After finishing up in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, we took a little detour into Tajikistan. We had started our visit to Uzbekistan in Tashkent (green arrow) and then meandered down to Samarkand (red arrow). From there we headed back east to Khujand, Tajikistan (blue arrow). After a day in Tajikistan, we would go back into Uzbekistan to visit Bukhara (yellow arrow). It didn't seem to be the most efficient route, but we were following train tracks. Besides, who needed to be efficient? We were nomads on the Silk Road, right?
The jaunt into Tajikistan turned out to be one of our most dramatic and at the same time one of our smoothest border crossings of the trip. Tajikistan is a major port for drugs coming from Afghanistan and then being dispersed to the rest of the world, and our tour company had heard some horror stories about people crossing the border into Tajikistan and being arrested for a single pain pill in their possession. They had us gather up ALL our medications (prescription and non-prescription) and anything that looked like a drug (vitamins, etc.) and put them in a bag marked with our name. They left everyone's bags in Uzbekistan with our trip doctor's brother. (Yes, we had a local doctor traveling with us. He was kept quite busy.) He would meet us when we came back across the border into Uzbekistan at another location and return our drugs to us.
Not quite sure what was ahead and a little nervous, we went to bed and our train headed towards the border. Someone came by our rooms at 12:30 AM to get our passports so that we could leave Uzbekistan, and then someone came back a few hours later to get our visas that would allow us to enter Tajikistan. To our knowledge, no local military personnel boarded the train, and it was nice that for once the border patrol did not come in our rooms to take pictures of our groggy faces.
Much ado about nothing, apparently, but better safe than sorry.
This city was named Leninabad during the "Soviet Era" (1936 to 1991), and we could see the Soviet influence, even though the Russian population today is only 3-4%.
Our guide told us that TJ (our nickname for the country, not hers) has 8.6 million people and is one of the poorest countries in the world. They have natural resources, but no process to get them out. Half of this landlocked country is also at an altitude of over 3000 meters (9842 feet).
Russia took control of this area during the late 1800s, and after the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks burned or closed mosques, synagogues, and churches. In the 1920s this region became the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. It was one of the poorest regions in the USSR. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Tajikistan declared its independence, then fought a civil war. During this time Emomali Rahmom was elected president (1992) and guess what? He still is president 26 years later. That's how it works in The Stans. This is his face on the billboards below:
I love laundry pictures, and check out that rusty satellite dish:
More satellite dishes:
. . . and that they have a fascinating history to be proud of. They converted the old citadel into a museum honoring their past:
We had a Tajik guide in this musuem who spoke Tajik and another guide (a woman named "Bobajon") translated. They dished out WAY too much information, and yeah, it was super dull. We would have liked to go at three times the speed.
The best thing in the museum was a series of marble mosaics made by a local artist that depict the life of Alexander the Great, who conquered this region in the 4th century BC. The mosaics were stunning, but the most remarkable thing is that they were completed in just one year. I think I have them here in chronological order:
. . . but it is not:
This map of the Great Silk Road shows that it is not a single, direct road, but rather a network of roads:
Something we saw in many museums on this trip: a very old copy of the Qur'an:
Now here is a name I recognize: Omar Khayyam (b. 1048 d. 1143), famous poet and mathematician. I'm not sure what his connection is to TJ; he was born in what is now Iran and lived most of his life in Bukhara, Uzbekistan:
And here is another one: Rumi (b. 1207, d. 1273), the mystic poet who was possibly born in Tajikistan (or perhaps in Afghanistan):
. . . military uniforms from the Soviet era and a bust of Comrade Stalin:
. . . and a memorial to what is called "The Great Patriotic War," or the battle between Russia and the Nazis in World War II:
We left the Citadel Museum and continued to our next destination, passing some beautiful sites along the way:
Wait. Is that a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus? What is that doing in Khujand, a city almost 4,000 miles from Rome?!
Our next stop was a monument on the banks of the glassy Syr River, which flows 1,374 miles from the Tianshan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan to the Aral Sea, or what's left of the Sea after the Soviets drained much of this river for irrigation:
The draw to this particular spot on the river is a national monument, a tall stone column topped by the state emblem of the republic of Tajikistan, created in 1993--not long after the country was officially formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union:
The jaunt into Tajikistan turned out to be one of our most dramatic and at the same time one of our smoothest border crossings of the trip. Tajikistan is a major port for drugs coming from Afghanistan and then being dispersed to the rest of the world, and our tour company had heard some horror stories about people crossing the border into Tajikistan and being arrested for a single pain pill in their possession. They had us gather up ALL our medications (prescription and non-prescription) and anything that looked like a drug (vitamins, etc.) and put them in a bag marked with our name. They left everyone's bags in Uzbekistan with our trip doctor's brother. (Yes, we had a local doctor traveling with us. He was kept quite busy.) He would meet us when we came back across the border into Uzbekistan at another location and return our drugs to us.
Much ado about nothing, apparently, but better safe than sorry.
In the morning after breakfast on the train, we were met in Khujand, the second-largest city in Tajikistan, by an eight-man band playing traditional instruments that sounded like the most annoying horsefly you can imagine buzzing around and around and around your head. I wouldn't call this music, but it was entertaining to listen to:
Off to the side, three young ladies were holding welcoming stacks of concentric circles of bread drenched in honey:
It was beautiful but sticky and not particularly tasty:
This city was named Leninabad during the "Soviet Era" (1936 to 1991), and we could see the Soviet influence, even though the Russian population today is only 3-4%.
Russia took control of this area during the late 1800s, and after the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks burned or closed mosques, synagogues, and churches. In the 1920s this region became the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. It was one of the poorest regions in the USSR. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Tajikistan declared its independence, then fought a civil war. During this time Emomali Rahmom was elected president (1992) and guess what? He still is president 26 years later. That's how it works in The Stans. This is his face on the billboards below:
Today Tajikistan has a GDP-PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) of $3,146/person, compared to the GDP-PPP in the US of $53,272/person. Okay, maybe not a fair comparison. In nearby Russia the GDP-PPP is $25,144/person. Yeah, TJ is a poor country. Of course, we didn't really see that on our 12-hour visit to Khujand, where Travel & Tourism puts the country's best on display.
I love laundry pictures, and check out that rusty satellite dish:
More satellite dishes:
We could see that Tajikistan is a proud country,
. . . and that they have a fascinating history to be proud of. They converted the old citadel into a museum honoring their past:
We had a Tajik guide in this musuem who spoke Tajik and another guide (a woman named "Bobajon") translated. They dished out WAY too much information, and yeah, it was super dull. We would have liked to go at three times the speed.
 |
| Temurmalik (not to be confused with Temur), national hero of the Tajik peoples |
Dioramas celebrated this region's Stone Age history:
A little bit of tromp l'oeil made out of marble is on the floor. It LOOKS 3-D . . .
. . . but it is not:
More beautiful tile:
Something we saw in many museums on this trip: a very old copy of the Qur'an:
The museum had a wide variety of more modern exhibits as well, such as this recreation of a typical Tajik home in the 19th century:
Our next stop was a monument on the banks of the glassy Syr River, which flows 1,374 miles from the Tianshan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan to the Aral Sea, or what's left of the Sea after the Soviets drained much of this river for irrigation:
Even the locals like to visit it. These are two very typically dressed Tajiks. Some fabric company must have made a gazillion bolts of that red, yellow, green, and purple fabric on the left because we saw it on hundreds of women in the Stans, and a version of that black and white cap on the man on the right was on hundreds of male heads:
Khujand was very boring. The museum could have been done in 15 minutes. The only thing I really liked about it was the market where we spent about 30 minutes. I could have spent our entire time there. The people were friendly, and those round pieces of bread were everywhere (which look good, but don't taste so great).
ReplyDeleteProbably you didnt visit every place locals knows. Despite that the food center of Tajikistan is Khujand, you could visit restaurants. Their sodas and drinks dont add lots chemicals like foreign countries do, thats why it tastes good. Should have tried their RC Cola or some local juices. Everything is organic and natural there, GMO banned. There are different types of breads, with milk and honey, with nuts and etc. Lots of different types, and almost most of it are handmade unlike Western breads made in factory. In order to see how great and beautiful the city of Rome is, it takes a month to do so. Same thing with Khujand, you cant be there for couple of days and say its boring. I lived there for 3 years, it was a great experience and traveled around Khujand a lot and its neighborhood towns.
DeleteSounds like you zipped through this one!
ReplyDeleteI have lived my whole life in Canada, and visiting and living in Khujand with my family was the best life experience I could ever have. I wonder why tourists or visitors dont ask people why they all wear certain type of clothings or why's the monument there, and make quick conclusion of "it's not logical for a statue to be there, or a pic of a poet". cuz the Romulus and Remus statue is a tribute and showing of respect to Romans, founding fathers of Rome and Italians in general. Khayyam portrait also has some significance for Tajiks, since he lived also in Sogdiana and wrote poems and stories not only in Persian or Uzbek languages, but also Tajik as well. Actually why not honor the real people who contributed to the society like philosohpers, scientists, poets, engineers,doctors, inventors. Instead of praising and loving entertainment celebrities. It's like different European countries putting a statue of Shakespeare in different European countries and then asking why is it there. I wonder what other people would say, if they saw a statue of Aristotle and Archimedes.
ReplyDelete