Category Archives: 3 – Tajikistan

Out of the mountains, arrived in Dushanbe

A few hours ago, we arrived in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, after about ten days on the road. Dushanbe is a relatively civilized place, and we’re staying in a fancy hotel just to unwind and get clean. We are healthy and doing well.

Our crossing of the 1000-kilometer (600-mile) Pamir Highway and associated roads took as long as driving across the United States, but we were in no hurry in such beautiful mountains. We spent most of the last five days skirting along the Panj / Amu Darya river, known in ancient times as the Oxus. This river forms the border with Afghanistan for most of its length from the Wakhan valley to the Uzbek border. At times we were close enough to throw a rock across the border (and we did!). I was tempted to swim across, but it looked cold. We have lots of stories and pictures, which we’ll post on the blog in due time.

We expect to stay two nights in Dushanbe before moving on to a destinations in the far north of Tajikistan. We will then cross into Uzbekistan at Samarkand and Bukhara. We will then proceed into Turkmenistan on the 19th. We’ll be back in Uzbekistan on the 24th through the beginning of November, when we will pass through Kazakhstan and the western deserts of China (Xinjiang and Gansu provinces). By the third or fourth week of November, we should be back in Kunming for some more Chinese language. It sounds like a lot, but it should be generally easier travel through built-up regions with normal hotels and road transportation.

More to come as time and internet access permit.