Central Asia - Part 4 - Dushanbe

Ok, here is part 4, Dushanbe, Tajikistan! I have to post Tajikistan in 2 parts, otherwise it would be a ridiculously long post. So this is about Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The second part, in total part 5, will be about the day trip to Iskanderkul (lake and the mountains).

At the airport we were asked the visa to Tajikistan, even if it is e-visa, good that we both had printed it. We got 4 different stamps before even boarding! Flight to Dushanbe was about 1,5 hours, and I had arranged the airport transfer from our hotel. I took some nice photos during the flight.

Had to fill the migration form upon arrival, twice the same information (because logic), that I already have in my visa, got more stamps, even the e-visa got stamped, so bring a print with you!! Got my bag super fast, got out, and no driver. We landed early so we decided to wait a bit. Atm didn't work on our cards, but the money exchange was still open and I had some euros to change to somonis. We waited 50 mins, I even emailed to the hotel but got no answer (ever), so we took a taxi to the hotel. The receptionist just mumbled "I'm sorry" but he really couldn't care less. He said he will talk to the driver (yea right). Nobody mentioned about the transfer during our 4-night stay, until we got an actual apology the minute we left. The hotel was beautiful and we had a huge room with a balcony and a walk-in closet and a fridge etc, but the location could've been a bit closer to the centre. We had booked another hotel closer to centre, but they cancelled 2 days before arriving. That was Life hotel, do not stay there!!! They said it was an emergency and asked me to cancel my booking. I knew that emergency was that they wanted to sell the room with higher price, so I told them they have to cancel it and explain it to hotels.com. Don't mess with me... :D.

We did have a bit of a rough first few hours in Dushanbe… first the driver didn't show up, then the internet wasn't working, because the receptionist gave a voucher for only one device. Really, when two people arrive, who would think that they use internet only on one device nowadays?? And the receptionist didn’t even know this! Then Facebook and Instagram didn't work, at all in my phone because I don't have VPN on my phone and social media is blocked in Tajikistan, Google maps didn't work that well and couldn't download offline map. Or I read that social media is blocked, and it didn't work, but suddenly on Wednesday evening it started to work! Sometimes they worked, sometimes not so it is not blocked anymore. Later I heard that because of Victory Day, the government blocked social media in Kazakhstan, so maybe it was the same in Tajikistan. Found a restaurant nearby, they didn't have a menu :D, no English, the waiter said they have alcohol but no beer and no wine and went to check what they have. They found somewhere a bottle of wine (Australian red), they didn't accept card payment so my friend went to look for atm. Another waiter actually drove him, and finally he got cash out of the 4th atm they found. So we finally got food and wine! Then back to the hotel and I SO needed more wine, so I wanted to open the bottle I had bought from Arba wine in Almaty, but didn't have an opener for wine bottle. We found a video on YouTube that you should be able to open a wine bottle with a lighter, didn't work. Then it was time for the old trick, open it with nails scissors. Yep, done that before too.

I always get a wine bottle open. I just pushed the rest or the cork down with tweezers. It was good wine! But yeah, not an easy start. Tuesday morning after breakfast tried to figure out where to go, but not that easy with limited Google maps and breaking internet. We walked first to Rudeki park, because we checked that main monuments are around that park. Day was gorgeous, even 33 degrees and pure sunshine! We walked around the park, walked walked walked and took lots pics. Beautiful parks here with billions of roses, and lots of statues and monuments. And all city is just full of huge photos and paintings of their president. It felt like a cult.

Dushanbe is the home of a huge flag pole, that is the second tallest in the world. It used the be the tallest, but lost that title in 2014 to Jeddah, Saudi-Arabia. The flag pole in Dushanbe is 165 m tall, and the one in Jeddah is 171 m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Size sure seems to matter to these guys as well (hello Freud), but the most surprising this at the park was that there was hardly anyone, even though the day was gorgeous.

 

How many people you see in this picture???

 

 

 

 

 

 

This place was just full of gorgeous flowers, mostly roses

 

 

 

We went to Rohat tea house, one of the oldest tea houses. And the only place ever where they have menu for chewing cum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We actually didn't even have tea there, just ice cream, but the place was very beautiful! I noticed that Dushanbe is very clean, lot of open space, wide pavements and driveways, big parks (hardly anyone else there), the buildings in the centre seemed to be new or renovated. When walking back to the hotel we noticed a little cafe that sells ice cream. So we had ice cream again :). They had interesting ceiling in that place.

And then got lost when trying to get back to the hotel. Saw these statues on the way, and they looked interesting to me.

 

 

This was on our home street, no idea what it means though.

 

And then some other weird pics around the city

 

After getting lost in trying to get back to the hotel, we finally took a taxi, that is when we found a taxi who knew where our hotel is! I had booked a tour for us for Wednesday, to the lake Iskanderkul, but I will make the next post (part 5) about that.

Getting a taxi was not that simple in Dushanbe, because they didn't seem to know our hotel, or the street, and many didn't have a navigator. They called somewhere, maybe they have a service center or something, and sometimes it helped. But that night it didn't, and my friend tried to explain that just drive and he will guide the driver. Finally the driver got it, started driving and my friend guided him to our hotel.

 

 

Thursday was May 9th, Victory Day and public holiday. It is celebrated in many former soviet countries, for beating the nazis in WW2. In Dushanbe there was a big parade in the centre and we went to see that. Except we saw nothing and no one. Maybe the parade had been early in the morning but at 11 there was hardly anyone there and no celebrations at all. I thought it is supposed to be a big thing there, and they would really celebrate it! But nope, we missed it totally if there was something in the morning.

It was again very warm and sunny day, and because both of us had sunburns, we stayed in shade as much as possible. I had to wear long sleeves and I only had black one (duh). At least for once I wasn't freezing. We went to a sport shop, and my friend bought a t-shirt of one local football teak FC Istiklol (I just love that name), and the guys at the shop had Russian tv on and they were watching victory day parade from Moscow. Later my friend went to see a local football game (FC Istiklol won). 

 

Then it was time to head back to Nur-Sultan and get ready to go home. Part 5 will be about the day trip to Iskanderkul, and then Part 6 is back to Nur-Sultan and looking back for this trip.