DAY 14 TUESDAY OCT 13, 2015 ON TO UZBEKISTAN AND THE UNKNOWN
Breakfast was OK and we brought down our suitcases for us but I made sure they didn't walk onto someone else’s car or bus. We didn’t know this until this morning but Slava announces we are going to the museum first. It was not in the schedule and was a surprise to us but New York is ecstatic and she is paying so we can all go.
So we are off to the museum. Canada and I met a bunch of teachers outside so we stood out there and talked to them for a while and then into the museum and joined the group for the tour. I went downstairs with the group because there were some wonderful mosaics on the life of Alexander the Great down there and I did want to hear what the guide had to say
. When we went into the second room though, it wasn’t as interesting so I asked for the toilet and went back upstairs and then into the gift shop and didn’t go back to the tour. The second room was some pretty poor life sized dioramas of primitive man.
At the gift shop, I got a small Tajik doll in costume and also a CCCP (soviet) stamp and a Lenin pin. Then I went outside and waited. London was wandering around outside. Canada was in the gift shop. No idea where Mauritius was. A Pamir school arrived and spent a good deal of time outside taking photos before they eventually went into the museum.
Finally, a bit before 10, the group comes out and we load up and leave for the border. We drive about 1 ½ hours and we are at the border. We drag ourselves and our bags out of the vans and load up to go across the border leaving Tajikistan and entering Uzbekistan. Wales and Canada stop on the Tajik side to exchange some money. The rest of us just start walking to the first building inside the gates.
Almost as soon as we got into the gates, one of the wheels broke off my suitcase. Well, still have 3 so I can still trundle it along behind me
. Once inside the gates, it didn’t take us too long to check out of Tajikistan and then we are out the door and wandering across a parking lot to another building on the far side of the lot. Luckily, here we realized that Jamshed and Slava had made a mistake with the distance. It was not 3 kilometers from one building to the next but more like 300 meters. Thank goodness because there also weren’t any porters either. We saw one who was going the opposite way but he was the only one we saw ever.
Aussie couple actually stop at the duty free shop and buy some wine. Kind of wish I’d ducked in there too but was having trouble getting across the expanse with my bags that weren’t "heeling" well. When we got to the Tajikistan side, it took a few minutes for them to let us in because others were already in there trying to get through. As they open the door for me, the border guard helps me with my bag but he drags it up over the step which catches on the part of the suitcase that is holding one wheel on and it rips off the suitcase. Now down to two wheels and a tear in the suitcase.
There is a form to fill in even though we all have visas. Of course, there is only one place that has English so that we know how to fill in the form.
. AND we have to fill in two forms for some reason. It was really hot in the room and I was really sweating. Plus we had to put all our suitcases on a belt to go through a security X-ray. Mauritius gets through as do Wales and London and I’m next. The guard askes Wales if he had any drugs or guns. He didn’t ask me. I handed him my passport and two forms and he tells me they are soggy. I apologize and tell him I’m sweating. He kind of looks disgusted and says they feel like toilet paper. Yuck but he sort of thinks it is funny too. So he doesn’t ask me any more questions and stamps me into Uzbekistan.
I go out and join Wales and London. Mauritius has walked on ahead and comes back to tell us she thinks that she has seen our driver on the outside. At least someone with a small bus waved at her. So finally everyone comes through. We have one last place to get stamped and then walk out the gate and there is a long roadway to the main street. A man comes running across the grass and hops over the fence and tells us that he is our guide and to wait and the bus will come to us. That’s nice since my suitcase is totally not rolling now very well at all.
We have Surgat (? Spelling is wrong I’m sure) and our driver is Valentine who looks very Russian
. Surgat talks all the way from the border to Tashkent and gives us history of the country and the city and much more. He is doing exactly what Jamshed should have been doing all along.
We get to Hotel Uzbekistan and check in. At first, they put Canada and New York into the same room together but I step up and tell him, no, I am traveling with Canada and we are to be together so they change that and then that involves them having to change almost all the other rooms as well. Surgat is only here to get us checked into the hotel and to take care of any problems that are happening. AND that is it. Basically the tour is over even though, officially it doesn’t end until tomorrow morning. Many of us are leaving in the morning. Aussie couple is going back to China (they had done 3 weeks in China before coming and are doing a Yangtze cruise on the way home) so they are fine and go out to catch the hop on hop off bus around Tashkent.
Canada and Walking Aussie make plans to go to Bukhara together but suddenly we find out that W.A.’s visa expires on Friday AND so does New York’s!!! Neither one of them had checked the expiration date before they got the visa from The Visa Machine. Thank goodness I did because half the stuff on my application was incorrect so I checked very carefully. Surgat tells them that he will come back at 3 and take them to the consulate so that they can change their visa to a later date. Both had thought they had about 5 days in the country and now they only have 3.
While all this is going on, I had gone up to my room and one again, our room became meeting central
. I love that and thank Canada for being such a gregarious person that everyone wants to come and hang out with us. W.A. has to stay but London and Canada and I decide to walk over to Broadway which is across the park from the hotel and supposedly has the souvenir shops that everyone likes to see. Mauritius has gone off to do her own thing and go to the museum. New York and W.A. are in the lobby.
When we had arrived, the bellboys had asked us if we wanted to exchange money on the black-market rate. The rate you get at the bank is about 2600 som to $1. The black market rate was about 4900 som to $1. They were very hush hush about it and said they would bring our bags to the room and do it there. They wanted $100 to give us that rate and I didn’t need to exchange that much since I am just here overnight. So in the end, I got 4400 to $1 for about $40.
We walked over to Broadway and found a mall. Once inside, we found a suitcase place and they had a suitcase I could live with and thus leave my broken one behind and go home with a new one. We walked around the park first and looked at the paintings that were strewn all over for sale. There were also some people with old Soviet coins and medals and pins and such to be sold. Canada found a wonderful set of hockey medals that she could probably sell for a lot of money. A young girl who spoke English latched onto Canada and followed us all through the park in the shopping area. When we had finally reached the end of the line of sellers, a couple of young men asked me if they could interview me and see how I liked Uzbekistan. I said ok and they videoed me on their iPhone and asked questions like how did I like it here, why did I come. Canada is bargaining for her pins at the time, the young Uzbek girl is giggling at the interview as is London. When they are finished, they give me a small ceramic statue of a fat Uzbek man with a round loaf of bread. How nice.
We went back and bought my suitcase. I was afraid they were going to use the bank exchange rate because I was using dollars to buy it but she used the 4900 Uzbek black market rate so only paid about $122 for it rather than the over $150 it could have cost. I also found a T shirt with Bukhara, Khiva, Samarkand, and Tashkent on it but since I’ve been to those cities before, didn’t think it was cheating to get it. Only T shirt I couldn’t get was one in Tajikistan. Think I’ll just take one of my photos and make my own.
I was really too tired for dinner but it is our last night together. When we got back to the room, Walking Aussie came over and said she was totally screwed. They will be happy to give her a one day extension for $1500. So now she has to change all of her flights and that will also cost her about $1500. So she’s out a big wad of money no matter what. She hasn’t decided what exactly to do yet. We never saw New York again but she would have had the same options. She had been planning to go to Amsterdam and meet her boyfriend there but we think that had fallen through as the boyfriend couldn’t come or something. So no idea what she did.
As we went out for dinner, they were preparing for a huge wedding. For once, I was too tired to crash it and not sure they would have let us in with our jeans and stuff anyway. Two ladies dressed in what I can only explain as Louis IV French costumes (huge skirts, huge wigs) were standing outside the ballroom doors to greet the guests. They pirouetted and posed for us to take photos. Then the bride and groom arrived as we were leaving the hotel so we stopped for photos of them.
Mauritius has several places she knew of to go get dinner. She had wandered all over that afternoon and included going to the museum which is where the real souvenir shop was that would have been great with ceramics and all the wonderful stuff that I remembered from my last visit to Uzbekistan. I didn’t want to walk far and the others didn’t too so we walked about 5 blocks to the closest restaurant and ate there. Was pretty good but I’m still not recovered from the hotel with no water so couldn’t eat a lot.
Mauritius is leaving on a different flight than me but approximately the same time so I told her she could ride with me to the airport. We are leaving around 5:30 a.m. I almost set my alarm wrong! So a goodbye to all and we hope to stay in touch and then not a lot of sleep after I had repacked my new suitcase and such.
DAY 15 LEAVING UZBEKISTAN – GONE
Mauritius met me downstairs and when the driver arrived I told him she was coming with us. He didn’t seem to care. She also paid me what a taxi would have cost her which I didn’t think she needed to do but she insisted as arranging a ride ahead of time cost me a lot more. Then the dang driver didn’t go to the door but dropped us at the gate of the airport because he didn’t want to pay the fee to get into the parking lot. Jerk. So we are rolling our bags into the parking lot and putting them on the belt to get into the airport. Luckily it wasn’t hard to check in but there was no lounge open at that time. Sat with Mauritius for a bit but I wasn’t feeling good and I think she wanted to walk around so we said goodbye.
My flight was Turkish airlines and I had a change of planes in Istanbul. There wasn’t time to go to the lounge there either and they were starting boarding when I got to my gate and they also have no separate boarding for business class. Don’t really like Turkish airlines anymore as the flight attendants on both my flights were more interested in having fun with each other than with taking care of their people. Oh well. Home at last after quite an adventurous trip and 2 days before I leave for Dahab for diving. Yea!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
Drive to Khojund
MONDAY OCT 12 DAY 13 DRIVE DAY TO KHOJUND
So we are off to Khojund and we haven't gotten too far out of town when we come upon a traffic jam. A really big one. Slava and Anatoly behind him just take off driving down the wrong side of the road to pass all these large trucks that are just stopped. We get as far as we can and have to wait. No cars are coming towards us so they are jammed in that direction too. A large herd of goats comes by and passes us. People are all out of their cars and walking around and re-arranging rooftop burdens. After about an hour, the cars and trucks start moving. Slava has maneuvered into a position to get back into the line of traffic but none of the big trucks are letting him in so finally Jams gets out and stops the trucks long enough for Slava and Anatoly to get into the traffic line. We move slowly through one of the tunnels to stop rocks falling on the road and then we are out on the other side where we see that there has been an accident with a smashed in front of a large truck and a burned out flatbed of a trailer . Then we are through and while it takes a while to get back up to speed, we are moving again. We pass about 3 or 4 miles or more of trucks and cars waiting to pass going the other way.
This road also takes us through the very long tunnels that are 6 and 7 kilometers long. It is very hard to stay awake on this drive so I am dozing but usually wake up when they pull us over for a check of the vans papers. We are passing through some higher passes again but for once the road is paved so it is going much faster now we are past the tunnels and traffic.
We stop in Istaravhan to go to the market. Our schedule said that "In 2014 travel conditions meant that we were unable to include a planned stop" here at the market and it said we didn’t know if we would be able to stop this time or not. So not sure what the conditions were but we were all glad that we were able to stop.
We passed by the blacksmiths at first and the knife makers and farm implement makers. Most of us liked looking at the knives which were quite well done and some had different decorations on them. A few people bought knives and I decided to get one as well . We also found more bread stamps but it took Canada making the stamping motion again before we found someone who took us to where the stamps were being sold. So it was fun wandering the market and then a couple of us had to pay a tiny amount to use the toilet which was one of the worst around we’ve seen.
As we left the market a couple of boys wanted their photos taken. They were on the other side of a car so they thought it great fun that I shot them through the window of the car. Didn’t bother to wait to see what the photo looked like. They were just having fun. We stopped at the knife sellers again to pick up some that had been engraved while we were shopping. Then we went to the citadel above the town. There was also a toilet there in a small crenelated tower like building which was nicer than the one in the market. Slava tried to get us into the citadel but they wouldn’t let us in so we just had to look at the outside and overlook the city.
Back on the road, we stopped at a cotton field and several people got out to pick cotton. Been there, done that in Uzbekistan so I stayed in the car and dang if a great bunch of people went by with their donkey carts and cow carts and I couldn’t get photos. That’ll teach me to sit in the car .
As we go into Khojand, we find out for certain that Jamshed is leaving us tonight. This is his home city. Apparently he is a teacher and he has been pretending to be sick all this time so to miss teaching school and be our guide and he hasn’t been much of a guide but just a leader getting us from place to place. Very personable and friendly man and we all like him but still, hasn’t changed cars, hasn’t announced at dinner or breakfast what the plans for the day is, hasn’t waited for both cars before telling what we are doing and I could go on and on about his failings. And now we are stopping at still a different hotel and no lift and Canada and I am on the 2nd floor which is really the third floor.
Somehow it falls to me to collect tips. I get a couple of pieces of paper from the desk which she staples into an envelope and sit on the stairs and stop everyone. We did collect a fair bit for all three of them so hopefully they won’t be disappointed in their tips. Our program did say we did not have to tip the drivers but we all thought that was a bit odd so we asked Jamshed and he said as far as he knew, the drivers would not get anything from Peregrine so hence, we gathered tips for them.
We had reservations at a special hot shot restaurant but when we got there, they were full and said it would be a long time before we got seated so we went next door. We were the only ones in the restaurant but it still took a long time before everyone got their food and when all of us were almost finished, they still hadn’t brought Aussie couples food. They’d ordered fish and then were told there wasn’t any and the ribs were recommended but it took them awhile to find a cow and kill it and skin it I guess. In the end, Aussie couple took a doggy bag home with them with their dinner. And for the third time, the prices were suddenly higher than what was listed on the menu. I think at this point, some of us paid the menu prices and just left and others paid the higher prices but we all got out of there at the same time and didn’t have to go back and argue with the people about the prices.
Back at the hotel, aussie couple left the group immediately to go upstairs and eat their dinner. New York wandered off and so that left the fun bus to present Jams with his tip and also we gave the drivers theirs to “make sure you show up in the morning” ha ha. kind of thing. Took photos of the group and then Jams says goodbye and he is gone.
All of us are a bit nervous about tomorrow as the drivers are not crossing the border with us either. They will take us to the border and they say we will walk between the border crossings about 3 km to the Uzbek side but there will be porters for our luggage if we want it. Not happy about dragging my stuff 3 km. And then our guide will meet us on the other side to take us into Tashkent.
So we are off to Khojund and we haven't gotten too far out of town when we come upon a traffic jam. A really big one. Slava and Anatoly behind him just take off driving down the wrong side of the road to pass all these large trucks that are just stopped. We get as far as we can and have to wait. No cars are coming towards us so they are jammed in that direction too. A large herd of goats comes by and passes us. People are all out of their cars and walking around and re-arranging rooftop burdens. After about an hour, the cars and trucks start moving. Slava has maneuvered into a position to get back into the line of traffic but none of the big trucks are letting him in so finally Jams gets out and stops the trucks long enough for Slava and Anatoly to get into the traffic line. We move slowly through one of the tunnels to stop rocks falling on the road and then we are out on the other side where we see that there has been an accident with a smashed in front of a large truck and a burned out flatbed of a trailer . Then we are through and while it takes a while to get back up to speed, we are moving again. We pass about 3 or 4 miles or more of trucks and cars waiting to pass going the other way.
This road also takes us through the very long tunnels that are 6 and 7 kilometers long. It is very hard to stay awake on this drive so I am dozing but usually wake up when they pull us over for a check of the vans papers. We are passing through some higher passes again but for once the road is paved so it is going much faster now we are past the tunnels and traffic.
We stop in Istaravhan to go to the market. Our schedule said that "In 2014 travel conditions meant that we were unable to include a planned stop" here at the market and it said we didn’t know if we would be able to stop this time or not. So not sure what the conditions were but we were all glad that we were able to stop.
We passed by the blacksmiths at first and the knife makers and farm implement makers. Most of us liked looking at the knives which were quite well done and some had different decorations on them. A few people bought knives and I decided to get one as well . We also found more bread stamps but it took Canada making the stamping motion again before we found someone who took us to where the stamps were being sold. So it was fun wandering the market and then a couple of us had to pay a tiny amount to use the toilet which was one of the worst around we’ve seen.
As we left the market a couple of boys wanted their photos taken. They were on the other side of a car so they thought it great fun that I shot them through the window of the car. Didn’t bother to wait to see what the photo looked like. They were just having fun. We stopped at the knife sellers again to pick up some that had been engraved while we were shopping. Then we went to the citadel above the town. There was also a toilet there in a small crenelated tower like building which was nicer than the one in the market. Slava tried to get us into the citadel but they wouldn’t let us in so we just had to look at the outside and overlook the city.
Back on the road, we stopped at a cotton field and several people got out to pick cotton. Been there, done that in Uzbekistan so I stayed in the car and dang if a great bunch of people went by with their donkey carts and cow carts and I couldn’t get photos. That’ll teach me to sit in the car .
As we go into Khojand, we find out for certain that Jamshed is leaving us tonight. This is his home city. Apparently he is a teacher and he has been pretending to be sick all this time so to miss teaching school and be our guide and he hasn’t been much of a guide but just a leader getting us from place to place. Very personable and friendly man and we all like him but still, hasn’t changed cars, hasn’t announced at dinner or breakfast what the plans for the day is, hasn’t waited for both cars before telling what we are doing and I could go on and on about his failings. And now we are stopping at still a different hotel and no lift and Canada and I am on the 2nd floor which is really the third floor.
Somehow it falls to me to collect tips. I get a couple of pieces of paper from the desk which she staples into an envelope and sit on the stairs and stop everyone. We did collect a fair bit for all three of them so hopefully they won’t be disappointed in their tips. Our program did say we did not have to tip the drivers but we all thought that was a bit odd so we asked Jamshed and he said as far as he knew, the drivers would not get anything from Peregrine so hence, we gathered tips for them.
We had reservations at a special hot shot restaurant but when we got there, they were full and said it would be a long time before we got seated so we went next door. We were the only ones in the restaurant but it still took a long time before everyone got their food and when all of us were almost finished, they still hadn’t brought Aussie couples food. They’d ordered fish and then were told there wasn’t any and the ribs were recommended but it took them awhile to find a cow and kill it and skin it I guess. In the end, Aussie couple took a doggy bag home with them with their dinner. And for the third time, the prices were suddenly higher than what was listed on the menu. I think at this point, some of us paid the menu prices and just left and others paid the higher prices but we all got out of there at the same time and didn’t have to go back and argue with the people about the prices.
Back at the hotel, aussie couple left the group immediately to go upstairs and eat their dinner. New York wandered off and so that left the fun bus to present Jams with his tip and also we gave the drivers theirs to “make sure you show up in the morning” ha ha. kind of thing. Took photos of the group and then Jams says goodbye and he is gone.
All of us are a bit nervous about tomorrow as the drivers are not crossing the border with us either. They will take us to the border and they say we will walk between the border crossings about 3 km to the Uzbek side but there will be porters for our luggage if we want it. Not happy about dragging my stuff 3 km. And then our guide will meet us on the other side to take us into Tashkent.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Wedding Day!
SUNDAY OCT 11, 2015 WEDDING DAY! DAY 12
We are a diminished crowd this morning at breakfast. We are eating and not too many of our group is showing up. We did meet a young woman from Maryland though who works in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was here in Dushanbe for some meetings. Honestly, we did ask her what she did and honestly, I can't remember for the life of me. Guess I was impressed but not overly so!
We are going to the fort today just outside of town. Mauritius decides she has seen it on their money and since most of the fort has been rebuilt, it’s not even an old fort, just a new one with an old history so she doesn’t want to go. Walking Aussie is totally sick as is female Aussie couple. Canada isn’t feeling so good either . Thank goodness we have two nights here. What a treat again to stay in the same place for more than one night. So in the end, it is going to be just male Aussie couple, me, Wales and New York to go to the fort.
We are outside waiting for the car to arrive as they were unable to get it washed last night after the unfortunate incident with London being sick. We hear a lot of talking, laughter, and music coming from somewhere. Supposedly there is a mosque close to the hotel also which some said they could see out of their windows but I never saw it. Anyway, one of the hotel staff said that there was a wedding breakfast at the venue next door. He is telling Jamshed this and somehow we are suddenly invited over to see the breakfast and listen to the band. Mauritius was still downstairs deciding whether to go to the fort or not as was London so Mauritius ran back upstairs to get her camera and we all went over through the gated fence and into a large parking area where there were tables set up and lots of men sitting and talking and standing around and a band playing. It is explained to us that this is the groom’s breakfast. Somewhere there is a bride’s breakfast as well and the women are enjoying it without the menfolk.
We are standing at the entrance and the groom’s father and grandfather who are hosting the event see us and come over to invite us into the area and insist that we sit at the table and then they start bringing us all kinds of food. Wowzer. We had just eaten breakfast so how do we do this food justice when we are all pretty full from breakfast but we do our best. We are given osh, which is the typical rice dish that we get most places. They put a very large plate between each two of us . I’m sitting next to London so we are sharing a plate but she is still rather queasy so she doesn’t want to eat any. I eat from both sides of the plate so it looks like she is eating too.
We also have cucumbers and tomatoes and some other vegetables plus fruit juice and water to drink and the large round loaves of bread. So much food! We eat as much as we can. Don’t think we’ll need lunch after this. And the entire time, we are about 10’ in front of the band who is playing as loud as they can. It is delightful really. The band watches us watch them. The groom’s relatives come and greet us all and tell us how happy they are that we have come to watch and be a part of their celebration. And we are videoed so that they will have a record of us being there. This is my second wedding crashing party. My hubby and I were invited into a wedding once in India. What’s amazing is that the people are always so very, very, very gracious and happy to see you. You have to eat as well or they feel like they haven’t been a good host and they feel bad.
Finally the band takes a break and Jams uses that as our signal to leave. Mauritius and London make arrangements to meet us at this famous coffee shop in town at 11:30 or so which is supposed to be the time we will return from the fort . We’ve never been on time for anything but we’ll give it a go.
We stop first at a money changer because several of us are out of money now and there might be a few souvenirs this afternoon as we are also going to the Hyatt which has a traditional arts place of items for sale. Yea!
It isn’t that far to the fort but it takes us awhile to get out of town. We are pulled over once again because we are in a car with Kyrgyzstani plates. This cop is wanting a bribe. As far as we can tell, Slava is not doing bribes so sometimes it takes a bit longer to get through and oddly enough we always do get through so not sure what his secret is to avoid the bribes. But we are finally on our way. I am pretty sure at one point we were lost because it looked like we drove around the same block a couple of times but we came to the fort and parked the car and hoped out into a sea of people dancing and drums and horns blaring and in the middle was a bride in a western style white dress and her groom in a suit. Apparently the fort is a wonderful place for the locals to come and take wedding photos and have a party. They have to apply to do it and have a 3 hour time window. We discovered why because by the time we left, we had seen no fewer than 9 wedding parties !
Like I mentioned, the fort is rebuilt. It took us a bit to get to the entrance because we were all taking photos of the wedding party. It was our first one and we wanted to experience it as much as the guests themselves. The ladies were all dressed in very fancy dresses with a lot of sequins and shiny material. The men were mostly dressed nicely but a few in t shirts and jeans. There was a lot of dancing around the bride and groom so they had to walk at a very slow pace. The horns and drums were hired, I think. I think I saw the same men playing for a different bride and groom later. They were dressed in long green tunics. Other bands were just dressed regularly.
It seems to be the custom that the bride walks very slowly with her two hands holding onto the front of her veil. She holds this out from her waist and keeps her head down the entire time. It apparently shows respect for her future husband. I wouldn’t do well in a ceremony like that! The male guests were mostly dancing with each other and a few women. The women were mostly dancing with each other also or just walking along and laughing and having a good time. When they stop for photos, some of the brides would continually bow under her veil. Another "respect for her future husband" gesture . We only saw one bride who was not wearing a veil.
So into the fort and of course I have to go to the toilet which is out of the fort and at the other end of the yard and locked but Jams convinces the man to give us the key so away we go. Takes us about 10 minutes there and back as it was quite a hike. Back into the fort and you can walk up onto the wall and look over the front. Lots of families are visiting there with the kids and going up the walls. The rest of the fort is just shops on either side of the walkway which climbs the hill as it goes towards what would have originally been the back of the fort which is open.
We entered a few shops. Some had some interesting Suzannas for sale which are decorated coverings that Jams told us the women make for their hope chests before they are married. Some are quite extensive and beautiful. Another shop held costumes for weddings. And some of the shops were paintings of the country scenery or of the fort.
As we are going in and out of shops, a school group comes up the pathway. They are happy to interact with us and pose for photos
One shop was showing some weavings and two ladies were at a loom weaving . What was fascinating is that the older woman (my age probably) was seating at the loom but she was getting a lesson in weaving from the younger woman (probably in her late twenties or thirties). How great that she was learning and happy about it even learning from a younger woman. It looked very complicated.
Jams and Wales and male Aussie couple all want to climb the hill behind the fort which would have been the height of the original fort so they head up and Slava and New York and I go back out the front of the fort. As we leave, a family stops us and asks us to take their photos so we do. They don’t care that they don’t get a copy, they just like their photos taken.
There are also many wedding parties on the premises now. There are at least two groups walking from the parking lot and another group about to climb up to the fort, another group at a statue by the front of the fort and a very small group walking alongside the fort. The small group was just the bride and groom and a few attendants. She had on a very intricately woven veil that was opaque so that we couldn’t see her face at all. She also had it held in front of her with both hands at waist level. It sort of creates a tent in front of their face. It was a beautiful dress .
The group that is entering the fort has a very loud band with two of the very long horns. The horn players see me taking photos and they start playing very loud and keep walking towards me in fun so I am almost face first into the horn opening. We were all laughing. The brides and grooms also didn’t seem to have any problem that we were taking as many photos as their own guests and photographers and many of them smiled at us as we passed as did the guests.
The wall climbers come out of the fort and we go over to the building on the other side of the complex which was a former madrassa or school. It is also being refurbished into a museum and some of the rooms are open but some are still under construction. We went into each room that was open and saw some of the traditional implements used in daily life. There was also a room that was the “bridal room”. Jams told us that traditionally, marriages were arranged and the bride and groom did not know each other until the wedding. His was arranged as well but he did meet his bride before the wedding and told his parents she was acceptable. She said the same of him so they got married. Anyway, after the wedding, the couple would retire to this room and stay in this room for three days, only coming out for the toilet . Food would be delivered to them. The room was pretty much just a big sleeping area with small shelves for tea fixings and maybe a change of clothes.
There were a few people standing on the roof of the madrassa and Jams recognized one lady as a popular TV presenter so they were doing some kind of program. She was quite pretty. She saw me taking a photo of her so she blew me a kiss and struck a pose for me.
Time to leave and well after the time we were supposed to meet the others at the coffee shop. We struggle to leave the compound as more wedding parties are entering as we are leaving. Some of the men try to get us to dance with them which is mainly a lot of waving of the hands in certain patterns but we don’t have time. Of course we are parked in the middle of a huge traffic jam now and have to wiggle our way out of it which is accomplished mainly by Slava yelling at a lot of people. But we are finally free and do not get lost on the way back and end up at the Hyatt shop which is actually where we were supposed to meet.
It is a delightful little shop with the storekeeper’s father being the artist of many of the paintings . He also has some beautiful rugs and scarves that are a combination of wool and silk. I find one that is especially appealing and get it. He told us our group had been into the shop some time ago and then they had left. We look all over the Hyatt for them and then go to the coffee shop which is this monstrous huge lovely beautiful building. Jams and Slava are looking everywhere and not finding our group. Wales and male aussie couple and New York and I are in the garden looking at the roses when suddenly Jams comes running back to us and tells us we have to leave because Walking Aussie has gotten extremely ill and the hotel has called him and they want him back so they can take her to the hospital.
Apparently Walking Aussie had gone downstairs and gotten some drink or food or something and then gone to the toilet in the lobby because she couldn’t get back to her room and then gotten in the lift and passed out. Luckily she wasn’t passed out long but the hotel staff got her out of the lift and called Jams.
So at the hotel, Jams goes to help. I go to my room because Canada and I had agreed that if we were separated, she would leave the key at the desk which of course she didn’t. Finally the cleaning lady let me into the room. Shortly after that, Canada shows up and then the rest of the gang shows up in our room, London and Mauritius and we make arrangements to go get lunch and go get Wales too so he knows and Slava becomes our taxi driver as Jams goes off to the hospital with Walking Aussie.
Slava drives us to the bazaar and drops New York at the museum to her delight . Turns out our ladies were at the coffee shop waiting for us but for some reason Jams didn’t go the right way to find them so they had to come back by taxi.
At the market, we are looking for the bread stamps. These are the stamps that were used by each bakery to mark their bread so people would know where the bread was baked. I’ve seen them in a few markets and pointed them out but no one was interested until now. So now we are in a search for them. We aren’t having much luck until Canada makes a stamping motion with her hand and someone figures out that is what we want and directs us to the back part of the market where there are tools and such and we find a couple of stalls with different stamps.
This was the local food market as well and tons of spices and teas. Most of the people were happy to have their photos take but a few of the ladies said no. I always honor that because I don’t like my photo taken either.
Got some street ice cream for 1 somoni and it was good. Waiting for Mauritius who headed off to find T shirts and some scarves but she was unsuccessful. Then Slava drove Canada and I back to the Hyatt because she had the shopkeeper put aside one of the rugs and decided she did want it and went back for it . He had another rug that was beautiful and I liked it a lot but it was $500 and just couldn’t justify coming home from Central Asia with another rug.
We actually thought about walking back to the hotel but my sense of direction has been wonky ever since I started living in England with all the roundabouts and such and she had a rug to carry so we got a taxi. Had a bit of a rest and got some emails then out for dinner.
Dinner at 7 with only the drivers, Wales, Mauritius, London, New York and me and Jamshed. Canada decided she’d had enough activity for the afternoon and stayed behind.
We walked to the fancy tea shop in town for dinner. We are having rice soup but it is surprisingly good. And of course there is a wedding there! So we ask if we can go take photos. We have to walk through their serving area to get to the wedding party. The bride and groom are seated on a raised dais in the front of the room. They have finished their meal so the dishes are being cleared. The wait staff pushes us further into the room so we can have a better view and we start taking photos. The bride, while seated, is still doing the bowing thing, about one bow every 30 seconds to a minute.
Most of the guests are up and dancing with the hand thingy again. Pretty soon, a couple of guests go up and drag the groom down from the dais and he starts dancing. Then they get the bride and it takes her a bit to manage to get around the table with her full long trained dress . She doesn’t really dance but stands in front of her groom and does the bowing thing. I’m unable to get closer to take photos so we leave the party. Wow, that’s about 12 wedding parties we crashed today!
Back to the table to finish our dinner. We finish and head across the street to a shop that Mauritius found which has old Suzannas and other scarves and older things that have been purchased for re-sale or have been found in attics or such. We had stopped on our way in and he said he would wait for us to finish dinner so somebody had to buy something. I ended up buying an old Suzanna. He says it was 60 years old he thought. It wasn’t handmade but machine stitched but it was quite lovely and the stitching and material looked like it could be 60 years old and not just dirty. He started with quite a high price of over $120 but I got it for $64 so we were both happy.
Some of the others went to the grocery next door.
Rained on us going back to the hotel but not really enough to hurt us or get us too wet. While I was buying my Suzanna, the others went and got us a yoghurt which was quite tasty. We took one back to Canada too but she was still too sick to drink it.
We are a diminished crowd this morning at breakfast. We are eating and not too many of our group is showing up. We did meet a young woman from Maryland though who works in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was here in Dushanbe for some meetings. Honestly, we did ask her what she did and honestly, I can't remember for the life of me. Guess I was impressed but not overly so!
We are going to the fort today just outside of town. Mauritius decides she has seen it on their money and since most of the fort has been rebuilt, it’s not even an old fort, just a new one with an old history so she doesn’t want to go. Walking Aussie is totally sick as is female Aussie couple. Canada isn’t feeling so good either . Thank goodness we have two nights here. What a treat again to stay in the same place for more than one night. So in the end, it is going to be just male Aussie couple, me, Wales and New York to go to the fort.
We are outside waiting for the car to arrive as they were unable to get it washed last night after the unfortunate incident with London being sick. We hear a lot of talking, laughter, and music coming from somewhere. Supposedly there is a mosque close to the hotel also which some said they could see out of their windows but I never saw it. Anyway, one of the hotel staff said that there was a wedding breakfast at the venue next door. He is telling Jamshed this and somehow we are suddenly invited over to see the breakfast and listen to the band. Mauritius was still downstairs deciding whether to go to the fort or not as was London so Mauritius ran back upstairs to get her camera and we all went over through the gated fence and into a large parking area where there were tables set up and lots of men sitting and talking and standing around and a band playing. It is explained to us that this is the groom’s breakfast. Somewhere there is a bride’s breakfast as well and the women are enjoying it without the menfolk.
We are standing at the entrance and the groom’s father and grandfather who are hosting the event see us and come over to invite us into the area and insist that we sit at the table and then they start bringing us all kinds of food. Wowzer. We had just eaten breakfast so how do we do this food justice when we are all pretty full from breakfast but we do our best. We are given osh, which is the typical rice dish that we get most places. They put a very large plate between each two of us . I’m sitting next to London so we are sharing a plate but she is still rather queasy so she doesn’t want to eat any. I eat from both sides of the plate so it looks like she is eating too.
We also have cucumbers and tomatoes and some other vegetables plus fruit juice and water to drink and the large round loaves of bread. So much food! We eat as much as we can. Don’t think we’ll need lunch after this. And the entire time, we are about 10’ in front of the band who is playing as loud as they can. It is delightful really. The band watches us watch them. The groom’s relatives come and greet us all and tell us how happy they are that we have come to watch and be a part of their celebration. And we are videoed so that they will have a record of us being there. This is my second wedding crashing party. My hubby and I were invited into a wedding once in India. What’s amazing is that the people are always so very, very, very gracious and happy to see you. You have to eat as well or they feel like they haven’t been a good host and they feel bad.
Finally the band takes a break and Jams uses that as our signal to leave. Mauritius and London make arrangements to meet us at this famous coffee shop in town at 11:30 or so which is supposed to be the time we will return from the fort . We’ve never been on time for anything but we’ll give it a go.
We stop first at a money changer because several of us are out of money now and there might be a few souvenirs this afternoon as we are also going to the Hyatt which has a traditional arts place of items for sale. Yea!
It isn’t that far to the fort but it takes us awhile to get out of town. We are pulled over once again because we are in a car with Kyrgyzstani plates. This cop is wanting a bribe. As far as we can tell, Slava is not doing bribes so sometimes it takes a bit longer to get through and oddly enough we always do get through so not sure what his secret is to avoid the bribes. But we are finally on our way. I am pretty sure at one point we were lost because it looked like we drove around the same block a couple of times but we came to the fort and parked the car and hoped out into a sea of people dancing and drums and horns blaring and in the middle was a bride in a western style white dress and her groom in a suit. Apparently the fort is a wonderful place for the locals to come and take wedding photos and have a party. They have to apply to do it and have a 3 hour time window. We discovered why because by the time we left, we had seen no fewer than 9 wedding parties !
Like I mentioned, the fort is rebuilt. It took us a bit to get to the entrance because we were all taking photos of the wedding party. It was our first one and we wanted to experience it as much as the guests themselves. The ladies were all dressed in very fancy dresses with a lot of sequins and shiny material. The men were mostly dressed nicely but a few in t shirts and jeans. There was a lot of dancing around the bride and groom so they had to walk at a very slow pace. The horns and drums were hired, I think. I think I saw the same men playing for a different bride and groom later. They were dressed in long green tunics. Other bands were just dressed regularly.
It seems to be the custom that the bride walks very slowly with her two hands holding onto the front of her veil. She holds this out from her waist and keeps her head down the entire time. It apparently shows respect for her future husband. I wouldn’t do well in a ceremony like that! The male guests were mostly dancing with each other and a few women. The women were mostly dancing with each other also or just walking along and laughing and having a good time. When they stop for photos, some of the brides would continually bow under her veil. Another "respect for her future husband" gesture . We only saw one bride who was not wearing a veil.
So into the fort and of course I have to go to the toilet which is out of the fort and at the other end of the yard and locked but Jams convinces the man to give us the key so away we go. Takes us about 10 minutes there and back as it was quite a hike. Back into the fort and you can walk up onto the wall and look over the front. Lots of families are visiting there with the kids and going up the walls. The rest of the fort is just shops on either side of the walkway which climbs the hill as it goes towards what would have originally been the back of the fort which is open.
We entered a few shops. Some had some interesting Suzannas for sale which are decorated coverings that Jams told us the women make for their hope chests before they are married. Some are quite extensive and beautiful. Another shop held costumes for weddings. And some of the shops were paintings of the country scenery or of the fort.
As we are going in and out of shops, a school group comes up the pathway. They are happy to interact with us and pose for photos
One shop was showing some weavings and two ladies were at a loom weaving . What was fascinating is that the older woman (my age probably) was seating at the loom but she was getting a lesson in weaving from the younger woman (probably in her late twenties or thirties). How great that she was learning and happy about it even learning from a younger woman. It looked very complicated.
Jams and Wales and male Aussie couple all want to climb the hill behind the fort which would have been the height of the original fort so they head up and Slava and New York and I go back out the front of the fort. As we leave, a family stops us and asks us to take their photos so we do. They don’t care that they don’t get a copy, they just like their photos taken.
There are also many wedding parties on the premises now. There are at least two groups walking from the parking lot and another group about to climb up to the fort, another group at a statue by the front of the fort and a very small group walking alongside the fort. The small group was just the bride and groom and a few attendants. She had on a very intricately woven veil that was opaque so that we couldn’t see her face at all. She also had it held in front of her with both hands at waist level. It sort of creates a tent in front of their face. It was a beautiful dress .
The group that is entering the fort has a very loud band with two of the very long horns. The horn players see me taking photos and they start playing very loud and keep walking towards me in fun so I am almost face first into the horn opening. We were all laughing. The brides and grooms also didn’t seem to have any problem that we were taking as many photos as their own guests and photographers and many of them smiled at us as we passed as did the guests.
The wall climbers come out of the fort and we go over to the building on the other side of the complex which was a former madrassa or school. It is also being refurbished into a museum and some of the rooms are open but some are still under construction. We went into each room that was open and saw some of the traditional implements used in daily life. There was also a room that was the “bridal room”. Jams told us that traditionally, marriages were arranged and the bride and groom did not know each other until the wedding. His was arranged as well but he did meet his bride before the wedding and told his parents she was acceptable. She said the same of him so they got married. Anyway, after the wedding, the couple would retire to this room and stay in this room for three days, only coming out for the toilet . Food would be delivered to them. The room was pretty much just a big sleeping area with small shelves for tea fixings and maybe a change of clothes.
There were a few people standing on the roof of the madrassa and Jams recognized one lady as a popular TV presenter so they were doing some kind of program. She was quite pretty. She saw me taking a photo of her so she blew me a kiss and struck a pose for me.
Time to leave and well after the time we were supposed to meet the others at the coffee shop. We struggle to leave the compound as more wedding parties are entering as we are leaving. Some of the men try to get us to dance with them which is mainly a lot of waving of the hands in certain patterns but we don’t have time. Of course we are parked in the middle of a huge traffic jam now and have to wiggle our way out of it which is accomplished mainly by Slava yelling at a lot of people. But we are finally free and do not get lost on the way back and end up at the Hyatt shop which is actually where we were supposed to meet.
It is a delightful little shop with the storekeeper’s father being the artist of many of the paintings . He also has some beautiful rugs and scarves that are a combination of wool and silk. I find one that is especially appealing and get it. He told us our group had been into the shop some time ago and then they had left. We look all over the Hyatt for them and then go to the coffee shop which is this monstrous huge lovely beautiful building. Jams and Slava are looking everywhere and not finding our group. Wales and male aussie couple and New York and I are in the garden looking at the roses when suddenly Jams comes running back to us and tells us we have to leave because Walking Aussie has gotten extremely ill and the hotel has called him and they want him back so they can take her to the hospital.
Apparently Walking Aussie had gone downstairs and gotten some drink or food or something and then gone to the toilet in the lobby because she couldn’t get back to her room and then gotten in the lift and passed out. Luckily she wasn’t passed out long but the hotel staff got her out of the lift and called Jams.
So at the hotel, Jams goes to help. I go to my room because Canada and I had agreed that if we were separated, she would leave the key at the desk which of course she didn’t. Finally the cleaning lady let me into the room. Shortly after that, Canada shows up and then the rest of the gang shows up in our room, London and Mauritius and we make arrangements to go get lunch and go get Wales too so he knows and Slava becomes our taxi driver as Jams goes off to the hospital with Walking Aussie.
Slava drives us to the bazaar and drops New York at the museum to her delight . Turns out our ladies were at the coffee shop waiting for us but for some reason Jams didn’t go the right way to find them so they had to come back by taxi.
At the market, we are looking for the bread stamps. These are the stamps that were used by each bakery to mark their bread so people would know where the bread was baked. I’ve seen them in a few markets and pointed them out but no one was interested until now. So now we are in a search for them. We aren’t having much luck until Canada makes a stamping motion with her hand and someone figures out that is what we want and directs us to the back part of the market where there are tools and such and we find a couple of stalls with different stamps.
This was the local food market as well and tons of spices and teas. Most of the people were happy to have their photos take but a few of the ladies said no. I always honor that because I don’t like my photo taken either.
Got some street ice cream for 1 somoni and it was good. Waiting for Mauritius who headed off to find T shirts and some scarves but she was unsuccessful. Then Slava drove Canada and I back to the Hyatt because she had the shopkeeper put aside one of the rugs and decided she did want it and went back for it . He had another rug that was beautiful and I liked it a lot but it was $500 and just couldn’t justify coming home from Central Asia with another rug.
We actually thought about walking back to the hotel but my sense of direction has been wonky ever since I started living in England with all the roundabouts and such and she had a rug to carry so we got a taxi. Had a bit of a rest and got some emails then out for dinner.
Dinner at 7 with only the drivers, Wales, Mauritius, London, New York and me and Jamshed. Canada decided she’d had enough activity for the afternoon and stayed behind.
We walked to the fancy tea shop in town for dinner. We are having rice soup but it is surprisingly good. And of course there is a wedding there! So we ask if we can go take photos. We have to walk through their serving area to get to the wedding party. The bride and groom are seated on a raised dais in the front of the room. They have finished their meal so the dishes are being cleared. The wait staff pushes us further into the room so we can have a better view and we start taking photos. The bride, while seated, is still doing the bowing thing, about one bow every 30 seconds to a minute.
Most of the guests are up and dancing with the hand thingy again. Pretty soon, a couple of guests go up and drag the groom down from the dais and he starts dancing. Then they get the bride and it takes her a bit to manage to get around the table with her full long trained dress . She doesn’t really dance but stands in front of her groom and does the bowing thing. I’m unable to get closer to take photos so we leave the party. Wow, that’s about 12 wedding parties we crashed today!
Back to the table to finish our dinner. We finish and head across the street to a shop that Mauritius found which has old Suzannas and other scarves and older things that have been purchased for re-sale or have been found in attics or such. We had stopped on our way in and he said he would wait for us to finish dinner so somebody had to buy something. I ended up buying an old Suzanna. He says it was 60 years old he thought. It wasn’t handmade but machine stitched but it was quite lovely and the stitching and material looked like it could be 60 years old and not just dirty. He started with quite a high price of over $120 but I got it for $64 so we were both happy.
Some of the others went to the grocery next door.
Rained on us going back to the hotel but not really enough to hurt us or get us too wet. While I was buying my Suzanna, the others went and got us a yoghurt which was quite tasty. We took one back to Canada too but she was still too sick to drink it.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
On to Dushanbe - Goodbye Afghanistan
DAY 11 SATURDAY OCT 10
2015 ONWARD TO DUSHANBE – THE CAPITAL!
Guess what – another long day of driving but at some point, the roads are supposed to get better and be paved and everything. That'll be something as we haven't seen paved roads in a while. And yes, water off in the hotel this morning. Canada is still sick this morning and begrudgingly takes Imodium to head off the problem so she can be in a car all day. I head downstairs before her and take my bags to the lobby. Then to breakfast. A lot of people are not feeling top notch today so the poor chef is working hard again to produce what people ordered last night but this morning, they are not feeling up to eating their orders. I had just ordered porridge and eventually had to go get it myself because he was so overwhelmed. I did ask him for a smaller bowl that what he was dishing out to others
.
The manager or front desk man came in to help and brought a bucket of water with him and was using that to wash and dry the dishes that were then being used to serve us. I thought this is probably a bad thing. And yep, between last night and today, every single person in our group except New York and the locals were sick with some sort of gastro-intestinal disorder, mostly diarrhea. I was handing out Imodium like candy as was New York. Good thing both of us had brought a lot.
On our drive, we went past this glorious huge market in Kabol (?) or something like that. We were all drooling with the prospect of stopping but we just drove right past it! Everyone was going – hey let’s stop but we couldn’t get Jams to do it. So a perfectly good market out the window and no action for us. What a disappointment.
We are leaving the Afghan border today. As there was constant confusion on exactly where we were most of the time and a lot of consultation with the maps we weren’t sure when this happened but finally Slava said "goodbye Afghanistan" and we were gone.
We arrived at our lunch stop. We have been eating lunch around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and dinner around 8 or so at night. Very odd timing for most of us so we always had snacks in the cars, usually purchased by Mauritius, a lovely thin woman who loved chocolate and it didn’t seem to affect her at all.
No one is especially feeling great today after the hotel last night and London has really gotten sick so that she has had to stop the car and climb out to vomit a few times. So she’s in the front seat now and Jams is riding in the back where it is much easier to access him with questions and the like.
Our lunch stop was closed. So we had a pee stop and then motored on down the road for a few minutes and found another spot. Today was a memorable day as we left Afghanistan, everybody was sick in some fashion or another, our one van had a flat from several days ago and had to have two patches put into it so on several stops Anatoly is pumping air back into the tire, our lunch stop was closed, and we were stopped numerous times to check the license and registration of the cars before we could continue. Lovely day. But it’s not over yet!
We pulled into an actual rest stop or truck stop on the highway
. A bit different from a place in the states or the UK. There were many people there eating under different tents. Each tent has tables and a gas burner set up where they are cooking something in covered pots. I wandered by one pot and got a look and it was so totally disgusting looking that I didn’t want to see any others.
There were rather a lot of enterprising children and adults there coming up to each car/vehicle that stopped and trying to sell nuts and sesame seed and honey cakes and various other concoctions. They were totally willing to let you have a taste and then wanted one or two somoni for a certain amount. I borrowed some small bills to buy some nuts from Sabrina who was a delightful little girl who hung around us the whole time we were there. And we were there a long time because the white van needed repairs. Slava had some hose out of the car and was wrapping it in something and trying to stick it back. I tried to hold a flashlight for him but was getting in the way so I gave up and went back to taking photos of the kids.
Took a photo of Sabrina and a young man standing next to her grabs her and the young boy on the other side and says Photo. I ask if this is his family and he says yes. Later we are talking to Sabrina and she says she lives with her mom and has several sisters but no brothers
. I find the photo and ask Jams to ask if this is her dad. She says she doesn’t’ know the man, never seen him before, but the boy was a friend. How funny. I would have been happy to take this man’s photo without the kids if that’s what he wanted.
We are there long enough that a pee break is necessary again. Nasty pit toilet which some man is monitoring and charging 1 somoni to attend. Sometimes you get toilet paper for your 1 somoni and sometimes not.
We are finally off again. By now we are on paved roads and making better time. Our place to stay in Dushanbe for two nights (wonderful again with the two nights) will be this restored mansion with private bathrooms and a wonderful garden and cats and internet and books to borrow and such. We were all very excited to see this place as it sounded so lovely and was rated in the book as one of the best places in town.
Imagine our dismay when we pulled into a big ole faceless and cheerless and unmemorable hotel! Again with the change, no notice, and "oh the mansion wasn’t available." No one bothered to tell us until well after the trip that when we had started and had all this trouble with the Tajik visas, Peregrine had called all the hotels and guesthouses on the trip and cancelled. When we got the visas and then were en-route and taking the trip as planned, when Peregrine called back, many of the original and really nice places were re-booked and so we were left to scramble and find other places to stay and eat. Why didn’t someone just tell us that’s what happened instead of letting us be surprised – usually unpleasantly – as we go along.
As we are driving into Dushanbe, there is a sign that says Boston. Apparently there is a Boston, Tajikistan as well as a Boston, U.K. too because it is on London’s passport that is where she was born. We didn’t see the sign in time to stop going into the town so we stopped going out and took a photo of the sign for her.
We were pulled over by the gate to the city and Slava and Anatoly once again had to show their car papers and permits to be there. As it was the city gate, we just all piled out of the car and started walking back to the gate to get photos. I am last out so behind the rest and a policeman approaches me and asks where we are from and such. Thought I might be in trouble because he suddenly says, “Follow me” and walks into the 4 lane highway and crosses to the middle of the highway. I am following very close behind because I figure people won’t want to hit a policeman. He motions to someone on the other side of the road where there is a couple sitting in chairs and suddenly they are dashing across their 4 lanes of traffic to meet us in the middle of the highway which has a barrier that we are now standing at. This woman was a friend of the policemen and from Poland originally and speaks Russian and Tajik and English and Polish. They just wanted her to talk to me so they could ask more questions about our group and where we were from. It was just people being friendly and wanting to know about us and his English just wasn’t up to a good conversation. So we are standing in the middle of a highway discussing our travels and who is from where and why and more. The group finally figures out I’m not in any trouble and London runs out to join us in the highway. Slava and Jamshed are waving us back now so we say goodbye to the Polish lady and head back across all the traffic lanes (might have only been 3) and to the car. I thought it might be my chance to get a photograph of a policeman so I asked him but while he wavered a tiny bit, he still wouldn’t let me. He did tell me it was against the rules and he could get in trouble. But it was nice that he thought about letting me take his photo.
When we got to our hotel, my hubby called and for a minute, it really threw me that he knew where I was since it wasn’t on the hotel list and then I realized he called my mobile number - DUH!
Dinner tonight is a somber affair almost as there is only Canada, me, New York, Mauritius and London. Everyone else decides to skip because they are under the weather. Of course, Jamshed and Slava and Anatoly are fine. We head to what is obviously a traditional Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, establishment - Salsa! Imagine, semi-Mexican and Latino food in the middle of Central Asia. It was actually pretty darn good. I had nachos which were fairly close. Canada and London shared chicken fajitas and we were trying to explain fajitas to the drivers.
Mauritius thought after dinner that we should have a night cruise through the city and see the sights with the lights. This worked for about 3 minutes but London was getting sicker by the minute and as we stopped for a light, she moaned and said she had to get out of the car. As we were in the van where you cannot open the door from the inside, there was nothing I could do. Slava shot across the intersection and jerked to a stop and Jams jumped out and opened our door. I jumped out as well but it was too late for poor London and she vomited profusely in the car and into a leaky plastic bag that Mauritius had managed to grab for her. That ends our night tour. As soon as she is able and we clean up the car a bit, we head back to the hotel and turn in for the night. I give my antibiotics to her along with the electrolytes I’ve been passing out to those in need and Imodium. She has been sick most of the trip off and on and had to sit in the front seat several times but then gets better and eats and then gets sick again. Poor London.
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