The road to Varzob

So I put an add in the local expat magazine for a mountain bike, having had a look at the new ones available from the market which were Chinese this one found me via the German embassy, thanks Stefan and good luck on your return to Germany.
I tried it out with a trip to Varzob which is about 16k out of Dushanbe, found a few interesting spots on the way. this is a picture 

of the largest cement factory in Tajikistan which was closed this year due to a lack of natural gas to run it. The demand for cement in recent years has been high due to the building of the Roghun dam the tallest dam in the world and when finished will stand 1100 feet, this project is without doubt the most important addition to Tajikistan and should supply the whole country with electricity.  

One thing they do have an abundance of however is water the surrounding  snow capped mountains see to that, so keeping drinks cold at the roadside is easily done with the use of a hosepipe and constant running water.                                                 
As I cycled on into the Varzob valley I realised why this area is protected as an area of natural beauty, the photos never do it justice!

The people of Tajikistan are always welcoming especially the children I always get an As-salam alaykum greeting  (peace be upon you) and a wave, they spend most of their time outside playing even in the city! the computer age is yet to come here.

another interesting thing I found out was that if you enter the city with a dirty car you are going to get a fine, thats why there are plenty of car wash areas around outside the city limits to get our Lada clean before the old bill clean you!

I miss the sea! 

Work

Just in case you thought its all about sightseeing and fun I thought I would tell you a bit about what I and the VSO are hoping to achieve in Tajikistan.
The country has enjoyed a slight growth in GDP over the last few years  but despite this nearly two thirds of the population continue to live on less than 2.5 USD per day. This has led to mass migration of male labour both skilled and unskilled to neighbouring countries to look for opportunities to earn more money.  TJ is a former USSR colony which gained independence in 1992 after a 5 year bloody civil war.  Many of the issues that TJ faces are due to continued use of former soviet systems that are no longer appropriate for the country. (VSO Country Strategy)

So the main aim of the programme here is to empower women and men living in poverty in rural areas of Tajikistan to achieve secure and sufficient livelihoods through the development of a diverse range of work opportunities in small business, agriculture, value added activities and through sustainable use of natural resources.

My role as Hospitality Advisor at 'The Institute of Entrepreneurship' has so far been to advise on their hospitality curriculum which is almost 20 years old and mainly comes from a soviet textbook, so I am working on updating this, by observing local trends in the city it is easy to see a more modern western influence, with the addition of bars and nightclubs, so a more western style of hospitality is called for, however talking with local people I find a strong attitude to hold onto traditional values as well, so clearly a balance is needed.

Tajikistan is in the early stages of change, it is an area of outstanding beauty thats for sure, and once the logistical problems and infrastructure have evolved it has countless possibilities for tourism especially areas of tourism like eco and adventure holidays.

So I am two months into the project and its been a amazing experience already, I start my Russian lessons today at a local college three times a week and hope the grey matter can handle a different alphabet! 

The Institute of Entrepreneurship

Some colleagues in the office 

Navruz and Buzkashi in the Rasht valley

Every year on 21st march Tajikistan and all the surrounding central Asian countries celebrate Navruz, I think the best way to describe it would be ''a celebration of life'' 
Translated in Farsi it means ''new day'' originating in Persia and has been celebrated for over 2500 years, the 21st of march in the northern hemisphere is the start of the spring equinox and signals the start of the Persian new year as it was then.
So we had five days holiday to take in some amazing scenery and enjoy a truly memorable experience in Gharm in the Rasht valley. five of us hired a people carrier and a driver for the trip, as it turned out having the driver was a brilliant idea as none of us would have been comfortable with the prospect of driving on some of these mountainous roads

This is a picture of the car at a police checkpoint where we spent about an hour while we ironed out a few issues with our documents! as it turned out it was quite fortuitous for us all.
As the journey to Gharm continued we climbed higher into the mountains and the scenery was spectacular as you can see.












we arrived in Gharm unscathed and found the mercy corp house where we were staying, because of the situation at the checkpoint it was suggested to us that it would a good idea if we supply a gift for the buzkashi event tomorrow,  we set off in search of a suitable prize.

The next morning we travelled to Hoit for the Navruz celebration and buzkashi event. we were informed on route that we were to be guests of honour of the police commander at the celebrations, this all came about because of our document issues at the checkpoint and a lady called Janice from mercy corps kindly talking to police for us, also because we had bought a prize for the buzkashi event, so here we are sitting at the head man's table enjoying the celebrations taking place.

VSO friends Nadina, Marja, and Derek 

here are a few more photos and a video of the many things going on.           

Buzkashi
After the fun and dancing in the park we were treated a very nice sit down lunch.
we then made our way to the main event, you will be left in doubt how much these people love this sport when you watch there faces and hear the cheering from the crowd, it is a fantastic spectacle and one I won't forgot. Some compare it to polo, both games have riders on horseback and both involve propelling a object towards a goal, but seriously its not the kind of thing I see the 'Prince of Wales' doing as the object is a headless goat! see for yourselves and watch the video below, its a rough sport and they love it....    

     

                                                               

the winner of our prize 'an oven' and a tea set, come on down!