FROM THE ROUGH TO THE SMOOTH PART 2- Khujand, Sughd Province, Tajikistan

....Part 1 of this blog, in Margeb, Sughd......

Driving from Sarvoda to Khujand, out of the mountainous Zerafshan Valley area, the scenery eventually flattened out and we entered the plains of the Fergana Valley. For as far as the eye could see stone fruit orchards and corn fields spread out on a huge scale.

Our arrival in Khujand, the second biggest city in Tajikistan was hilarious, to say the least. We had read about a decrepit and falling down Soviet-era hotel, and since nothing better seemed to be available, we thought it might be fun and different to stay there for a couple of nights on our way out of Tajikistan. When the taxi pulled up to the hotel, we double checked he had the right place, because a huge, shiny and new hotel towered before us. It had obviously been renovated, and we were bummed at missing out on the ancient place. However, we were motioned in by members of staff and the owner/manager, and we explained we were looking for the daggy old hotel and a cheap room. He said the hotel had only opened officially yesterday, to fanfare including flowers galore, dancing women and the president of Tajikistan visiting! We were told we were very welcome to be the bonafide first guests and pay what we would have paid at the old hotel! We were slightly embarrassed, as everyone was very smartly dressed and the foyer was swanky, but of course we took him up on his offer! The staff were incredible kind, and couldn't do enough for us- the busy maintenance man even took us down the street and put us on a bus to the bazaar the following day!
It was an entertaining stay, as our sparkling, plush room had many teething problems- they weren't expecting to be open this soon. We ran out of water one afternoon, the AC stopped every couple of hours and the WIFI wasn't set up yet. And Rich broke the toilet seat simply by sitting on it in the first five minutes of moving in! But we had a magnificent view of the Syr Darya River, in prime position of the city. A local news team turned up at one point and we were summoned from our room to give an "interview" as the first guests to stay, and foreigners to boot.

Our swish hotel in Khujand, Tajikistan

Brand new room, Khujand, Tajikistan

Romanticised version of old hotel, Khujand, Tajikistan

After our first night, we were asked what we wanted for breakfast- we had no idea the price would include breakfast as well! We were shown into an opulent dining room, complete with attentive waiters and chandeliers. The food kept coming- just when we'd finished one plate, something else arrived. Three different kinds of bread, a cheese platter, butter, a big fruit bowl, thick cherry yogurt, various pastries, eggs, sausage, pancakes, porridge, honey, smetana (yogurt) and coffee! Talk about amazing value for money!

Breakfast room, Khujand, Tajikistan

Khujand is a very rich city, and the area we were staying in was full of multicoloured fountains, posh cafes, large people and Mercedes and BMW cars. There were plenty of pleasant parks full of wedding parties, and a fancy new cable car over the river, lit up at night with neon colours. Nearby was a citadel rebuilt on an ancient site from the 10th century, but it was all a bit too clean and perfect for us.

Beauties attending a wedding in the park, Khujand, Tajikistan

Old banger buses in the market area, Khujand, Tajikistan

We preferred the unpolished atmosphere around the Panjshanbe Bazaar. We keep saying this, but it must have been one of the best and friendliest markets we've been to- and that's saying something in Central Asia, where every town has such a thing! As well as people calling out with big smiles to say hello and have photos taken, we were also not allowed to pay for goods on a few occasions. This is supposed to be the biggest market in Central Asia, and we certainly took a long time walking around inspecting the interesting stalls. We particularly enjoyed the spice/honey/natural remedy section, and picked up a fair amount of goodies there.

Honey seller, Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

Onion section, Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

Market vendor, Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

Lovely peanut lady, Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

Grilling those shashlyk, Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

Looked yummy!

Oodles of choy (tea), Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

Friendly men, gave us cucumbers for free, Panjshanbe Bazaar, Khujand, Tajikistan

We had to go and check out the old Lenin statue (actually very common to see these still around Central Asia) in an overgrown park on the outskirts of town- Khujand used to be called Leninabad in Soviet times.

Still surviving statue (just), Khujand, Tajikistan

As we were leaving the hotel, we were called over by the manager and staff and presented with certificates they had made up especially for us, stating we were entitled to a six day free stay whenever we wanted, valid for life! We were also presented with gifts, and asked to make a short speech, recorded on mobile phones. It was all very sweet and comical! It was a good example of the extreme hospitality of Tajik people.

Our gifts from the hotel, Khujand, Tajikistan

Two dags with manager and staff, Khujand, Tajikistan

This generosity was also apparent right up to the end of our Tajik travels, when disembarking the bus at the Tajik border, we were told someone had paid our fares for us! Our visa for Tajikistan had run out, due to our long stay in Dushanbe, and of course, we didn't get to see everything we wanted to in the country. But we did fall in love with the place, our favourite Stan thus far. The stunning scenery and the wonderfully open and hospitable people will ensure we will return.

We think these guys paid for our bus fare, leaving Tajikistan on the bus

Details of transport and accommodation for places mentioned in this post (US$1= 9.68 somoni):

Accommodation

Khujand, Sugdiyan Hotel $20/193 somoni, including breakfast

Transport

Dushanbe to Sarvoda, shared taxi, 50 somoni each, 2.5 hours
Sarvoda to Margeb, shared taxi, 50 somoni each, 1.5 hours
Margeb to Sarvoda, private taxi, 120 somoni, 1.5 hours
Sarvoda to Ayni, private taxi, 40 somoni, 0.5 hours
Ayni to Istaravshan, share taxi, 60 somoni each, 1.5 hours
Istaravshan to Khujand, minibus 341, 10 somoni each, 1.5 hours
Khujand bus station to Khujand city, private taxi, 10 somoni, 10 minutes
Khujand city to Khujand bus station, private taxi, 20 somoni, 20 minutes
Khujand to Isfara, minibus 301, 13 somoni each, 2 hours
Isfara to Kyrgyzstan border, minibus, free!, 0.5 hour

Follow the red dotted line

A summary of practicalities of travelling in Tajikistan

Tajikistan had the ultimate in split personality accommodations. All the village accommodation was in homestays, and the price was inclusive of bed, breakfast and dinner. We always had a carpeted room to ourselves, with mattresses, sheets, pillows and doonas. There was never a fan, although there seemed to be heating available for winter stays. A shared bathroom with separate squat long-drop toilet and sandpaper toilet paper, along with a hot shower of some sort was normal. The food was generally excellent, with a surprising variety of dishes. As we discussed in an earlier blog, the home stays didn't present value for money when compared to hotels in Tajik towns, which generally cost the same for a much higher standard. But the prices are set, and it was what we had to pay to be in those wonderful locations. Considering our teacher host at one homestay made US$150 a month at his full time teaching position, the US$30 per night we were bringing into the household was very significant. 

The other side of Tajik accommodation was the spotlessly clean, air conditioned, plush rooms with private bathrooms and varied breakfasts we experienced in the bigger towns and cities. Although more expensive than other Central Asian countries, the rooms were incredibly comfortable, and the hosts friendly and helpful. If it hadn't have been so extremely hot during our stay, we may have been able to spend less without AC (we must be getting old!)
Wifi was terrible in the towns and cities and non-existent in the villages.
Village homestays were between US$20-US$30 for bed, breakfast and dinner, and our hotels cost between US$10 and US$24 for bed and breakfast.

Comfortable room in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Hygiene in the villages was not a priority, and that is understandable. People work hard physically and probably don't have the energy for unnecessary housework. They concentrate on staying alive and warm, and feeding their families. Bathrooms were grubby, and the less said about the smelly hole-in-the ground toilets the better. We suspected at times the bedding wasn't particularly clean. We hoped for the best filling up our water bottle from water sources- usually the higher the better. We witnessed children playing and drinking water from dirty ditches, and tried to ignore old grandmas picking their noses and wiping it on their clothes- we just hoped they weren't involved in preparing our food! In some poorer places, children all seemed to have a rashes or bad skin conditions on their faces. Luckily, we seem to have pretty strong constitutions when it comes dodgy hygiene (must be all that travel in India!), and came through unscathed.

Water from the hillside, Shing, Tajikistan

Transport in Tajikistan was quite mixed. The most common form of getting around over long distances was shared taxis. We tried to avoid these when possible, as the drivers were often crazy, overtaking on curves, texting and talking on their phones and generally driving like maniacs. When we had no choice we tried to go for the older men drivers, who were generally a bit calmer. Apart from the old banger buses up and down the Haft Kul valley, most vehicles were sedans or 4WDs. Sometimes people were crammed in, other times it was quite roomy. A few times we were able to hire an entire taxi for a couple of dollars more, rather than squishing in with seven or more other people. In the north there were numbered minibuses running set routes, which was much preferable to us. Local buses and trolley cars around the bigger towns were a pleasure to use- cheap, frequent, and if not exactly fast, a pleasant way to see a place. Our one experience on the trains put us off using them again in Tajikistan, so we can't say what they are like in general. But we found our one train to be a terrible combination of extreme heat and slow speed and it was not enjoyable. Shared taxi prices were on the high side, compared to bus and train travel in other Central Asian countries. Buses and trains were cheap.

We have to backpedal at this point and say we were generally very impressed with the food in Tajikistan. We did go on about how we didn't enjoy the cooked meals during our last trip to Central Asia, but this time was different. As we stayed at so many homestays, we ate a lot of home-cooked food which was almost always delicious. Not at all greasy, and indeed very tasty and flavorful. We also sussed out in the cities not to go for our instinct and eat at the cheapest street food type places as we would in South East Asia. We instead, moved up a notch and tried restaurants instead. We found the food much improved, still cheap and sometimes they even had English menus. We pretty much tried all the standard dishes and found them to be quite tasty. Plov or osh (fried rice with vegetables and meat) was the main staple, with laghman (noodle soup), shorpo (meat and potato soup), shashlyk (meat barbecued on skewers), samsas (mystery meat pasties) and gulyash (meat and potatoes stew) very common also. The breads, salads, herbs, choy (tea) and compote (juice) that accompanied many meals were also delicious.

Hearty bowl of laghman

Typical meal, Tajikistan

Rich took to calling Tajikistan TRAJIKistan, due to the amount of things that didn't work, couldn't be done, were difficult to get done, or went wrong while we were here! Not being able to access to our money at ATMs outside of Dushanbe was a pain, as was the extremely poor WIFI connection everywhere. Natural disasters seemed to follow us around, and we endured flooded roads, landslides and major unexpected detour treks. Then there were the transport issues of extreme difficulties finding out further travel information in less travelled areas and enduring the hottest/slowest train on earth. And of course, Rich's eye problem was the worst thing of all (although, of course that could have happened anywhere). Tajikistan was sometimes a challenging and demanding place to travel, although we also found it most rewarding, especially in the small villages. The tough journeys into the more remote places, and the hospitality of the people made it really worthwhile.

...continuing to Osh, Kyrgyzstan.....