Part way through our Uzbekistan adventures, after Samarkand and before Tashkent, we took a wee detour for a few days through Tajikistan. It was a busy few days too! Our new guide picked us up from the border crossing not with a bus, but with a number of four wheel drive vehicles, and straight away we were off to see the Seven Lakes. Located in the Fann Mountains, these are a major attraction in Tajikistan, and they’re known for the various shades of blue and green in the water. The road was pretty bumpy, so the comfier vehicles were appreciated! Approaching the area we passed through several small towns where people were living in very simple conditions – houses made of mud bricks, doing their washing in the river, bridges made of whatever scrap metal was lying around. It’s easy to think that we’ve advanced past that sort of lifestyle, when clearly large parts of the world still live that way. While tourism in the area is clearly increasing, we were still a bit of a novelty, and we received lots of waves as we passed through.
Once we reached the seven lakes area, the scenery was pretty stunning. The lakes weren’t big, but each was a little different from the previous one, and the colour of the water compared with the rocky landscape was very pretty. We stopped for lunch at the third lake, then drove all the way up to the sixth lake, stopping at each of the lakes along the way for pictures, and then we walked the distance between the sixth and seventh lake. Along the way there were quite a few goats being herded by young children – a bit sad in itself, but then their method to get the animals to keep walking was to throw rocks at them, which was a bit unpleasant.
The next morning we started the day by visiting Sarazm, an archeological and UNESCO World Heritage site where we saw the remains of one of Central Asia’s earliest “proto-urban” settlements, dating at over 5500 years old. It was discovered when a man found an old axe head in a field and took it home to use. Some time later it was brought to his attention that a similar one was in a museum, and so the process began to find out where it was from, which lead to major excavations of the site.
Afterwards, we headed to the bazaar to pick up some snacks for our lunch later, then were back in the bus headed to Iskanderkul, a lake named for Alexander the Great – that man had been everywhere!! Just like the previous day, the landscapes were incredible. Apparently the water in the lake is very high in calcium, copper, lead, and various other salts, so there’s nothing living in it, but this also causes it to be a really bright, light blue colour which is very pretty.
Our next Tajik destination was the capital city, Dushanbe, whose name is also the word for “Monday” in Persian. The city is going through major renovations ahead of some upcoming event in the city (I don’t remember what), so many of the main roads are half ripped up. That doesn’t mean they’re closed, however, just a bit of an obstacle course – for pedestrians too!! There we visited the gardens, the national museum, the earthquake memorial, a bazaar, and an old fortress on the outskirts of town. We only had one full day in Dushanbe, so it was a busy one! I particularly liked visiting the bazaar. While it had definitely been “touristified”, it was interesting to see what they had on offer, and we were offered tasters of dried fruit and nuts as we passed the stalls. One lady really pushed us to try a whole range of treats, and even made us a cup of tea! We made a small purchase to say thank you, and she let me take her photo :)
The next morning it was straight on to Khujand, some more learning about Amir Timur who we first met back in Uzbekistan, visited a mosque, and had another bazaar visit. Khujand’s Panjshanbe Bazaar is apparently one of the largest is all of Central Asia, but we were only given 15 minutes to look around, which was a bit disappointing. I would have loved a slow wander around to explore everything it had to offer.
That night, there was a bit of a disaster in the hotel! Luckily it didn’t affect me at all, but at breakfast the next morning all the talk was about flooded rooms! Apparently, during the night, the hot water heater in one couple’s room burst open somehow and flooded their bathroom and part of their room with hot water. This then apparently seemed between the layers of the building and started pouring through the ceiling of the room below, flooding their bathroom and entrance area too!
It was a dramatic end to a quick trip in this country, and we headed back into Uzbekistan the next morning. While the cities of Tajikistan were interesting enough, getting out of the cities really was my favourite part, and the scenery along the way was quite superb. I can see why it’s a hot spot for hiking and the like – a bit less infrastructure around it than the Camino though, I suspect!
emilyonearth 
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