After visiting Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan, we landed in our 3rd “Stan” of this Silk Road trip.
Previous posts can be found here:
Exploring Central Asia: A Journey Through Kyrgyzstan
Adventuring Through Kazakhstan: A Silk Road Journey

June 12, 2025

Upon arrival in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan we were blasted with the heat.
A tour of the city was fascinating. So much money was spent on buildings, fountains and decorative structures. It’s absolutely stunning.

We learned a lot about the Tajik people. Unlike the Kazaks and Kyrgyz people the Tajiks were never nomads and are of Turkic descent. The USSR came up with the boundaries so not all Tajiks live in Tajikistan. There are a lot more in surrounding areas.
We visited the grand Mosque and were treated with a reading in song from Quran by one of the  Mu’azzin who does the call to prayer.

Fann mountain getaway

Thursday, June 15 we headed for the Fann mountains. Up and up we climbed and the views along the way were spectacular. We stopped for a picnic lunch on Alexander the Great’s lake where we planned to hike to the Iskandarkul waterfall. Those plans were foiled by an impressive thunderstorm so we carried on.
Upon arrival in the village of Ghazza, we checked into the Community Guesthouse Begmurod. Rooms are large and shared by 3 or 4 people. They’re very nice and the showers are great. I slept so well the 2 nights we spent there. There’s no cell service or wifi so it was a great “detox”. After our hostess served us a tasty dinner, some of us gathered and played games that Karen had brought along. Great fun!

After breakfast on Friday we piled in the van and were dropped off to start our hike. 5 km uphill. Even in the mountains it’s warm. We were glistening till we arrived at one of the most remote villages in Tajikistan.
We were warmly welcomed by the people of Voru. The local blacksmith, who is also a farrier, explained his trade to us. He is the 4th generation in his family to continue this craft. His children will take over but they leave to make money elsewhere during the winter.
Later we were served tea and cookies, then headed back down the hill.

(I couldn’t narrow down photos any more so there are several. If you click and open them individually you can see the captions)

Ghazza

We had lunch in another camp area served by locals and we back to the guesthouse. Some of us went to visit a fish farm we could see from the guest house. Again, we were warmly welcomed and the owner proudly showed us what he was up to. He started the “farm” 5 years ago and this year finally hoped to break even. Maybe even make a profit. In the meantime he’s hired local women to clean the fish and a few men to help with other things.
Dinner that evening was at another guesthouse. I like how G adventures does that. Doing their best o help communities succeed organically.

Giant Lenin Statue

Friday. After packing up again we headed out of the mountains, of course, stopping for view points along the way.
One stop was in Istaravshan where the largest bust of Lenin still exists, overlooking the huge reservoir. Most statues of Lenin have been taken down. It’s a climb up 365 steps to get to the top.

We ended the day in Khujand where we visited the Historical museum of Sughd. I was really impressed with the mosaics there. They’re all made of scraps of marble and are gorgeous.

Into Uzbekistan

Before crossing the border we stopped at the central market. That’s a must see in any city. I love just wandering, seeing what goods are for sale and observing local people.

Crossing the border is an adventure. You need to be prepared. Wear a hat and sunscreen as we stood waiting in the sun to get an exit stamp. Passports were checked multiple times. Crossing “no man’s land” with our luggage was a treat when it’s so hot. You can pay a guy with a cart to take your luggage through for you but of course, I’m too cheap and proud to do that. Once on the Uzbekistan side we again waited quite a while to get an entry stamp. Locals were really pushy there and we had to use all our assertive abilities to keep our place in line. Finally through all that we had to put all our luggage through an X-ray machine and again have our passports checked to make sure we had all the appropriate stamps. What an ordeal!
2ish hours later we arrived at the Harris Hotel where check in was slow. Of course it is when you’re desperate for a shower.
Anita wasn’t feeling well so I headed off to find Uzbek soms and get the lay of the land. I joined the others for dinner and got to have pink soup. I haven’t had that since my trip to the Baltics. It was almost as good.

The next post is about Uzbekistan.