One afternoon in March I was having lunch with a friend of mine form the sociology department at IU. During lunch we were discussing our plans for the summer and it came up that we would both be overseas for a time. Ever adventurous Emily decided then and there that since she was already in Germany for the summer, why not take a quick hop over to Tajikistan for a week or so to visit me. We spent some time chatting about schedules and travel details and in the end Emily met me in Istanbul and flew back with me to Tajikistan for a week.
It was great having another person who’d never been to Central Asia before to show around. Emily had a chance to soak up tidbits of information from different people she met at IU so she wasn’t totally unfamiliar with the area.
We arrived at 3:30am on Friday and after the usual Tajik airport bureaucracy we were on our way to my apartment. After resting a while our first task was to go to the bazaar to stock up on groceries. We went to the green bazaar which is the closest bazaar to the apartment. You can see from the pictures that there’s a lot of things to buy at the bazaar, clothes, groceries, fresh fruits and vegetables, traditions goods, and hardware supplies. It is a virtual maze but I’m learning my way around it fairly well now. While were near the hardware section I was telling Emily of my adventures trying to describe “bathtub stopper” and “toilet seat” as those were important things Eric and I bought the first week, but which my languages studies didn’t prepare me to find. While trying to find them in the bazaar I was asking all sorts of people questions like “ you know the thing that lets water get higher in the bathtub” and “the cover to close the toilet” before I found out they use the Russian word for bathtub stopper and they call it a toilet lid more than a seat.
Other highlights of the Emily’s visit were a trip to Kalai Hissar and A trip to Varzob gorge. We visited the Kalai Hissar on a Sunday and were fortunate enough to see several wedding parties. Evidently it is a tradition that between the marriage ceremony and the reception local brides and grooms come to walk up the steps to the fortress and take pictures, all this while musicians are playing and wedding guest are dancing in front of them. We were close to the museum when I heard the first musicians and I knew right away it was a wedding party. We ran up to get a look and saw how the bride and groom were walking up the steps slowly, as the bride had to bow to the dancing wedding guests two or three times after every couple of steps. As the one wedding party was leaving another pulled up and once the first couple was down the stairs the next were on their way up. Soon enough, another couple of wedding parties showed up and weren’t necessarily all that patient, that’s when the “Wedding Chaos” started. For the next 1 or so more and more wedding parties were showing up 2 or three at a time, each with their own musicians and request wedding guests to dance along the way. It was a noisy affair, but definitely a colorful sight. After a trip up to the fortress with sounds from all the musicians in the background we were ready to head out; However, all the wedding traffic caused a pretty big traffic jam and we had quite a time crossing through it to the taxi stand.
We didn’t make it to Varzob until the last day of the trip, but it was definitely a great way to end the trip. After a morning of shopping for more souvenirs, we headed up to Varzob for lunch. We went back to the spot Eric and I had been to before, a café by the name of Parvina, and had an extended lunch. I ordered some shish kabob and talked with our waiter. He was the manager’s son and knew English pretty well. After we ate I took the opportunity to jump in the ice cold, spring fed swimming pool, while Emily rested on the aiwan in the shade. Soon enough we were on our way back to the city. We had enough time to pick up the sanduks Emily had ordered form our sanduk guys, pack, and sleep a few hours before heading to the airport at 2:30am.
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