Originally I planned to do the Pamir highway in Tajikistan with the Irish couple (Niamh and Karl). After the cold in Krygystan and some research into onwards flights, I changed my mind. As much as I loved Central Asia I was starting to feel ready to move on, to have some warmth and better food and other travellers again. I didn’t think I’d have time to visit India, and had been put off from going from people who said it wouldn’t be very pleasant as a solo woman. Travelling for 9 months has done wonders for my self-belief and I felt like I would be fine visiting alone, and speaking to Alice (a british girl I met in Uzbekistan who’d been to India several times alone) cemented this. The flights I was looking at to get to Nepal had a stop-over in New Delhi, so it made much more sense to just stop there and travel to Nepal by land. This is a long way of saying that I cut my time in Tajikistan short, only visiting for 1 week and skipping the Pamir highway trip. I would love to do it another time, in the spring, perhaps on bike and maybe with my Dad (if he’s up for it)…
Impressions of Tajikistan
The people
Despite lots of warnings from Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Uzbeks, the Tajik people were very friendly. Their appearance is more Persian than Asian, and one person even said I looked like a Tajik mountain girl (he assured me it was a compliment…). My favourite thing about Tajik people is the hand on heart they do as a greeting/thank you/goodbye, like their version of an acknowledging head nod.
The scenery
Like Kyrgystan, Tajikistan is very mountainous (93% in fact) but it’s more hard rock face than green. Looking out from a panorama point the number of mountains really hit me - it was all I could see, just rows and rows of mountains. These were a purple colour, trees were sparse. The small amount of flat land is very fertile, with a huge amount of fruits and vegetables grown there in the summer. It seems like a harsh climate, and that struck me more than the beauty of the place.
The food
Same as in the rest of the region. More plov, lagman, manti and samsas. Specialty dish is Kurotob. The base of this is bread in yogurt. I had a dinner variety one in a restaurant that was surprisingly tasty, topped with meat and tomatoes and lots of fresh herbs. I had a breakfast variety at a guesthouse and it was just heavy.
The vibe
A little rougher feeling than the other countries. Proudly Persian. The cities are faux modern - tall, brand new buildings that sit empty, with most people living in one-storey houses along dirt roads. The villages are proudly not modern.
My travels
Both my entrance and exit into Tajikistan were stressful. I caught the overnight train from Samarkand, Uzbekistan to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The train guard was a very friendly man, but slightly too friendly for my liking. There was some confusion where he wanted me to move beds to the bed next to him, and I couldn’t see why, the carriage was practically empty so if I had to move I could move to an area by myself! After some very confusing google translate messages (see below) I eventually got my way and had a bed alone.
This wasn’t the end however and he made me join him to drink wine with another guard. This was all quite pleasant a part from the fact he was constantly kissing my cheeks and forehead, and trying to kiss me on the lips and neck. I felt very uncomfortable by the end and didn’t sleep well.
My exit was even more dramatic. I got the night train again, going in the reverse direction to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Completely unintentionally, and to the fault of another passenger who gestured for me to go out of the station to the platform where my train was waiting, I wriggled through what I now understand was a gap in a wall rather than a doorway, bypassing the customs and border control. The result of this was I’d illegally left Tajikistan and was completely unaware of it. This was until I was strong-armed off the train by several army men and border officials. After some initial shouting and demanding of my passport which, to make matters worse, I didn’t have as I’d handed it in to some lady on the train, my utter ignorance and therefore innocence became clear. The anger became baffled head shakes and laughs as they ran me over to the border control to get my exit stamp before the train left. Sadly that wasn’t the end of my issues on this train, with there being a man in my bed and a lady in his bed. Eventually this was sorted and I ended up in a carriage with two Turkish men, who showed me lots of pictures of sheep (I still have no idea why).
Beyond the initial and ending stress, my time in Tajikistan was very enjoyable. I used Dushanbe as a base and was surprised at how modern the city was, with lots of nice cafes for me to sit in and catch up on some blog writing. Beyond that it was an extremely grey and dreary place. I went on a two-day tour to the south of the country which was quite eventful. It was supposed to be a tour to Iskanderkul lake in the north, but the terrible weather meant the pass was closed. My guide Denis was wonderful and came up with an alternative plan, and we made a long drive south, stopping to look at different interest points on the way, me filling the rest of the time by quizzing Denis on every aspect of Tajik life (poor guy). We even saw the very end of the Tajik version of Kok boru! We had a very traditional experience at a homestay in a small village, and it was wonderful to see village life here. We spent the precious evening hours before the electricity was turned off (there have been huge problems with energy shortages in all of Central Asia this winter) playing a soviet card game with two little boys. Not to sugar coat this experience, the toilet was a literal pit in the ground in a shed at the bottom of the garden and there was no running water. I was given the one room with a fireplace in so I would be warm, this did mean sleeping on the floor but I was perfectly comfortable and was even offered a woman to sleep with me in case I was scared to sleep alone! For breakfast we had traditional Kurotob - fried bread covered in Tajik yogurt, topped with more fried bread. It was served in a giant wooden bowl and we all ate with our hands from it.
Denis and I set off for a hike but managed to pop one of the tyres on the 4WD car. I finally learnt how to change a tyre, something that’s a lot easier than I assumed, and I still got to have a little hike. We took the older road back, driving through some unbelievable little villages. The children were so striking here. Some very dark and some very fair with blonde hair and blue eyes. We stopped in one of the villages after driving past a group of girls collecting water from a spring. I watched them load up a donkey with water and then helped them carry the buckets down the road. I’m so glad I had the chance to see more of Tajikistan than just Dushanbe. Both the scenery and village life were so interesting. On arriving back into the city I went to a bar to wait for Niamh and Karl to arrive. I struck up conversation with a guy from Nigeria and a guy from South Africa after being surprised to hear english. We ended up going to a club and I marvelled at the contrast of my morning (pissing in a pit, eating with two men from a giant bowl of greasy bread) to my night (dancing in a club with gogo girls). The difference between city and village life across Central Asia is vast. I joined Denis again for a group hike, and enjoyed trudging through deep snow up a valley alongside the German ambassador for Tajikistan and other interesting expats.
