Where Is Ron?
Central Asia, October - November 2009
Ron and Ellen and Amir Timur (Tamerlane), Tashkent, Uzbekistan, September 2009
Tajikistan, 27 October - 3 November 2009
To see photos of Khojand, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of the trip over the mountains from Khojand to Dushanbe, click on the thumbnail at the left.
12 November 2009
To see photos of Dushanbe and the road to Penjikent, click on the thumbnail at the left.
Afton, Virginia, USADear Family and Friends,
In this message Ron is writing from Osh, Kyrgyzstan, about his trip to Tajikistan (27 Oct - 3 Nov).
In the message he mentions giving someone a nickel (US 5 cent coin, for those on the list not familiar with US coins). Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US president, author of the Declaration of Independence, and founder and architect of the University of Virginia, is on the front of the nickel, and his home, Monticello, which is in Charlottesville about 25 miles from our house, is on the back. When we travel, we take both nickels and pennies to give to people as souvenirs and for good luck, The recipients are always quite pleased.
Love to all from rainy Virginia (yesterday and today we are getting the remnants of Hurricane Ida),
Ellen
11 November 2009
Osh, KyrgyzstanHello, my dear -
After my abortive attempt to go from Shymkent, Kazakhstan to Penjikent, Tajikistan in one day, I returned to Bob's, and by chance he happened to know someone who was being driven in the embassy car to Khojand, Tajikistan, the next morning. So he called him and asked if it would be agreeable for me to ride with him. Since I was working on a cheap way to travel between the two countries I realized it can't be any cheaper than free.
The next morning, believe it or not, without an alarm clock I got up in time to meet the guy at his hotel downtown at 8 am. It took me three buses since each bus I caught turned to the right or left before getting me downtown near the market where we usually got off the tram. I didn't have time to wait for the tram. I got there before 8 and found the embassy car in the parking lot, showed the driver Bob's card, left my bag in the car and when in the lobby to wait for Peter Stone. While I was waiting the driver came in with a telephone and wanted me to speak to someone. Security had to check me out. I was impressed.
Peter is a science writer and Asian bureau chief for Science Magazine based in Beijing China. Fascinating guy who has found a great way to travel and work overseas, spending his time interviewing very interesting people about fascinating subjects. We talked non-stop the entire way, One of the topics he is interviewing people about is a large lake created by an earthquake, and the artificial dam created may be unstable and could flood a large area if it breaks. Watch Science Magazine for the future article. He said he would send me a copy.
And clearing the border with an embassy car is a breeze. Too bad I didn't have an embassy car for the other borders.
I have always said my idea of adventure would be to drop me off somewhere I didn't know and couldn't speak the language, and see how I could get out. Well, that is what happened. The driver dropped me off at a hotel he knew and then left with Peter for the airport (Peter was flying on to Dushanbe.) I could not figure out the name of the hotel since I couldn't read the language because it was in the Cyrillic Alphabet, could not locate myself on the Lonely Planet Guide, had no local currency and didn't know the exchange rate, and most of the people I asked for information could not understand English. I went in the hotel and inquired about the rates so I would know if I should return or not. Then walked one direction hoping to find some landmarks on my map, then reversed and walked another direction which become more commercial and finally I could figure out where I was, found a money exchange booth and exchanged some dollars. I had tried an ATM with no success.
Now that I had money and could locate myself on the map I returned to the hotel and checked in. When I returned to the hotel desk I asked if they would register me or could tell me where to go to register myself. I got nowhere with that conversation and even with my [electronic] translator I could not communicate. There were a couple of guys standing there and one of them could speak enough English to understand what I was asking and told me that he could take me to the OVIR office where I could register. I figured he was a taxi driver and I asked how much and he just waved my question off. Took me to his car and drove me to the front of the office and pointed where I was to go. He wanted nothing and went out of his way to take me. I was quite impressed and of course produced a nickel (Jefferson and Monticello for where I am from and a shiny penny for good luck). Turned out I didn't have to register until I had been in the country for 30 days.
Later I was walking up the street and met a guy who could speak several languages. Languages were his hobby and he loved to travel when he could. He had a company near the mosque and market where he specialized in video tape, as best as I could understand. He invited me for tea and we agreed that the next morning at 10 I would call him from the water fountain in front of the mosque and he would give me a tour of the city. The next morning when I called and came out and explained he was in the middle of something and if I could wait for a half hour he would be free. Later he did give me a good walking tour of the main parts of Khojand. He also helped me buy a sim card for my cell phone. The vendor wanted my passport and wouldn't accept the copy I had with me because he wanted my visa number for his form. My friend simply bought a card in his name and put it into my phone and everyone was happy.
On the tour I had discovered that the theater was having a spectacular performance at 4. On my way to return a bit before 4 I met a young lady who could speak some of the best English I had heard. I invited her come with me to the theater but she explained that she was the administrator for a church school and was on her way there to perform some of her duties. We exchanged phone numbers by calling each other on our phones and I hoped to meet her again. It turned out that the theater for that day had been canceled because one of the main performers was sick so I was to return tomorrow. But I left the next day for Dushanbe. My two or three days were full of stories like these. Lots of people spoke English, at least a little, and wanted to talk and be helpful. I found this small town to be a very pleasant city and enjoyed my stay there far more than my stay in Dushanbe.
In the morning at 7:45 I walked outside my hotel and asked a taxi to take me to where I could catch a shared taxi to Dushanbe. I was the third for the shared taxi and we waited another hour for a fourth. We made a mystery stop, and finally got going around 9:30. At 10:30 the sign said 232 Km to Dushanbe and we were on a good, newly paved two lane road with a center line. At 11:15 we were getting closer to the mountains and had a police check point where I had to present my passport. Lots of birch trees with their bases painted white. Some trees that appeared to be the kind that that were cut each year for wood and then produced many more branches to cut the following year. However, many of them appeared to be dead.
Around the 190 km marker, there were many small villages with disbursed homes for farming and sheep grazing. There were piles and piles of broken asphalt alongside the road which I assume was from tearing up the old road before re-paving. About 11:36 it started to rain but the countryside was extremely dry. There were big power lines crossing the landscape.
As we started to climb, the dry dirt turned to dried grass and I saw more cows grazing. About 11:41 the rain turned to snow and there was a marker for 168 km. I think somewhere about this time there was a fork and the paved road went left and we went right. My notes have a 105 and a 107 km marker [but that can't be right]. The road we took was much rougher and my notes are almost impossible to read. Around noon I was seeing large trucks with chains, and other trucks on the side of the road putting chains on. The snow continued to get thicker and the roads had become slippery. However, my driver drove very slowly and had the car under control at all times - well, on the curves I was starting to have doubts as I looked down the side of the mountain into the valley far below. I was impressed with his ability. The car was a Bona? The traffic was heavy, mostly trucks.
About 12:17 we crested the top and began the descent. The Lonely Planet map indicates the pass is about 3378 meters high, this would be 11,082 feet. Most of the trucks at this point had chains and were climbing up very slowly.
About 1:22, at the 159 km marker we found ourselves in a big tie-up going down a steep hill, and at the bottom there was a sharp hairpin turn and the roads become less steep. We could see the traffic on the road below with some of the cars and trucks getting stuck and blocking others. We pulled over to the side (next to the mountain, not the cliff) and waited. Gradually some of the trucks caught up in the hairpin turn and the steep hill finally passed us as they went up but others kept entering the hairpin turn and getting stuck. One large trailer truck had guys walking behind it throwing fine gravel under the wheels whenever they started to spin, then they would go forward a few feet and repeat. Finally we made it through the turn without a scrape, but I don't understand how we did it. There was a lot of yelling, waving, and movement.
We then found ourselves in a rather level area with all kinds of road building equipment parked all over the place. Some of the equipment was being used to plow the snow or haul sand and gravel.
1:22 at the 149 km marker - the snow turned to rain and we found ourselves on solid smooth pavement and the driver just pushed the pedal to the metal. However we were still going down the mountain through switchbacks and blind curves and at this point I must admit feeling some fear and my foot was constantly pushing the imaginary brake pedal.
We stopped for lunch and of course everyone wanted to feed me everything and I wanted to eat as little as possible. On travel days I try to eat little and avoid eating anything risky not knowing when or where I will find a toilet I feel comfortable using. And dealing with a case of tourist-revenge on the open road is not something I care to repeat. I did take a picture of the toilet on the side of the mountain across from the restaurant.
We were going down a rocky road and I could see the river in the valley flowing towards us and kept trying to understand how we are going parallel to a river flowing down towards us and yet we kept going down, down and down and the river still seemed to be just as far below us.
At the 100 km marker we crossed the river and started up again to go over the second pass.
The main tunnel appeared to go under the highest point and I don't remember snow again. There were many tunnels unlike any I have experienced before. It looks like they build the tunnels along the side of the mountain - large panels of concrete curved and made into an arch over the road. Then they fill in the side facing the mountain and eventually the mountain slides bury the tunnel. So in some place there would be a tunnel, then some open space and then some more tunnel, like they were anticipating where the mountain slides would be. Some were quite long. In some cases we went through the tunnels and other times we went around. There were in all stages of construction.
About 4:40 at the 41 km marker we found a good fast paved road. Quite an interesting ride but, when I decided to return to Tashkent I avoided most of the route by leaving through Penjikent.
I had anticipated that I would enjoy traveling in Tajikistan more than some of the other countries. Maybe I would have if I had more time and were here in a season when I could travel to the Pamir Mountains, which seem to be the destination of travelers. But I found Dushanbe to be rather dull. The main street Rudaki was wide, had lots of buses running up and down it, and was quite long with everything of interest in a rather small area.
My favorite restaurant was the Georgia Cafe where I had Russian Piene (sp?) (soup with little dumplings), eggplant with nuts (the nuts turned out to be the pomegranate).
Trying to find the Kyrgyzstan Embassy and get a new visa was a day long adventure. I had read that the Krygyz Embassy had moved but I thought the Lonely Planet had the new location - which was a mistake. But I met a lot of interesting people in the process, including a Tajik journalist working for a British project: War and Peace Reporting. She took me up to her office and had a staff member call and get directions then found a window in their building where they could point and show me the way. They even wrote the name of the Embassy out in Tajik and indicated it was near the Indian Ambassador's residence. Everyone I showed the note to pointed me to the Indian Ambassador's residence. Turns out they were sending me back where I had already been - which was the old location. Finally went to one of the bigger hotels and asked for help. They called and got new directions, gave me the telephone number and drew a map. I was to turn at the university - but there were two universities and of course I was turning at the wrong one. Some other men helped me and called on their cell phone and got additional directions and sent me back to the right university. Of course then I had to find the bank where I paid for the visa and bring back a receipt and a copy of my passport and Tajik visa. But I got my visa.
While in Dushanbe I did meet many interesting people such as a business man from Iran, another from Afghanistan - and the next time I saw either one of them they were together. Many people, especially young students could speak some English. One young student on a bus spoke excellent English and told me she was studying the history of the English language.
There were more police on the main street of Dushanbe than anywhere I have been. In front of my hotel there were always at least three on the square, and some more within a block or two. It felt more controlled than Tashkent and there just was not much night life on the streets after dark.
Also in Tajikistan I saw more accidents than anywhere else. In front of my hotel in Khojand there were two major accidents, the second was a car running into the first accident some time later. In Dushanbe two accidents happened within 100 feet of me as I was walking along and they were not just fender benders. I wonder if the people in Tajikistan are just getting wealthy enough to buy cars and are still learning how to drive.
Sometimes my adventures are just random by chance - but in Dushanbe I just didn't roll the right dice and there was nothing to particularly write about. I toured museums, wandered around in the historical areas, rode buses and trolleys, talked to people, wandered in markets, etc - but just not much to write home about.
Finally decided to leave and my trip to the border at Penjikent will be in my border crossing report.
Love you and miss you,
Ron
Forward to Fergana Valley (Uzbekistan) and Osh (Kyrgyzstan)
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Last updated: 13 December 2009
