1 Day, 4 Countries

I'm writing this from the more well-rested side of a 24 hour blitz through Europe, leaving Dushanbe in the morning, having lunch in Latvia, dinner in Prague, and making it to Madrid in time for the post-World Cup celebrations. Here is the quick link to all the pictures, and the story can be found below...

Eurotrip 2010 JPGS

I took the trip to meet Stephanie in Madrid, where she is doing some training for work. Stephanie left on Saturday morning so that she could get to Spain early enough on Sunday to prepare for the training. Since we're obviously paying for my travel, I took a lower cost flight on Sunday morning.

I went to the Dushanbe airport at 3 am on Sunday for a 5 am flight. As the plane took off, the sun was already rising at the beginning of a very long, but fulfilling day. I was able to catch a couple of shots of the mountains of Central Asia before napping fitfully for the rest of the five and a halfhour flight to Riga.

Given the very cramped seating, I was more than happy to get off the plane when we landed.

I had a 6 hour layover, so I got through customs easily and found my way to the express bus area and was in the historic center less than an hour after landing. I didn't do too much detailed sightseeing since we're both coming back this way and hope to tour the town more fully when Stephanie is done with work each day.

That said, I saw some nice architecture and got my bearings so that we can be more effective on the way home.

A lady was selling Hitler martrushka dolls next to ones of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. Aninteresting mix to be sure.

I also saw some interesting features like a statue of the musicians of Bremen.

After sampling some Latvian food for lunch, I enjoyed a free outdoor concert in a nearby park -

before wandering back to the point where I could catch the bus back to the airport for the next leg of my trip. The flight from Riga to Prague was almost 2 hours, but thanks to the time zone change, I landed in Czech Republic only 45 minutes according to my watch. In Prague, I only hada 4 hour layover and had to be more purposeful with my sightseeing.

Once in the Euro-zone, you don't have to go through customs in each country. It's quite disappointing not to get my passport stamped for each one, but on the bright side, I was able to get out of the airport that much more quickly. I dashed outside and found the taxi stand and negotiated a price to take me sightseeing and back to the airport in time for my connection.

The driver wasn't terribly friendly, but what he lacked in personality, he made up for in efficiency. Our first stop was the Prague Castle - a huge collection of buildings that I didn't have nearly enough time to see.

I dashed around snapping pictures of the various buildings -

- and then went inside the cathedral - which rivaled many of the best ones we saw in Italy.

On my way back to the cab, I stopped for some pictures of the view of the city from the castle and then we were on our way.

The driver pulled over so I could see the famous Charles Bridge as we crossed the river -

- and then headed to the Old Town Square, with quaint buildings and the centuries-old astronomical clock, which still works today.

Our next stop was Wenceslas Square, where I grabbed a quick picture or two before hopping back in the car to drive along the river on our way back to the airport.

My sightseeing went so well that I even made it to the airport in time to enjoy roast crispy duck with dumplings and cabbage and to pick up some chocolates for Stephanie.

Of course, afeter a day of perfect connections, my last flight is the one that ended up being delayed. I couldn't really be annoyed about missing sightseeing time though, because we only got held up after the plane was loaded. We took off about an hour late, which actually worked well since it put me in a position to get some great pictures of the sunset before I fell asleep.

I awoke as we were approaching Madrid to an announcement from the captain that Spain had won the world cup. There was a good deal of cheering from the Spanish passengers as we descended into Spain. Despite the late flight, I still landed before midnight, and so technically, the same day as I started. Despite being quite tired, I had time to notice how nice and moder the airport in Madrid is.

I didn't have to wait too long to get my bag and grabbed a cab to meet Steph at the hotel where we are staying. We got close, but not quite there due to the crowds thronging the streets. Fortunately, while loud and boisterous, the crowds were not at all dangers and some people even posed for pictures.

I also got some video of the celebration.

By the time I got all settled in, it was arround 1am in Madrid, so around 4 am in Dushanbe - just over 24 hours since I left our house. I'd say that's pretty good for one day. Now for the next few days, I'll relax while Stephanie is working and then we'll try to sitesee with whatever time she has left. Tough life, huh? I apologize if there are a lot of spelling errors. Apparently, my computer has decided that since we're in Madrid, it only speaks Spanish and keeps suggesting Spanish words as 'corrections'. And, frankly, I don't have the patience to go and check them all.

Here are more pictures for those interested:

Eurotrip 2010 JPGS

Zucchini Bread

Nothing too eventful this week. Stephanie made an amazing zucchini bread out of that giant zucchini and we've gotten a couple more that we've enjoyed by grilling. We've both been busy with work. Stephanie, because she's preparing to do this training in Madrid. Me, because I'm going to be out for a week to accompany her to Madrid.

We're both watching the world cup events unfold with some trepidation. On the one hand, it could be neat to be in a country that's in the finals. On the other hand, it could be pure madness. Only time will tell. Either way, we're looking forward to our little jaunt and will surely make the most of it. I'm taking my computer along and should have time for some updates while Stephanie is working. Friday, here I come!

Independence Day Weekend

Here we are, enjoying the end of a lovely three-day weekend. On Thursday, we had a local internet company come to install a direct hi-speed internet line at the house because our wireless has been less than dependable. Stephanie found the installation to be quite funny and MacGuyver-esque.

Apparently, when the guy arrived, he didn't have anything to cut the cable with so he asked to borrow our kitchen knives. Then, he needed a match to melt the end of the cable and finally, scotch tape to hold everything together. Despite the apparent patch-job, the internet has been working fine so far.

On Friday evening, we held the 'official' 4th of July event at the Ambassador's residence. This was the culmination of months of planning and it was much more of a work event than a fun event. As GSO, I spent most of the time running around making sure everything went ok. For example, one of the foreign minister's representatives asked as to the where abouts of the Tajik flag as the party was starting. We don't usually feature the host country flag at these sort of events, but there's nothing against doing so, so in the name of good diplomatic relations, we got one set up before the speeches.

The party was quite nice - there was a string quartet from the opera's orchestra, and we decorated the place by hanging all 50 state flags in the order that they joined the union. Some tasteful bunting and some red, white, and blue oriental lanterns set off the overall design. Inside, we showed a presentation of various iconic sites in the U.S. as well as pictures from last year's fireworks show in Washington that I took from my cousin, Helen's, balcony.

All in all, it was a success. I have to say, my favorite part was listening to our national anthem. There's something about hearing it in a foreign country that seems to give it even more meaning than usual. I was also thankful for the ice cream bars that were passed around, which helped a great deal with the heat.

On Saturday, we went out to brunch with some friends, but otherwise took it easy. We also harvested a huge zucchini from our garden.

The other plants are coming along, so hopefully we'll have some more vegetables on our plates soon.

The unofficial embassy celebration for the 4th of July was held Sunday on the embassy compound. We had a good time eating hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, etc... They capped off the event with several rounds of roman candles, which was a nice touch and gave the kids a thrill - especially when the flaming embers sometimes fell around them.

Aside from a trip to the bazaar, which happened to be closed for cleaning, we just enjoyed our day off today and stayed out of the heat. Now, just a quick four day work week between us and our trip to Madrid, where Stephanie will run some trainings and I'll tag along for a nice little vacation!

Zerafshan Weekend

I'm very much recovered now - we ordered Latin American food tonight and I feel just fine after eating it. And now I've had time to put together the story of our trip to Zerafshan Valley. If you're here for just the pictures, here's the link:

Iskanderkul 2010 JPGS

Our weekend getaway in Zerafshan valley turned out to be quite memorable indeed. We set out from Dushanbe around 3pm and made it about 20 minutes out of the city when our vehicle started making strange noises. We asked if everything was OK and our driver assured us that it was fine. However, not long after that, the car started making those noises again and the driver stopped to put more water in the radiator – which seemed a bit ominous so early in our trip.

About an hour and a half after we left Dushanbe, we had started to climb the switchbacking roads up to the tunnel, when the car finally gave out completely. The driver had to let the car roll as far as he could back to the floor of the valley. I really thought that was going to be the end of it, and that we’d have to go back to Dushanbe. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when our guide said that he had arranged for a back-up vehicle, which would pick us up in about an hour. Back-up plans are certainly not a given in Tajikistan, so we waited without complaint and took in the nice surrounding scenery – including some sheep herds on the snow pack nearby.

The back-up car arrived as promised, and although it was a bit smaller, we all fit comfortably. We were also able to make much better time than in the previous vehicle. In short order we found ourselves entering the infamous Tajik Tunnel of Death. The original plan was to go over the Anzob pass, which is know to have great views, but even this late in the year, the pass was closed for snow. I’ll admit I was excited to see the tunnel first hand anyway, as I’ve heard so much about it. People have told me that the tunnel has improved a lot over the last year, so I was worried it would be a letdown after all the hype.

Well, I wasn’t disappointed, and I can’t imagine what it must have been like before if what we saw was improved. There was still standing water in most of the tunnel, the air was thick with exhaust fumes, there are giant holes in the road with re-bar sticking out of them, there was abandoned equipment everywhere, and there were only a few bare light bulbs to break up 6 kilometers of blackness. In short, it was every bit as thrilling as I’d hoped.

Once we made it through the tunnel, it was like we had gone back in time by 2 months. We had entered the Zerafshan Valley and it looked like spring instead of summer. There was green grass, fields of flowers, and the temperature was noticeably cooler. There was plenty of great scenery until darkness fell.

On the way to our home stay in Saratog village, we encountered a little trouble when a large truck ignored the pull-off area and came right towards us. With only a single lane and sheer cliffs above and below us, we were in a bit of a jam as the truck driver didn’t want to back up in the dark, nor did our driver. In the end, our driver had us all get out of the car so that he could attempt to drive around the truck – real daredevil move. Needless to say, he made it, but when we walked over to the car we could see about 10 feet of space where it was very clear that the tires were not all touching the road as the driver skirted the edge of the precipice.

In the end, we made it safe and sound to the village of Saratog and were quickly shown to our rooms in the home where we stayed. By then, it was around 9pm and we were very hungry. When we sat down to eat, it looked like mostly a collection of sweets, nuts, fruit, and some fresh local yogurt.

Thinking that this was all there would be, we dug right in – we should have known better, as meals are always made up of several courses here - then they brought out salads. And then there were large bowls of soup. The meal finally culminated with chicken and potatoes, with all of us thoroughly overstuffed. This isn’t the first time this has happened to us, but I guess we still haven’t learned.

After dinner, we were shown to the bath house behind the main house. The toilet was the usual hole in the floor (we dubbed them squatty-potties), and the ‘shower’ was also interesting. There was an anteroom for changing, and then a small room with a tub of water heated by a fire, a bucket of cold water, and an empty bucket for mixing. The room was kept nice and warm by the fire, so it wasn’t bad at all. I guess this is how people did it for thousands of years before indoor plumbing.

All cleaned up, we took a few minutes to enjoy the scenery in the moonlight and got some good pictures with the long exposure on my camera - you can see the big dipper in this one...

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, we set out for a very long hike - about 20 kilometers in all - into one of the gorges that opens into the valley, following an amazingly blue river that originates from glacial runoff.

On the way, we encountered some roaming shepherds and their flocks of sheep and goats.

At one spot, the men posed for pictures and offered us fermented goats milk from a sheep stomach. It wasn't very far along in the fermentation process, but it was tasty - similar to a mild pecorino cheese.

(I know, if you read my post, this could clearly have been the source of my stomach troubles - but it wasn't the only one).

From there we hiked on until we reached our picnic spot. At one rest stop, an interesting bug decided it liked my jeans and stayed for some nice closeups.

We had our lunch in a nice shady spot next to the river and rested a bit before heading back down the gorge.

At the end of the gorge, we climbed up to a plateau and hiked to the summer pastures, where people from various nearby villages gather to raise their cattle.

This was by far one of the most interesting parts of our trip. We learned how each summer these people relocate to these little villages for three months. The women stay in the village and care for the calves while them men take the cows and other animals to graze. The women gave us fresh yogurt and bread and posed for pictures.

It was a great experience and interesting to see how the women responded to the camera. At first they were shy, but when I showed them the pictures I took on the screen, they were very excited and kept wanting to pose for more.

It was also neat to see how they primped themselves a bit before the pictures - removing coats, smoothing their dresses, etc... It's not something we would think of in such a rustic setting. The unibrows on the girls are intentional. Here it's a symbol of purity, so if they don't grow one naturally, they draw it in until they are married.

On the way back to Saratog, one of the women also gave us each on of the dry yogurt balls (about the size of a tennis ball) to take with us. I think that most of my family who tried them when I visited in March will cringe at the thought, but Stephanie and I really like them.

On our way back to the home stay, Stephanie wanted to try out a 'neat' looking hanging bridge over the river, so down we went. We passed a man who was building a house and apparently also built the bridge. So he followed us down and insisted on taking pictures with the women first, and then the men.

Our guide told us the bridge was probably safe for 2 people, so when I was out there with three other guys, it was a little nerve wracking.

Once we got back to the home stay, we relaxed a bit, cleaned up in the bath house and sat down to a nice dinner of the local plov. Our host also brought us these strange, flat yogurt things that tasted sort of like a waxy butter on the outside and a sour cream cheese on the inside. These were apparently from the village we visited - and I suppose could have also been the source of my misery - but it was still neat to try them. Afterwards, I went out for a little walk in the moonlight before returning for bed. We were exhausted!

On Sunday, we got an early start and hiked up a beautiful little valley to the so-called 'bubbling stream'.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very clear or bubbling, which our guide told us was unusual. At least the hike was nice.

From there, we made our way down to the lake, stopping at Five Springs, where clear water bubbles up from under the mountain.

Our guide told us it was safe to drink (again, I suppose in hindsight this was questionable, but no one else got sick that I know of).

We drove around the edge of Iskanderkul lake, taking in the beautiful views of the blue water and reflections of the mountains.

This one in particular is called 'The Hat of Alexander'.

The lake is called Iskandarkul, which translates to Lake Alexander, (Iskandar = Alexander, Kul = lake), named for Alexander the Great when he passed through the region.

The legend is that Alexander created the lake to destroy a resistant village by building a dam and flooding the town (although it appears the lake is much older than that).

Our next excursion was to hike along the river that drains out of the lake to the point where it plummets over 100 feet in the first 'real' waterfall we've seen here.

There was a rickety little overlook-

- and we spent some time climbing the surrounding rocks taking in the scenery.

From the waterfall, we hiked back toward the lake and then over a hill to see Snake Lake. The lake is so named because water snakes apparently inhabit it. We didn't see any and I don't see how they could since the water was so cold. Snakes or no snakes, it was a mesmerizing view.

We finished our day by driving around to a nice spot on the other side of the lake to eat lunch. It was very peaceful spot and we had a nice lunch. The only annoyance was an overabundance of flies and some fluffy seed pods that were flying through the air. At some points it was coming down so heavily, it looked like snow.

After lunch, we packed it in and headed back for Dushanbe. In addition to the great views-

- we had some excitement when our driver decided to pass a truck around a blind curve and almost ran head on into an oncoming car. After much honking of horns and screeching of tires, we survived. I guess he felt emboldened after his daredevil driving on the way up.

Other than that, our trip was uneventful until we reached the tunnel of death again. In the middle, we encountered a traffic jam where half the road was torn up with rebar sticking in the air and cars were trying to get through both ways.

In this picture, you can see the rebar to the right of the view. It becomes very panicky when you realize that you might be stuck in there with all the fumes, but our aggressive driver got us through and in less than two hours were we back safe and sound in Dushanbe. All in all, a pretty amazing trip.

If you didn't check out the pictures before, here are the rest:

Iskanderkul 2010 JPGS