Global Wanderer

18/11/23 – 20/11/23

This morning, I got up at around 5:30, packed my bits and pieces away, and took a Yandex to the airport for my 8am flight to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. I’d been reading quite a bit about the Tajiki Civil War, which had broken out upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and had decided to spend my weekend visiting the city.

Tashkent Airport, in the 15 months since I was last here, has changed quite a bit. I’d noticed some improvements on the arrivals side the day before, but the change in departures was immense. There was a much greater number of shops open, and what looked like a whole new section of check-in desks. On top of that, immigration clearance had changed – about half of the old Soviet-style cubicles with full size doors to go through had been replaced with e-Gates. Unlike most airports, however, the e-Gates weren’t restricted by nationality, but by destination. I was in luck, as Dushanbe was one of those destinations! After passage through the e-Gates, an immigration officer is still on hand to stamp passports, a necessity given I was going to re-enter in a few days. Security had changed too – the tiny security area had been entirely rebuilt with new X-ray scanners. As I went to chug my bottle of water, one of the staff stopped me, and explained that I was able to put the water through as well! Seems like Tashkent is ahead of almost every airport in the world in terms of scrapping the 100ml rule! The departures area, again, had been expanded and greatly renovated, with brand new duty free shops and two cafes/bars. Nothing like last visit!

The flight to Dushanbe was short and sweet, and within about 40 minutes we had touched down. Dushanbe Airport was much more like the Central Asia I was used to! I cleared immigration quickly, and was picked up by a driver from my accommodation – Hotel Sharq. I’d actually only booked it about two days earlier, settling on my Tajik Weekend Trip, and got a very decent last-minute rate. By the time we got to the hotel, it was about 10:00, and the manager invited me to eat whatever was left at breakfast and make coffee/tea whilst my room was being finished up. 20 minutes later, I’d checked in, stomach full, and I must say, very impressed with the accommodation!

The outside of Hotel Sharq, and Dushanbe’s airport

Given I only had 2 days in the city, I screwed the lens onto my camera, and headed out down the road – first stop, the Dushanbe Mall, where I bought a MegaFon SIM card.

Dushanbe is a Soviet planned city, obvious from the gigantic apartment buildings, the ornate government departments, and the occasional strangely-shaped building, such as the National Museum (which I’ll come to later). It is the poorest of the Central Asian capitals, and it does show, but that doesn’t take away anything from the city’s presence.

First shots of Dushanbe.

I headed north-west, towards the Ismail Somoni statue, a gigantic gleaming figure surrounded by a square. In every single communist, or post-Soviet country I have visited, there is always a large, empty, paved area, presumably for military demonstrations and parades and whatnot, often nearby a statue of a famous national, and always opposite a major government building. Dushanbe was no different here, and the government building in question still sported hammers and sickles!

Continuing on, I made my way through Rudaki Park, a beautiful piece of greenery within the otherwise-concrete city. I actually stopped here for a bit, mostly for some fresh air, and to rest my legs. After people-watching for about half an hour, I got up, and headed down the street to the National Museum (the strangely-shaped building that I mentioned earlier!). It looks like a standard Soviet-era government building, with the addition of a gigantic cone built on the front. It is hard to explain, and trying to get a photo of it that captured the strangeness was difficult, but it wasn’t hard to see the Soviet influence here!

I spent a good hour and a half in the museum, filled with a variety of exhibits ranging from the natural world, to the history of Tajikistan, and the current President (since 1994) and his accomplishments. Most impressive of all was the reclining Buddha. Once I had my fill of museum sights, I decided to walk back into central Dushanbe, towards the Opera House, and see what else I could spot.

After a rather lazy walk through the city centre, I headed back to the accommodation for some much-needed rest. I did, however, head out a little bit later, just for a short walk down the main drag, to see what Dushanbe looked like at night.

The next morning, I woke up, and had breakfast downstairs in the hotel, cooked up by the wife of the manager. I then headed out on a pretty long walk to the north, towards the Victory Monument. This large concrete structure, with the addition of an actual WW2 tank, commemorates the Tajiki involvements in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), as it is known in the former Soviet Union. The depictions on the monument are quite interesting – they show Red Army soldiers smashing swastikas, which I suppose is a pretty literal explanation of what they were doing.

I then decided to continue on my journey out to the Megrhon Market, a large building that was home to a produce and food market. One thing I absolutely love about these markets are the spice stalls, where they have gigantic sacks of various spices open, their aromas mingling in the air. My last task for the day was to sit down in the nearby botanic garden, and check the results for the Australia vs India Cricket World Cup Final – and ultimately, I ended up at an Indian restaurant that had it on a small TV! Finally, I headed back to the hotel and packed up, ready for my flight the next morning.