Trip to Khujand

Disclaimer - this one's a long one! If you want to skip straight to the pictures, here's a link. There are more pictures in better quality here, so even after you read the blog, I'd recommend checking them out.

Khujand 2009 JPGS

The trip to Khujand was a nice surprise when the Ambassador suggested it and it certainly was a great learning experience. But as usual, I'm going to stay away from the business side and focus on the experience. This was my first time travelling within Tajikistan so it was quite an eye opener. Of course, travelling with the Ambassador probably made the trip quite a bit smoother than it would have been if I had been on my own.

At some points we weren't even sure if the trip would go off due to iffy weather forecasts. In fact, if we hadn't sent some of the support vehicles through Uzbekistan, we would have had to call it off because the vehicles that tried to go through the passes in Northern Tajikistan got stuck for several days in heavy snow.

(Thanks to one of my friends who was one of the ones stuck up there). Fortunately, the vehicles that went through Uzbekistan made it and it was only raining when we left Dushanbe.

I've never seen a plane like the one we flew on. Of course it was small, but the novelty was that we had to board through a hatch in the rear. What was funny was that they checked my luggage, then wheeled it out to the plane and left it sitting in the rain until it was my turn to board, at which point they gave it back to me to carry myself. No cargo hold under the plane. No overhead storage. I essentially had to rest my bag on my and the Ambassador's knees. It was a bit embarrassing because everyone else only packed duffel bags, while I brought a garment bag - but I had no idea space would be that limited.

Other than that, the flight was uneventful. We were in the clouds the whole time so there wasn't anything to see out the window. I almost forgot to mention that on the plane, we met up with the British Ambassador, who joined our Ambassador for most of the meetings. It was quite the trip. Khujand is located in the northern part of Tajikistan, separated from the south by two rather large mountain ranges.

The weather was noticeably colder when we got off the plane, but not enough for snow.

We were greeted by some folks from the regional governor's office, which spared us from the normal airport hubub, but left us a bit at their mercy. They welcomed us to Khujand and then explained that they had a whole itinerary for us. This was fine for Wednesday afternoon as we didn't have any firm plans, but we later had to explain that for the rest of the trip we were on a tight schedule. Once we saw some of the traffic in Khujand, we were grateful for the police escort. First stop was the hotel - the nicest one in Khujand - called the Sughd hotel. More on the hotel later, but it was interesting that their logo looked suspiciously like the Sheraton logo.

After checking in, our hosts escorted us to the local museum, which was actually quite nice.

There were some dioramas depicting the early history of the region.

The guide said that this was a new form of display invented by a local artists, but I could swear they had something like this at the Smithsonian when I was a kid - maybe she meant it was the first of its kind in Tajikistan. Next we saw a series of murals depicting the life of Alexander the Great, who swept through the region on his path of conquest to India.

The murals were quite nice, and made of locally mined stone.

Khujand is more than 2,500 years old, and the upper floor was dedicated to more of it's history, including an example of the ancient style of dwellings,

and an impressive statue of Temurmalik - a great historical figure best known for his heroic effort at fending off the Mongols as they came crashing through Central Asia.

When we came out of the museum, we were treated to a break in the clouds and some great views of the mountains in the distance.

After the museum, we took a trip outside of the city to the Arbob Palace. This building was build during the soviet era (as evidenced by a statue of Lenin in front and the hammer and sickle motif above the door),

and is surrounded by a rather large orchard. This is also the building where the 16th session of Parliament named Mr. Rahmon president after the civil war - a post he still holds today over 10 years later. The front of the building is adorned with Mr. Rahmon's picture on the left and a portrait of the father of the Tajik nation in antiquity - Ismoili Somoni - on the right. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Somoni's picture bears an amazing resemblance to President Rahmon - focus on the eyebrows.

General consensus is that this is not a coincidence.

We were treated to a tour of the palace, which is something of a museum today, visiting the auditorium where parliament was held

and seeing the impressive ceiling paintings which were done by 4 men in their mid-seventies (the guide likened them to Michaelangelo painting the Sistine chapel).

From the palace it was on to dinner and then back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next day. Interestingly, I learned that in Tajikistan, people make their beds with only one sheet. I was even less concerned about the single sheet when I learned over breakfast that the Ambassador didn't have any power in his room the first night. That, along with the large cockroach that sauntered across my bathroom floor gave new meaning to the title of 'the nicest hotel in Khujand'.

The second day, we started out with a tour of the central mosque and the Panjshanbe Market. The mosque was quite beautiful especially with the mountains in the background.

The stone madressa off to the side was build in the 11th or 12th century, while the mosque was only built after independence from the Soviet Union.

The Panjshanbe Market, really put the markets in Dushanbe to shame.

Aside from being covered, it was well organized and had a great variety of foods.

Again, travelling with the Ambassador had its benefits as we were treated to samples of honey on fresh, warm bread as part of our tour. An interesting side note - Panjshanbe means 'Thursday' in Tajiki, whereas Dushanbe means 'Monday'.

The rest of the day was devoted to meetings with government officials and other organizations. Since I can't talk about the contents of those meetings, I'll share some pictures from around the main government building in Khujand.

It was really nice to see all of the Christmas trees (New Year's trees here).

And in front of the building there is a golden statue of the national emblem.

The other surprising feature of Khujand is the prevalence of soviet decor

- the hammer and sickle are all over the place, whereas in Dushanbe, I can't remember ever seeing them.

I have to remark on Thursday's lunch - it was the best plov I've had since I've been here. Where plov usually consists of rice, lamb or beef, and shredded carrots, this plov had beef AND lamb, and chicken and sausage, and veggies, and dried fruits. It was really great. People in Dushanbe had said that Khujand makes a great plov, but this was really something. After lunch we also got to see the city stadium

- pretty impressive for a population of less than 200,000 - and an impressive statue of Ismoili Somoni.

I was even able to catch a snapshot of a giant statue of Lenin as we drove by.

We spent Thursday afternoon and evening visiting with local alumni from various US programs, like the Fulbright program, and learning about what they are doing now. It was really nice meeting with them because they have had actual experience with the U.S. and were all so grateful and positive toward America. It was nice to see the positive impact our programs have overseas.

On Friday, we had a few more meetings before lunch - among them was visiting the old industrial section of the city, which was bleak, but somehow captivating.

After another delicious lunch - this time with some rather tasty shashlik - we had about 20 minutes to walk around and snap a few more pictures of Khujand.

I was particularly interested in a statue of a she-wolf nursing two young children.

I'm not sure how or when the myth of the founding of Rome made it's way here, but it was kind of neat. We made it all the way down to the river before we had to head back to the airport for our departure.

We were waiting in the regular departures lounge when our friends from the governor's office showed up and offered to escort us to the plane, which was quite welcome after our experience in Dushanbe. The plane wasn't the same as on the way up, but I was able to get a picture.

This plane had it's own charm as my seatbelt was held together with a staple and was not adjustable - if only I hadn't lost so much weight!

Not to mention, the whole thing shook like one of those vibrating motel beds on crack. The windows weren't very clear, but I did manage to catch some glimpses of the beautiful snowy mountain ranges below as we passed over - unfortunatlely, no pictures. Despite being shaken like a set of maracas, we landed in Dushanbe safe and sound. The most amazing thing was that it felt like home. Watch out, I'm going native! Overall, it was a great trip and I feel fortunate I had the chance to go. Apparently there is a huge lake not far from Khujand that they call 'The Sea of Tajikistan'. Maybe a nice summer destination for me andStephanie...