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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