TAJIKISTAN
With a cool backdrop of mountains, lazy tree-lined avenues and pale,
oriental-fringed buildings, Dushanbe may be a good-looking city but
personality-wise it's a dead loss, an historically isolated backwater
that's boring by day and dangerous at night.
The large, covered Barakat market is what passes for the centre of activity in Dushanbe, though it's not particularly interesting; the city has many other makeshift bazars, but they're harrowing affairs composed of lines of people trying to sell whatever they can find at home - a pair of old shoes, coverless books, a dismantled washing machine motor.
The city does have two interesting museums: the professional Museum
of Ethnography, which showcases Tajik art, and the Tajikistan Unified
Museum, which has interesting exhibits on history, natural history and
art. It's worth seeing a performance at Ayni Opera & Ballet Theatre;
it has the finest interior in the city.
Pamir Highway
The route from Khorog to Osh on the M41 Pamir Highway is a mind-blowing,
suspension-wrenching, two-day, 728km (450mi) traverse on a badly-surfaced
road that's worth every dizzying headspin you get from the relentless
hairpin bends. The road is no pushover since large sections have been
ripped away by landslides and avalanches, leaving only precarious,
deeply rutted tracks of frozen mud, but the views, the drive across
the Pamir plateau and the crossing of the 4655m (15,270ft) Ak-Baital
pass are spectacular. Note that there is no accommodation along this
highway, so be prepared.
Fan Mountains
The Fannsky Gory are a favoured place to trek and climb, being only a couple
of hours from both Samarkand and Dushanbe. The main M34 between Dushanbe
and Khojand winds through the fringes of the range, offering superb views.
Iskander-Kul is a gorgeous mountain lake 24km (15mi) off the main road
at the eastern end of the range with endless hiking opportunities.
Until a tunnel is completed under the Anzob Pass the route into the
mountains will be closed from November to May.
Gumbezkul Valley
A short but excellent trip is to hike up the Gumbezkul Valley from its junction
with the Pshart Valley. The 9km (5mi) hike takes you over the 4731m (15518ft)
Gumbezkul Pass down the Gumbezkul Valley, from where a rough jeep road leads
7km (4mi) down to the Madiyan Valley.
The path is easy to follow and there are stunning views in both directions
from the pass, although it's a steep scramble on both sides. For a post-hike
soak, the Madiyan hot springs are just up the Madiyan Valley.
The Pamirs
They're known locally as Bam-i-Dunya (the Roof of the World) and once you're
in the Pamirs, it's not hard to see why. The Pamirs are the node from which
several of the world's highest ranges radiate, including the Karakoram and
Himalaya to the south, the Hindu Kush to the west, and the Tian Shan straddling
the Kyrgyz-Chinese border.
A network of high, wide valleys nestles amongst the 7000m-plus peaks, but for the most part the Pamirs are too high for human settlement. Instead the slopes and valleys are inhabited by hardier creatures such as the Marco Polo sheep, the elusive snow leopard and the even more elusive 'giant snowman'.
The Pamiris who inhabit the high altitude valleys speak a multitude of Pamiri dialects and are Ismailis, a breakaway sect of Shia Islam. They have no mosques, no clerics and no weekly holy day.
The main town in the region is Khorog, the capital of the autonomous region of Gorno-Badahkshan. It lies 2000m above sea level, strung out irregularly along the slopes of the dashing Gunt river.