Dushanbe

Just before arriving in Dushanbe, we stopped at a mountain pass market to get fresh pomegranate juice and sodas. We were mobbed by a small gang of hijabi girls who plucked at our sleeves and Chelsea’s hair—surprising as we have not encountered begging for months. Chelsea handed off her soda to one of the many urchins, and Dan was immediately hassled to be equally generous with his. Oops.

Dushanbe itself was basically just a rest stop for us. We stayed two nights in a private room (pure luxury), and caught up on admin. On day two, we stretched our legs by wandering around the city centre, where all the national monuments are, including the Dushanbe Flagpole, which at 165m was the tallest flagpole in the world from 2011-14. The Tajik flag is the first of any country we've visited this year that has green in it, which seems like a good omen? The flagpole has since been overtaken in stature, but it's still the tallest in Central Asia, despite Tajikistan being the poorest of its neighbours. Eat shit Uzbekistan.

Tajikistan has felt like the third chapter of a 6-week roadtrip, along with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, all of which we've toured in intense 4x4 vehicles since the start of September. The countries each have their own quirks and landscapes, but they also share a lot in common. The words for 'hello' and 'thank you' are the same across the region, despite different languages, they all have a strong disrespect for vegetables, and they are all full of unbelievably friendly and hospitable people.

We'll do a longer review when we reach Turkey, so we can include the Caucasus countries in our comparison. But for now, we've just finished the slightly terrifying drive across the border into the last 'Stan in our trip, the slightly more developed Uzbekistan! More to follow...Baca lagi