Tajikistan lives in the shadows of the neighboring Stans, but it still played a key role in the history of Central Asia as a crossroads for culture, commerce, and religion. Even though the Tajik people were dominated by foreign empires for centuries – Persians, Mongols, and Russians; they still have a strong sense of cultural pride and resilience. The foundation of the Tajikistan identity is formed from the enduring presence of Persian culture, the impact of the Silk Road, the spread of Islam, and the traditions of the Sogdians (ancient Iranian civilization that was the economic and cultural heart of the Silk Road between the 4th and 8th centuries CE). 

Tajikistan became an independent nation when the USSR dissolved in 1991 just like the other Stans. The country had a tough start to independence and broke into civil war from 199-1997 between regional, political, and Islamic factions that caused tens of thousands of deaths and crippled the economy. President Emomali Rahmon came into control starting in 1994 and hasn’t given up power since running the country under authoritarian rule. Endemic corruption, repression of political groups, kleptocracy and nepotism are deeply intertwined with the ruling family’s grips on power. The original constitution had a five year presidential term limit which was then modified to seven followed by two consecutive seven year term limits and he has since removed these limits and been in power for over 30 years. He also lowered the age for presidential candidates clearing a direct path for his son’s political rise. The extended Rahmon family and their close associates control the nation’s major commercial banks, airlines, retail monopolies, and resource extraction companies. When elections get held every five years, he wins by a landslide receiving 80-90% of the votes. Hmmm sounds sketchy. All around Tajikistan were photos of Emomali Rahmon and the museums portrayed him as a hero. I loved the Tajik people I met and didn’t have it in me to ask their actual opinions on the country’s politics.

Tajikistan is as mountainous as it comes with 93% of the country’s total territory covered by mountains, making it one of the most rugged countries on Earth. Approximately half of the country lies at an altitude over 3,000 meters above sea level. It reminds me a lot of Bolivia. Speaking of Bolivia comparisons, Tajikistan is one of the poorest counties in Asia, consistently ranking near the bottom for average GDP with roughly one third the average of Central Asia. It is even significantly poorer than Bolivia, which is interesting because it definitely didn’t feel that way, but the numbers don’t lie. Lots of people in rural Tajikistan live below the poverty line and have poor access to education, health, and other basic amenities. 

Okay done with history and facts, here’s my take on Tajikistan…I think it was my favorite of the Stans. As if I wasn’t already off the beaten path, now I really wandered away from the norm entering Tajikistan. It’s the least touristy of the main four Stans, which is saying something. Most backpackers and adventure seekers come to Tajikistan to drive, hitchhike, or bike the Pamir Highway. While Tajikistan has many similarities to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; there was also a different feeling culturally and linguistically. Tajik people look more Persian and the language itself is a variety of Persian rather than Turkish. Luckily the only two words I really knew how to use in the Stans were pretty much universal across all four of the countries: assalamu alaykum (used as a greeting – technically means “peace be upon you.” When saying this phrase it’s common to put your hand your heart.) and rahmat (meaning thank you).

A few observations about Tajikistan:

The Tajik people might have been the friendliest of all four Stans. More on that with my stories ahead but the locals were very grateful to have us in their country and fully welcomed us with their hospitality and kindness. 

They love RC Cola. Who knows at what point this Columbus, Georgia based soda company struck a deal with Tajikistan, but it could be found everywhere in the country; which wasn’t the case in the other Stans. I decided to look it up while writing this blog post. When the Soviet Union collapsed, global giants like Coca-Cola and Pepsi focused their initial investments on larger, more affluent post-Soviet markets. RC Cola International took a different path, entering a strategic partnership with the local Tajik beverage company Obi Zulol in 1995. By the time their massive local bottling plant opened in Istaravshan in 2000, RC Cola had virtually zero international competition. Coca-Cola did not even open an official bottling plant in Tajikistan until 2014, giving RC Cola a crucial 14-year head start to capture the market, secure distribution networks, and build multi-generational brand habit. A little fun fact of the day. 

Lots of people have gold teeth. Another thing I felt inclined to look up for this blog post. During the Soviet era, dental medicine in the USSR lacked the advanced, tooth-colored composite resins or porcelain materials available in Western dentistry. When a tooth needed a crown or a bridge, dentists relied on the materials they had in abundance. Gold was the ideal choice because it is highly durable, does not corrode in the mouth, is malleable enough to shape easily, and is biocompatible. If someone needed a tooth replaced or protected, gold was often the standard medical prescription, rather than a purely cosmetic choice. Historically, the economic volatility following the collapse of the Soviet Union left many Central Asians deeply distrustful of local banks and paper currency. Gold crowns served as a practical, inflation-proof way to wear your life savings. If a family hit a severe financial crisis or needed emergency cash, a gold tooth could be easily extracted, melted down, or sold to a jeweler to pay for unexpected expenses.

Khujand

Khujand is the second-largest city in Tajikistan and the capital of the northern Sughd province, with a population of approximately 191,000 to 198,700 people. The city is over 2,500 years old dating back to Cyprus the Great, making it one of Central Asia’s oldest cities. It was once a flourishing Silk Road hub and ancient powerhouse. I had never even heard of it a few days before we decided to head there, and assumed we were only going there as a stop off on the way to the Fann Mountains. But then I researched the city and realized it had a deep history with a number of sites to see making it worth spending two days exploring.

Getting In

Now that the Pamir Highway crew was set (me, Ken, Tobi, and Emiel), the four of us would be traveling together in Tajikistan for a week before even setting off on that adventure. It was a long day of travel getting from Osh to Khujand with multiple forms of transportation and two border crossings. We started the commute at 8am. Even though Kyrgzstan and Tajikistan share a border (and with that a history of conflict since the collapse of the USSR but current relations are fine), the quickest route to get to Khujand was to go through Uzbekistan. It was only a 15 minute Yandex from our hostel in Osh to the border with Uzbekistan. The Kyrgzstan side of the border is lined with money exchange stands on the walk up to the border checkpoint. There was a short line of people and once again Ken had issues; a running theme of the trip. He had three entry/exit stamps in Kyrgyzstan and the guard was having difficulty counting the dates so they brought him to a back room. We waited on the other side for him and luckily he got thru after about 10 minutes. 

Then we walked to border patrol on the other side and crossed into Uzbekistan. This side of the border is an open market with vendors selling food and souvenirs and people offering to exchange money. We bought some samsas to eat. Just past the market is where the taxi vultures are waiting to prey on everyone who crossed the border. This is my least favorite part of the Stans, especially after our snaffoo going from Bishkek to Jalal Abad. However it’s a necessary evil. We immediately got harassed by multiple drivers. Luckily we had a group of four so we had some leverage on negotiating the price because we were already a full car. Plus Emiel is a bargaining hound from the Netherlands and Tobi is a German musician with a limited budget so they weren’t going to let us get ripped off too much. After some back and forth with a few drivers, we got a price that we thought was fair enough – 20,000 Uzbek som each, or a little under $17, to go about four hours to the Tajikistan border. The difficult part was fitting all four of us and our bags in one car. Even though the driver had a smaller car, this wasn’t his first rodeo and he had rope that extended his trunk capacity. The driver played vibey Arabic techno and deep house and overall the ride went very smoothly. We didn’t pay until the end but he was true to his price and all was well. 

This was one of the easiest border crossings I’ve done. We were the only people exiting Uzbekistan and entering Tajikistan at this checkpoint. The currency exchange inside the Tajik border patrol office was out of money. Welcome to Tajikistan! But there were some guys hanging out on the other side who were able to exchange some of Ken’s USD at a reasonable rate. Taxi drivers were trying to sell us a ride, but I had read we could take a marshutka to the small border town of Konibodom and then another marshutka from there to Khujand. It was still early in the day and time was on our side so we went the public transportation route.  The ride to Konibodom was less than 30 minutes and cost a few dollars for all four of us. 

We were going to grab lunch before continuing the last 1.5 hours to Khujand but there was a marshutka waiting that was nearly full so we decided to capitalize on the quick turnaround. They were telling us we had to pay for one extra person for our bags because they took up a seat (which to be fair they did take a seat. This would be common in Tajikistan because they don’t have trunk space on the marshutkas and buses). Then this Tajik kid who was probably in his early 20s helped us out and started talking to the marshutka salesman for us. Without us even asking, he paid for all of our seats, and he wouldn’t take our money. He told us that he got treated well by locals when he traveled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and wanted to pay it forward. When we arrived in Khujand, the kid continued showing us next level kindness by ordering us a taxi (Yandex doesn’t exist in Tajikistan) to make sure we didn’t get ripped off. He proceeded to pay for the taxi too, even though we said it wasn’t necessary and offered to pay for the ride. I felt a little guilty because Tajikistan is a poor country and there’s no way this kid has much money, but he wanted to show us Tajik hospitality and was adamant on paying for these rides for us. We could really learn something in the western world from this type of friendliness toward strangers. 

Lodging 

We didn’t book accommodation in advance because Tobi’s philosophy is “let’s just show up and see.” The taxi drove us to one of the only hostels in Khujand so we were putting our faith in Tobi’s system. We were dropped off right in front of the Khujand fortress. Uhhh where’s the hostel, in the fort? We asked someone on the streets and turns out that yes it really was in the fort. To our good fortune, there was space available in the dorms the next two nights, and for $11 a night, we slept inside a fort built sometime between the 5th to 7th century BC.

Wandering around Town

The Tajik hospitality continued our first night. Tobi had a Mastercard, and it was hard to find ATMs in Tajikistan that accepted Mastercard, most were Visa only. We were walking around looking lost when a local who spoke great English came up and asked if we needed any help. We told him our situation and he dropped everything he was doing to help. He was a Tajik guy from Khujand who had spent 20 years working in finance in Washington DC (hence why spoke perfect English) that was now a French professor at the university in Khujand. Quite the career path. He called one of his French students who had a Mastercard to figure out how he withdrew money. He got the name of a bank that took Mastercard and walked with us to the ATM offering restaurant recommendations along the way. We walked 10 minutes and sure enough the ATM worked for Tobi. This guy went way out of his way to help us, but we were learning that such is the norm in Tajikistan. He also recommended a restaurant that served beers so naturally that’s where we went for dinner. We ordered a number of rounds of draft beer and shashlik. At one point this Russian guy sat down at our table (he said he was Ukrainian but our impression based on how it all shook down was that he was Russian and didn’t want to tell us). He was entertaining at first but eventually his antics turned annoying. He kept trying to arm wrestle everyone and he didn’t catch the hint that we weren’t enjoying his vibe. He also started ordering beers on our tab. It would have been fine for 10-15 minutes but when he didn’t leave after 30+ minutes we were forced to close our tab in order to get rid of him. Maybe for the best. The check came and each beer cost about $0.80. Gotta love Tajikistan! 

Khujand Fortress 

The Khujand Fortress is one of Central Asia’s oldest fortifications originally established in the 6th to 5th century BC and famously fortified in 329 by Alexander the Great. It got completely destroyed in the 13th century by Genghis Khan and has since been reconstructed. Now it served as the backyard to our hostel keeping us safe from any invaders. 

Inside the fortress is a row of artisan workshops where local masters demonstrate and sell Tajik crafts. At first glance this is easy to miss, but we decided to walk around the courtyard and stumbled upon this hidden gem. There was a corner for each different craft – woodworking, drawing yard, stone art, pottery, merchant’s yard, weavers yard; and each one had beautiful gardens and courtyards. The artists are all happy to invite you in and talk about their craft. 

My favorite was the musical instrument shop where the guy and his son were crafting dombras and other folkloric instruments. Tobi is a guitarist and took a huge interest in this shop. The guy showed off his skills on the different instruments he had crafted. Tobi took a crack at the dombra too. 

In the center of the fortress is a beautifully tiled museum with ornate and intricate designs, bright colors, and beautiful walls and ceilings. The geometric mosaic patterns were very emblematic of traditional Islamic architecture. 

Panjshabe Bazaar

The Panjshabe bazaar is similar to other markets in Central Asia with endless vendors selling food and clothing. It didn’t look that big from the outside but once inside it’s an absolute maze of shops. It was a good place to buy nuts and other snacks for our Fann Mountains trek. I would rather support the local vendors than the grocery stories. On our way out, Ken and I wanted to try a red pear and they just gave it to us for free. Can people get any nicer?! Nearby the bazaar were a few mosques and a mausoleum.

Kamoli Khujandi Park

The river front park by the fortress was incredibly lively at night. Locals walked around with kids way past their bedtime as the city lights shined on the bridge. There was an old Russian gondola that took you across the river that Emiel had his heart set on taking. We took it during our day walking around the city to humor him. It was absolutely terrifying. This rickety gondola needs to be retired. It took close to 30 minutes to go across the river and felt like it could break down at any moment. I could have walked faster. An experience nonetheless. On the other side of the river was the statue of Lenin and this other World Cup trophy shaped building we thought was cool.

Panjakent 

Panjakent is another historically rich Tajikistan city unknown to most with a population of around 52,000 people. Just a stone’s throw away from Uzbekistan and the famous city of Samarkand, it was once a thriving Silk Road merchant hub and now serves as a popular gateway to the Fann Mountains. 

Getting In

We were a bit worried about being able to leave Khujand because our hostel told us that the President, the infamous Emomali Rahmon, was coming to Khujand the day we planned to leave so a lot of roads in the city would be blocked. In order to avoid this chaos, we got off to a 6:30am start. We had the hostel order us a shared taxi, which might have been a few more dollars than if we went to the bus station ourselves, but saved the headache of haggling and having to fit all four of us plus our bags on two separate rides. The driver had a BYD SUV so we all comfortably fit. It was a smooth ride that got more mountainous and beautiful as we got closer to Panjakent and our first taste of the Fann Mountains. A little over halfway through the ride, we asked the driver if we could stop somewhere to get samsa for breakfast. He stopped in a little village where we sat around a counter with a group of locals eating the best samsa that I’d eaten so far. The ride took about 4.5 hours and we arrived in Panjakent before noon.

Lodging 

We stayed in a family run hostel with one big 14 person dorm room. The 8 year old son (give or take) was working on his English and showed us our beds. The family even had a pet goat that hung out in the courtyard! We spent two nights here, one before our trek in the Fann Mountains, and one after. Emiel wanted to stay up in a mountain town by the Seven Lakes; whereas Ken, Tobi, and I were going to hike in the Fann Mountains. We said our goodbyes to him and would meet back up later. He ended up getting food poisoning in the mountains so we didn’t see him again until Dushanbe. 

There was a chatty mid 50s Iranian guy who lives in Toronto that had spent the last two months in Panjakent. Talk about slow travel. I get staying in one place and soaking it all in, but there really wasn’t anything to do in town. He was working on his Tajik so I guess that’s a big reason why. He also loved talking to every new guest in the hostel. Hey to each their own!

Wandering Around Town

There were only two things to do in town. One was to go to the bazaar, which was very hectic compared to most the others I went to. For a few dollars, we got a delicious Lagman soup at a restaurant inside the bazaar. We also picked up a few fruits and veggies for the trek. 

The other attraction was the Panjakent ancient ruins. Ken had no interest in going and Tobi was out somewhere so I went by myself. It was just a short walk from the hostel. The ruins date back to pre-Islamic times during the Sogdian civilization around the 5th century CE. The buildings are composed of mud and clay bricks and have mostly eroded so there wasn’t a whole lot to see, but I closed my eyes and tried to imagine life here in the old world. It also provided a good viewpoint of the modern city.

Fann Mountains Trek – 3 days, 2 nights; 18.44 miles; 7,040 feet elevation gain;  5,843 feet elevation loss

Tobi, Ken, and I woke up early to take the marshutka to Artuch, the village at the base of the Fann Mountains. Multiple taxi drivers tried to hustle us for a ride but we kept refusing. Some helpful locals told us which marshutka to keep an eye out for and let us know when it had arrived because otherwise it wasn’t super obvious. It was about a 1.5 hour ride to Artuch.

Fann Mountains Trek Day 1 – 8.67 miles; 3,894 feet elevation gain; 299 feet elevation loss

We met a British couple on our marshutka and started the hike out with them. The first section was along a 4×4 road up to Artuch Base Camp. After 10 minutes of hiking, a group of Tajik women yelled at us from their yurts and we took that as an invitation to join them. They offered us chai tea and bread with a goat yogurt dipping sauce. The bread was very hard and stale but the main woman kept giving us more and more bread. Every time I would finish my portion she would give me more. Dammit! I felt bad not eating it so I dipped the bread in my chai to make it softer. We communicated through Google Translate and hand motions. There was an 18 year old girl and two older woman, one who had ten kids and the other had eight kids. Big families! Tajikistan must be a growing population. One of the woman kept enthusiastically yelling Tajikistan ba pesh! I would later find out this means Tajikistan forward; kind of like a let’s go Tajikistan chant. It was a useful phrase to know and came in handy to say to locals. 

The nice Tajik women would have let us stay forever but after about 30 minutes we thanked them for the chai tea and bread and continued on our way. The 4×4 road had a few steep moments but the time passed quickly while we chatted with our new British friends before saying good bye to them at Artuch base camp (where they were staying for the evening). The dirt road turned into a trail along the river where we passed by the occasional yurt or small house with farmers tending to their land.  

The path started with a moderate incline but became steeper and more rocky as we started getting further into the back country. We were finally surrounded by the Fann mountains and I was back in my happy place. Another Stan, another mountain range. There really is no end to outdoor exploration in this part of the world. There’s a giant network of trails in this area of the Fann Mountains, and if we had more time and the weather was warmer, we could have easily planned a 6-7 day trek. 

Even though this was a “popular” hiking area in Tajikistan, we saw almost no one else. Maybe because it was the end of September and the cold weather was starting to come in. But also Tajikistan is still far enough off the beaten path that I don’t think it ever gets very crowded. Perhaps in 5-10 years these treks in the Fann Mountains will look different; just look at the growth in tourism Kyrgzstan has had. Who knows? For now it was very peaceful and quiet. 

After a few steep uphill sections, we had gained nearly 3,500 feet over the first seven miles of the hike (including the 4×4 road in) and finally reached flat terrain leading to Kuli Kalon lake where we stopped for lunch. The mountains behind the lake were stuck in the clouds, but the views were still nice. We could have stopped here to camp, but Tobi didn’t have a tent and had gotten intel from our hostel that there was a yurt at another lake slightly further up.

We continued for another 40 minutes on a flattish section before reaching our planned camping area at Bibijonat Lake. The campsite had a great view of a vertical rock face glacial mountain. We couldn’t even see the peak because of the clouds. Unfortunately for Tobi there was no yurt as he thought there would be. However at the small lake we had passed by 10 minutes prior there was an already setup tent that he could rent. He hung out with us for a bit then headed back to his campsite for dinner. Ken and I had our typical ramen dinner then hit our tents early because it was a chilly night and we needed the warmth of our sleeping bags the second it got dark.

Fann Mountains Trek Day 2 – 5.0 miles; 3,018 feet elevation gain and loss 

We woke up to blue skies and beautiful views of the glacial mountain now that it was no longer covered in the clouds. It was very cold and took awhile for sun to hit our spot. Tobi came by our campsite to say hello and to bitch about his experience the night before. He said the guy seemed very grouchy and lonely in the mountains and Tobi thought the dinner was included as part of the price of the tent rental; it was not. Tobi was heading back into town that day so he wanted to hike the mountain pass early in the day, but we were in no rush and preferred to stay in our sleeping bags until it got warmer outside. Ken and I were originally planning to get deeper into the backcountry and camp at Allaudin Lake, but we decided to skip the lake and stay a second night in the same spot. We would just day hike to Allaudin Pass instead and not go down the other side to the lake. We had some busy days ahead in preparation for the Pamir Highway and it would have been a super long day three if we went all the way to Allaudin Lake. Plus it allowed us to take it slow in the morning. 

We started hiking to the pass around 11am which began by rock hopping across the stream. As we got higher, we could see a pair of glacial blue lakes below the sheer vertical mountain face. It was a steady uphill climb with a good amount of gain, but there were lots of small switchbacks that made the incline more gradual. Our legs had gotten so strong from all of the backcountry hiking we’d be doing the previous six weeks that the 3,000 feet of elevation gain in under three miles was a piece of cake carrying only our day packs.

The clouds rolled in as we got closer to the top of the 12,000 foot Allaudin Pass and we started getting lightly rain/snowed on. It wasn’t real snowflakes but it wasn’t rain either; that in between precipitation where Mother Nature isn’t quite sure what she wants. Sure enough there were no views from the top. Oh well, at least it gave us something to do.

On our way down, the sun came back out for 15 minutes before it started lightly raining on us again. We got back to camp and I brought my sleeping pad and mat into Ken’s tent to listen to podcasts and eat snacks while it continued raining. The light rain turned into heavy rain and then it got cold enough that big wet snowflakes were coming down. We were so glad that we didn’t make the trek all the way to Allaudin Lake and were warm in our sleeping bags inside the tent. The snow kept falling for an hour and was dense enough to stick to the ground. This was the first time I’d seen it actively snowing since March in Steamboat.

There was a very slight reprieve in the precipitation that allowed for us to quickly make our ramen dinner before the storm started back up again as rain. I was podcasted out and went back to my tent to read. The rain continued into the night. When I woke up to pee in the middle of the night it was finally clear skies. The moon was full and our glacial mountain shined in the moonlight.

Fann Mountains Trek Day 3 – 4.77 miles; 128 feet elevation gain; 2,526 feet elevation loss 

We had gone to bed by 7pm so naturally we both woke up early. It was bitter cold but the snow on the ground by our camp had already melted. All the surrounding mountains were covered with a fresh coating of snow creating a beautiful winter wonderland.

We were super cold packing up camp and our gear was soaked, but this was a problem for later. The British couple from a few days before thought the marshutka from Artuch back to Panjakent left at 1pm so we had to get down the mountain and back into the village before then. When the sun came out, it didn’t take long for us to shed all our morning layers and hike down in our tee shirts. We went down back from whence we came in day one. Some of the sections were even steeper than I remembered. 

We got back to Artuch base camp where a taxi was waiting and offered us a ride to Panjakent. We caved and decided to take it back rather than hike another five miles to the village of Artuch in hopes of catching a marshutka that we weren’t even fully sure existed. The price was a little high and we tried to haggle him down but he didn’t budge. In the end, it was reasonable enough to say yes to; especially after a few days of hiking and sleeping in the cold. We had the car to ourselves for the first 30 minutes before picking up a father and son from a nearby village. The kid sat in the middle of us and the father in the front. The winding roads became too much for the kid and he started turning green. The father handed him a bag and the kid started puking right in between us; at least he did a good job keeping it in the bag. As someone who got carsick as a kid, I can relate. Do we get some sort of discount for this? I think we all know the answer to that. The ride in the taxi was much quicker than the marshutka a few days before and we got back to Panjakent by noon. It was nice to be back in town and have the whole afternoon to chill. Plus it gave us plenty of time to dry out our soaking wet camping gear. 

Dushanbe 

Dushanbe is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan with a population of approximately 1.56 million people serving as the nation’s political, cultural, and industrial epicenter. There really isn’t a whole lot to see and do in the city, but it served as our starting point for the Pamir Highway.

Getting In

There was only one bus from Panjakent to Dushanbe that left between the ambiguous hours of 6:30-7am every day so Ken, Tobi, and I decided it was worth waking up early to walk 30 minutes to the station and take the bus rather than dealing with the taxi hustle. The bus didn’t have a trunk so they made us pay for two extra seats for our three big bags. Sigh. Oh well still cheaper than a taxi. We got 45 minutes down the road when the bus stopped and this woman who looked pale as a ghost got off. We’re sure what happened but they lied her on the ground outside and wrapped her in a blanket. We sat on the bus while other people huddled around her trying to help. We also with Tobi on the bus going from Almaty to Karakol that broke down multiple times. He’s our bad luck charm. Finally a car came and picked her up (I guess they don’t have ambulances in this part of Tajikistan) and presumably took her to the hospital. Hopefully she’s okay. The bus ride got more interesting was we winded along switchback roads cutting through the Pamir mountains. We entered a long, dark tunnel and came out to massive snow capped mountains. The bus stopped for a 20 minute bathroom and snack break at a beautiful rest stop. After 6.5 hours we finally made it to Dushanbe. There is no Yandex, but Jura taxis run the streets (every other car in Dushanbe has the Jura branded logo) and we quickly hailed one down. 

Lodging 

Once again we took the Tobi approach and showed up at a hostel to see if they have any rooms for the next two nights and once again it worked out. They had a four person dorm with queen sized beds, a gigantic bathroom, and a TV. What a luxury! It was a real treat watching cable TV in Tajikistan. It had programming and news from this side of the world you would never see at home – Tajikistan, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan. We were just casually watching the Afghanistan International channel trying to figure out what’s going on in the different news stories then would switch over to IranTV for an Iranian sitcom. I love watching TV internationally. In Rio de Janeiro Matt and I got really into a few different Brazilian sitcoms; in Verona I watched Legally Blonde dubbed in Italian; in Latin countries I frequently watched telenovelas. It’s entertaining to watch, even if you don’t understand the language. 

Wandering around Town

After our long bus ride, we went to a traditional Tajik restaurant by the hostel and ordered family style shakarob – beef, tomatoes, raw onion, parsley, and dill served on a flatbread. It was nice to eat something new and the best meal we had in Tajikistan! The restaurant was so good that we went back the following night to try their plov; which was an excellent version of the dish we’d all eaten so many times.

Not surprisingly more people in Dushanbe spoke basic English than the rest of Tajikistan. The city has a more modern feel with wide avenues and sleek looking buildings. Walking the streets on a weekday, people were dressed in suits and formalwear for work. It’s not like the casual business environment in the U.S. these days. 

We used our time in Dushanbe to shop for snacks, water, beer, vodka, toilet paper, and any other essential supplies we needed for the Pamir Highway. 

Rudaki Park and National Museum of Tajikistan

Sitting in the center of the city is the well landscaped Rudaki Park which has lots of flowers, trees, water fountains, monuments, a gigantic flagpole, governmental buildings, and the National Museum of Tajikistan.

The museum was a 24,000 square meter facility and had a bit of everything – archaeology from the Silk Road and Sogdiana Empire, Buddhist statues, ancient manuscripts of classic Persian calligraphy (this was my favorite; it was so impressive to see these manuscripts still intact after hundreds of years), natural history and geography, folk art and culture, ceramics, paintings, and of course an entire room dedicated to President Emomali Rahmon. There was even a photo of him with Obama! The museum far exceeded the zero expectations we had and we ended up spending 1.5 hours exploring all the different rooms. They didn’t allow for photography but I had to sneak a quick photo of the coolest instrument I’ve ever seen.