked the flights. Despite the flights costing an arm, a leg and a kidney, it turned out our 4 flight journey to get from Wellington, NZ to Dushanbe, Tajikistan - via Auckland, Singapore and Dubai - also had a total travel time of 39:35hrs from take off in Wellington to landing in Dushanbe (at 4:20am)... In part this was thanks to the 8:30 hour layover in Singapore and a 5:30 hour layover in Dubai (the 3 hours in Auckland being accepted as a necessary). While not a planned part of trip there was no way we were not going to try and squeeze in seeing a bit more of Singapore. We've only visited once so there is still heaps we ... read more
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A key driver for this trip is our desire to traverse the Pamir mountains. With public transport infrequent hired drivers with 4WDs are the usual mode of travel. We depart Dushanbe with the driver we've found tomorrow for a 10 day Pamir adventure that will take us to Osh in Kyrgyzstan, via the Pamir Highway, with one detour off the highway to travel through the Tajikistan side of the Wakhan Valley. So why are we so excited about this? The Pamir mountains are fabled to be one of the most highest and beautiful ranges in the world. Occupying Tajikistan, China and small parts of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan they lie between the Hindu Kush, Tien Shan and the Himalayas. Known in Persian as 'Bam-i-Dunya' or ‘Roof of the World’, they apparently form one of the most ... read more

Asia » Tajikistan » Dushanbe May 31st 2017

Als Tourist in Dushanbe muss man sehr überlegt handeln. Denn sonst weiß man nicht, was man am Nachmittag tun soll. Also frühstückte ich erst ausgiebig und langsam. Nahm dann den Bus in die Stadt - womit ich wahrscheinlich der einzige Gast im Sheraton bin, der je den ÖPNV benutzt hat. Im Moment bin ich mir sogar nicht so recht sicher, ob ich nicht überhaupt der einzige Gast bin???? Busfahren ist easy. Kostet ein GELD, das sind so etwa 10 Cent. Und es gilt die feste Regel: Junge Leute springen sofort auf, wenn jemand älterer zusteigt, egal ob Mann oder Frau. Also habe ich immer einen Sitzplatz. Von den hiesigen Busfahrer könnten sich die in München was abschauen. Die Münchner warten genüßlich, bis der Fahrgast hergerannt kommt und fast die Türe erreicht hat. Dann wir diese zugeknallt ... read more
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Asia » Tajikistan October 8th 2016

And so we get to the end of the road - an all too brief visit to Tajikistan. Still I can't complain, as us two Aussies had our visit to this country doubled in length by the stuff-up over getting a re-entry visa back into Uzbekistan (refer that blog), meaning we could not return to Almaty (to pick up our return flights to Sydney) via Tashkent as scheduled and instead had to return to Almaty via Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. So the original plan had been just an overnight visit to Khujand, the second-biggest city and within a relatively easy drive from Tashkent, before driving back to Tashkent, but instead the two of us had to leave the organised tour a day early and instead spend an unplanned night in Dushanbe. To be honest, there ... read more
Sheikh Muslihidden Mosque & Mausoleum, Khujand
Our morning tea 'snack' at the 'Tea House'
Bayrak - the World's Tallest Flagpost, Dushanbe

Asia » Tajikistan » Dushanbe September 14th 2016

14-9-16 Bishkek - Dushanbe - We took a short two hour flight from Bishkek to Dushanbe, our next Stan, and one of the last unexplored frontiers in the world. Upon arrival we headed 30km out of Dushanbe to the fortress town of Hissar which was once a stronghold of the Islamic guerrilla fighters known as Basmachi. The Basmachi fought a guerrilla war against Soviet rule in central Asia from 1917 and the Red Army eventually besieged the fortress. 15-9 Dushanbe's original settlement dates back more than three thousand years, we walked through the tree lined streets exploring the many of the flower filled parks which are watered by a network of canals that keep the city green in the dry harsh climate. Three students approached us very shyly to welcome us as they wished to practice ... read more
Traditional Dance performance
Iskanderkul Lake
flying between BIshkek to Dunshanbe

Asia » Tajikistan » Dushanbe August 13th 2016

Here we are, my last leg of my little Central Asia adventure. I know I'm already two months behind on my blogging....and yet, this is not the last blog for this summer! Sadly, I'm running short on available time. So my discovery of Tajikistan will be limited to the capital Dushanbe. Most tourists making their way to Dushanbe will do to ride the Pamir Highway. This is the highest highway in the world, opening the way to the great West of China. So this will be another trip for me, for another year.... Tajikistan have just started a month before my visit an online visa. So I was not going to wait the airport to make sure I had the visa. Job done. I'm flying in one more time with Air Astana, this time from Almaty. ... read more
Mongol Rally, I have a friend doing it, and met different cars at different times of my trip...
No lounge open today, but they are giving me free flow of Cloudy Bay complementary...I will not complain!
Dushanbe Central Market




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