Tajikistan - 2017

The organised tour through Tajikistan finished yesterday evening, and most members of the group left on flights today.  The airline I was using, China Southern Airlines, only flies in and out of Dushanbe twice weekly, and the first available flight for my return was scheduled to depart tomorrow (Sunday).  That gave an extra day in Dushanbe to walk around and explore.  Fortunately, the spring weather was perfect, and I took the chance to walk extensively, as the step counter on my phone testifies (22,000 steps today).

Two others were also scheduled on the same flight as me, and we agreed to explore together as we had similar interests and priorities that included the markets, antique stores with Soviet memorabilia and the Museum of Antiquities.

After our familiar hotel breakfast, we set off at 9:00 to head for the Green Market, which we had visited in pouring rain early in the trip.  We were quickly side-tracked, however, by some Soviet memorabilia stores, and our path to the markets took a circuitous route along the main roads and back streets of south-eastern Dushanbe.  None of us minded wandering in this seemingly random manner, as we all enjoyed the thrill of coming upon unexpected sights in unexpected places – line of schoolboys carrying flags; a small shop with a picture of Donald Duck painting a rainbow on the front purporting to sell English goods as representative of  Zara, George, Disney, Esprit, Debenhams, John Lewis and M&S; an elderly sidewalk bookseller with a total stock of 20 books arranged on the window sill of another shop; large signs with portraits of the President smiling in a field of waist-high red poppies; decaying Soviet-era factories that amazingly still seemed to be functional; a small multi-level Chinese pagoda that was apparently a restaurant; boys playing football in the street who seemed to prefer having their photos taken than scoring a goal; and lots more.

We eventually reached the Green Market, which had a totally different atmosphere in the cool sunshine than we had witnessed in pouring rain.  There was lots more action and colour, and people generally seemed to be in a more buoyant mood.  The meat hanging outside in the open air seemed to have more colour, and the bread definitely looked more crusty and appetising when not drenched in rain.

Unlike last time, I found some stairs this morning that provided access to an upper level terrace that provided some elevated views of the interior of the new (but sadly less photogenic or busy) building selling meat, sweets, dried fruit and eggs.  I also managed to see several ethnic Korean women selling kimchi who were Koryo-saram, descendents of North Koreans who were forcibly relocated to Central Asia, mainly in 1937 and 1938 because Stalin thought they might side with the Japanese in the event of a war.

By the time we finished in the markets it was after midday, so we decided to refresh ourselves with some coffee at Coffee Republic, a short walk of a little over a block away.  Coffee Republic is located beside Dushanbe Plaza, a new 22-storey office building that is the tallest building in the city. 

There is a restaurant on the 19th floor that we thought might offer some photographic opportunities.  With no common language, we managed to let the security officers know where we wanted to go, and after a thorough screening we took the elevators to the 19th floor.  Despite the advertised opening hours, the restaurant was in darkness and the doors to the exterior balcony were firmly locked.  Pointing to my camera, I asked about taking photos and received an abrupt ‘no’, so we browsed a menu and took the elevator back down.  Fortunately, the waiting area for the elevator was near a window that overlooked Central Park, and we had a to wait a while for the elevator to arrive.

Descending from the heady high altitude of Dushanbe Plaza, we began a bit of a ‘Soviet memorabilia crawl’, starting at an antiques store opposite

Dushanbe Plaza and finishing at TsUM, the run-down, half-empty Central Department Store.  By this time, my friends decided to return to the hotel for a meeting and a rest, while I decided to take advantage of the sunny weather to take the long way back by walking through Central Park, the beautiful expanse of green space with interesting monuments that I had visited in a grey, overcast, late afternoon early in the trip.  The park was beautiful in the early afternoon light, with the magnolias in full bloom, and walking in the cool spring breeze was sheer delight.

I had arranged to meet one of my other friends at 3:00pm to visit the Museum of Antiquities, which was just a short 10 minute walk from or hotel.  As my guidebooks had told me that closing time would be at 5:00pm, we decided to divert via Victory Park on the way to have another look at the T-34 tank and frescoes, arriving at the white, Soviet-era building of the Museum of Antiquities at 3:45, just as they were

rolling up the carpet at the entrance.  Apparently, the closing time on Saturdays has been changed to 4:00pm.

The ladies at the entrance were very understanding and welcoming, and agreed to show us through the main exhibits that we had come to see in the 15 minutes available, even though the sign said that the cash desk at the entrance would shut down 30 minutes before closing time.

One of my guidebooks said that the National Museum of Antiquities is “Dushanbe’s cultural highlight” and “the largest and most important museum in Dushanbe”, while my other guidebook said simply “this is a must for visitors to Dushanbe”.  Now that the new National Museum has been opened, the Antiquities Museum is no longer Dushanbe’s largest, and fortunately for us, it is actually quite small; although 20 to 25 minutes may have been preferable, we saw what we needed within our lightning 15 minute visit.

Highlights were the bead-bedecked skeletal remains of the princess we had heard about in Sarazm, the frescoes that had been removed from Penjikent, and the original of the reclining Buddha replica we had seen earlier in the new National Museum.  Other highlights included the headless statue of the Hindu god Shiva (headless because Muslim invaders had decapitated it) and a small carved ivory image of Alexander the Great.

For a day when I was basically following my nose, my free day in Dushanbe was a great way to end the trip.  If I had flown out this morning, I would have felt the trip had ended too abruptly, but today’s explorations left me feeling that several loose ends had been tied together nicely.

Those of us flying out tomorrow agreed to have dinner together at the Ukrainian restaurant a short distance from the hotel.  With a lovely meal of salmon and cheese blini followed by apple strudel for dessert, it was perfect end to a great day.

Day 10 - Dushanbe

Saturday 1 April 2017