More Dushanbe

Bus #6, Taxis #2 and #3, Distance from Shanghai 8,200 km. Mainly pictures, some beer, a sausage.

I had too many pictures of buildings that took my fancy for a single post, so this one is mainly more, but with a couple of pubs to add balance. The Palace of the Nation isn’t actually welcoming to the nation - it is behind a high fence. I try to take a photo from the front, but a man blows his whistle and shoos me away. It’s possible they were just being extra cautious because someone was coming out of a side entrance - many police, black SUV’s, a couple of fellows in black suits with walkie talkies. It is the official residence of the President, only 15 years old. The building, not the President - Emomali Rahmon has basically been in power ever since Tajikistan gained independence in the early 1990’s.

Another stunning building, built around the same time and just across the central park from the Palace, is a real palace of the people - the National Library of Tajikistan. It’s a very imposing building - I never actually get to go in as I only find it on my last night here, so I can’t say what its collection might be like.

Parliament is at one end of the park - at the other is the Independence Monument, which I guess was put up in the early 1990’s, but I can’t find anything to confirm that.

Proper bars and coffee shops have been a bit scarce on my journey for quite some time, so Dushanbe was a nice change, although I did have to walk a fair way for my drinks! Coffee Moose was my favourite place to get coffee - they actually have several outlets in Dushanbe and at least one in Khujand, and had an interesting menu, even chicken fried rice.

After the disaster at the Rohat Teahouse, I scuttle into the 12 Monkeys Gastropub for a beer. It’s very well decorated with great soft chairs - I don’t get photos because there are too many people, but here’s the bar.

Google tells me of a beer house, but their beer is a funny colour and it is just cramped seating on a street corner. Luckily there’s a far nicer place across the street, with a DJ and interesting bar taps (I forget its name)

I have a ridiculously early start for my departure from Dushanbe, so change hotels to make getting to the bus terminal easy. In this part of town, I find another couple of pubs - Sim Sim is huge, with heavy wooden tables, age-darkened brick walls and high ceilings. The beer is cheap but not great. But Easy Pub is great - quite small, nice music playing, an old movie on the screen, comfortable and really fabulous sausages, intensely meaty.

And that’s a wrap for Tajikistan - I can’t imagine I’ll be back. I have been given lots of information about the time of the bus to Panjakent, on the border with Uzbekistan: all different, ranging from 6 to 9:30 in the morning. I play safe, on the off chance that the earliest time is the correct time, and am at the station before 6. Just as well - the bus is all loaded by about 10 past, although we don’t actually leave until 6:30. The scenery is quite similar to what I saw getting to Dushanbe, making me rename the country to Pointistan, but much slower in a Toyota Coaster than an electric taxi.

The driver is kind enough to take me to where the shared taxis leave from for the border, which is about 20 minutes away. From there, its another shared taxi to Samarkand.