Tajikistan - What A Welcome

We felt a bit apprehensive as we approached the border of Tajikistan as we are aware of right hand being turned away.  Colin had come up with the cunning plan to put coats, bags and guidebooks over the dashboard so the officials couldn’t see which side the steering wheel is on.  Normally when customs check Lolly we get them to climb in through the cab to enter the living box, but we had closed off the connecting door and opened the side door where steps are needed to climb in so they didn't see into the cab and the steering wheel.

I got my passport stamped and when I returned Colin was showing the customs official as little as possible, but thankfully he wasn’t pushing to see more.  Colin went with him into the office to sort out the vehicle papers.  While he was in there, a group of British tourists came by and obviously spotted the UK plate and came over to chat.  One mentioned the ‘right hand drive vehicle’ a bit too loudly, so I shushed them while Colin hoped the officials hadn’t overheard them.

Colin said the customs guys couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful.  While our e-visas are for 60 days, the standard permit for a truck is 15 days. We didn’t want to have to apply for an extension once in the country, so Colin asked them if they would give us a 30 day permit. They said they needed to check with their boss, who's response was 'we will give you a 30 day permit and welcome to our country'.

Once all the paperwork was done, Colin jumped back in and said ‘let’s get out of here quickly and we’ll pull over down the road to sort out the papers’.  As we pulled over, he mentioned that Tajik police have a bad reputation for pulling over tourist vehicles, so we weren’t in the clear yet for having a right hand drive vehicle. Just as he said this, there was a knock at my door and it was a policeman. Oh heck – not already?  However, all he asked was ‘are you OK?’

We assured him we were fine, then he asked if we’d like to come for lunch with him.  We were a bit taken aback to say the least, but said we needed to get on our way towards Dushanbe.  He waved us off and we continued on our way, but 5 minutes later we saw a police car overtake us again.  Now what? It was the same officer, who this time thrust a carrier bag full of water and fizzy pop for us to have on our journey.  What a welcome to Tajikistan!

Some facts about Tajikistan:

• It is the most mountainous country in Central Asia with around 93% of the country being covered by mountains, with about a half being over 3,000m. The country’s highest mountain, Ismoli Somoni Peak, reaches 7,495m and was the highest peak in the former Soviet Union.

• It is home to one of the worlds greatest road trips, the Pamir Highway. You’ll hear much more about this in coming episodes.

• Its name means ‘Land of the Tajiks and it is one of the few Persian speaking countries

• It is surprisingly one of the least visited countries in Asia.

The first thing we noticed is that all the other drivers seemed to be driving very sedately after the madcap drivers of Uzbekistan. There were no speed limit signs, and it felt weird that no-one was overtaking us. Mind you, we soon found this was a false impression.

The first place we arrived at was Khujand (known as Leninabad during Soviet times).  It appeared to be a pleasant modern city, but in recent years it has become a tourist destination due to the rebuilding of its citadel which is now known as one of central Asia’s most dazzling historical buildings.  The walls around the citadel looked a bit too renovated, but we were pleasantly surprised with the blue domed beautifully tiled centrepiece.  Even though it is all newly built it still had a wow factor.  The interior was just as impressive with four very ornately decorated halls. Even Colin was impressed with the quality of the parquet and stone inlay flooring and woodwork around the ceilings. He found himself collared by some guys filming and interviewing visitors, but after they asked him what were his impressions of Tajikistan, he had to tell them that after only an hour in the country he couldn’t really give a meaningful answer.

Outside in the complex there is an earthen fortress (the Ark), which had been recreated from the muddy hillock that had remained of the original.  There were also several craft shops set in traditional style Tajik courtyard houses showing crafts including pottery, artwork and weaving.

We debated briefly whether to stay the night parked up by the citadel walls but, having had enough of urban car parks, drove out into the countryside where at a higher altitude it was slightly cooler.  We found a wonderful spot not far from the main road, with mountain views and just cattle being herded past.  Bliss.

The following day we had arranged to meet Rik and Kris, the Dutch couple, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital city.   The road towards Dushanbe took us up a very scenic pass.  The road quality wasn’t too bad, and we came across a sheep traffic jam.

We saw there were some nice lakes to visit but, with limited time, opted for the one that said you can drive right up to the lake.  Lake Iskanderkul is only about 25km from the main highway, but the road was in a shocking state – dusty and potholed the whole way, it took us over two hours to reach the lake, which didn’t give us long to admire the opal blue waters with a stunning backdrop.

We’d have loved to have parked up for the night here, but with no way of contacting Rik and Kris, we had to return down the bumpy road (where we saw the British tourist group we’d seem at the border the previous day), and back on the main road it started to rain.  We then  had to negotiate the infamous ‘tunnel of death’ or Anzob Tunnel. It is situated about 80km from Dushanbe at an altitude of 2,700m and is 5km long.  The reasons it has its nickname are: it has very poor lighting or no lighting for some sections; there is no ventilation so you feel like you are getting carbon monoxide poisoning; there are huge potholes and very uneven surfaces; water leaks through the ceiling and floods the road; and although there is a sign saying no overtaking, all the locals do just that, so out of the dark you find yourself staring at an oncoming vehicle.  Just to add to our jeopardy, the warm damp air made our windscreen steam up which we struggled to clear, reducing our vision further. We breathed a huge sigh of relief when we finally popped out the other end.

We finally got a phone signal to arrange when and where to meet Rik and Kris, which didn’t give us much time to find the park up spot in a Park overlooking the city. When we pulled up at the site, which is next to an old Soviet cable car, we met Kristian and Lena, a French couple in an Iveco expedition vehicle whom we’d first met at the Russian border and had been following on Polarsteps.  They were setting off with a German couple to drive the Pamir Highway the following morning, so it was a shame we didn’t have a chance for a proper catch up with them.

We caught a taxi to the centre. Nearly every other car appeared to be a green and white electric taxi. They are very cheap, but as we found out, none of the drivers know their way to anywhere you ask (not helped by us not speaking their lingo) so Colin had to hold Google Maps up for them, which also didn’t help as they couldn’t read maps either.

We met Rik and Kris at the hostel where they were staying, and enjoyed a tasty Korean meal (we all agreed we’re sick of plov) and with a bit of difficulty found a weird bar to have a beer.

Although we had got our e-visas, the tour agent hadn’t got the Pamir Permits we also required to drive the Pamir Highway included as we had requested. This meant we had to go to the Permit office in the city centre to collect them. We also needed to buy third party insurance for Lolly.  Being a Saturday the offices were closing early. First we had a big bag of laundry to drop off.  It was a hot day, and everything was quite spread out, so by the time we had reached the insurance office it was closed and not open again until the Monday morning.  The Permit office was also closed, but we had been told the permits would be left with the security office to pick up. When we got there, they said they knew nothing of them.  When we finally got hold of the tour agent he said they would definitely be available to pick up on Monday morning.  We managed to buy physical sim cards for Colin’s phone and our dongle as we’d found e-sims are as good as useless in Tajikistan.

In the evening we walked down from the park to a Bavarian Beerhouse for a couple of cold beers and some food.  Having enjoyed a peaceful first night where we were parked, the next night was horribly noisy, with people talking loudly and playing music next to us.

The following day, we got ourselves up early with a plan to do a walking route through the central city parks before it was too hot, followed by brunch in town.

The city was once called Stalinabad, and became a model planned Soviet city. Although there are still relics of its Soviet past, much has been demolished and replaced with palatial white buildings and high rise apartment blocks. It had a bit of an Ashgabat feel to it. We wondered who the apartment blocks were being built for in a country where the average wage is $300/month. Like Turkmenistan, many Tajiks work abroad, mainly in Russia, to send money home to family.  The country certainly felt much poorer than the neighbouring Uzbekistan.

Our walk took us around 5km through parks and avenues where there are old Soviet buildings and monuments, and we ended up by the Presidential Palace where we were waved away when we tried to take a photo.   The current president, Emormali Rahmon, has led for more than three decades making him one of the longest standing heads of state in the world.  He is officially known as the ’Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the Nation’. As with all good dictators his image is displayed prominently on most public buildings.  There was even a digital screen on a tower block in Dushanbe that has a rolling set of different images of him.  While he is credited for stabilising the country after the civil war in the 1990’s, his critics point out the restrictions on political opposition and media freedom and the concentration of his power.

Nearby is the 165m once tallest flagpole in the world. It held the record from 2011 to 2014.  Today Cairo holds the record at 202m.

We had a nice brunch at a café tucked away on a back street before heading back to Lolly.  While we sat outside in the heat of the afternoon, a guy came over to look at Lolly and ask about what we were doing. He was from Russia working on a hotel building project in Dushanbe.  He returned a couple of hours later and asked if we’d like to have a drink and a bite to eat with him.  We hadn’t spotted there was a restaurant and bar next to where we were parked that overlooked the city – how remiss of us.  He was a nice guy, and it soon became clear once he knew Colin’s construction background that he wanted to bend Colin’s ear about construction issues he had on the hotel project.  Colin of course was loving talking construction, and agreed to visit his site the following day.

The next day we were back in the city to buy the insurance (surprisingly easy), pick up our Pamir permits (not so easy – we spent half an hour being pointed to different windows then ended up at the original one), then went to a copier shop to get multiple copies of our passports and Pamir permits that we will need to hand over at the many checkpoints along the route. While we were in the print shop there was a power cut, which we hear is a regular occurrence in the country, and after nearly an hour of waiting we had to give up.  We collected our laundry that cost us more than buying new clothes, then finally went to a coffee shop for lunch.

Colin went off to meet the Russian architect in the afternoon.  He said the project was doomed to be a disaster as the President has been told it will be complete in 6 months time, but with no contractors on board and an unwillingness to use modern building methods Colin said 6 years would be more realistic.  Colin had a successful afternoon returning with 4 tins of Heinz Baked Beans which we’d not seen for quite some time.

We had a walk further into the park to a World War 2 memorial accompanied by the enormous dog that lives by the cable car.

We had a drink and bite to eat at the restaurant where we were parked and got ourselves ready to set off the following day on the trip we have been building up to since entering Central Asia – the Pamir Highway.