Fan mountains

So I have arrived in Zerafshan valley, home to the Fan mountains, I am staying in Penjakent and working with the Zerafshan tourist board. I will blog about Penjakent another time but wanted to share an experience I had recently with some new friends also working in the area.
I was offered a place on a trekking weekend to the see the highest point of the Fan mountains called Chimtarga which stands at almost 5500m, for those like me who had no idea about mountain peaks Mont Blanc one of Europe's tallest stands at 4800m.
The five of us set off for Artuch which was our starting point, we set up camp for the night and enjoyed a beer or two while talking about our route the following day and watching the sun slowly filter away over the mountains.

sleep preventer

After a somewhat restless night caused mainly by laying on the odd rock or two and the intermittent gentle tones of a donkey tethered nearby, I am now up and  watching the sun rise above the mountains, at this stage before we set off we are already at 2000m so the night is chilly and the idea of a cup of coffee from Joachim was greatly appreciated while I cooked breakfast of course.
We packed up and cleared the mess and set off for the view of Chimtarga and the glaciers, I didn't know what to expect, not really having done what I would call proper trekking! well I can report that next to running a marathon when I was 26 years old this was probably the toughest thing I have done, carrying approx. 25 lb of stuff in a rucksack we clambered across harsh terrain which elevated to 3000m in 6 km  which took about 4 hours but all the hardship was put to one side when I first saw the view of the summit. I have been to the Alps and enjoyed them immensely but the sight of the glaciers and lakes was truly breathtaking.

It was explained to me that getting to these kind of altitudes in Europe is difficult because of the snow layer starting further down the mountain making it difficult to climb and requiring more equipment.
I was happy to sit and take in the views around me for the rest of day and because I don't think I could have walked another step. The temperature even at 3000m was still 30c. we were lucky enough to witness an avalanche from Chimtarga the noise was incredible and the pictures I have hear just do not do justice to actually being there.

Chimtarga avalanche

we ate pasta in the evening and made a fire from the dead wood of the juniper trees around us and drank vodka till the fire faded, now you would have thought that with all that excitement I would sleep pretty well wouldn't you, needless to say I was up watching the sun rise once more before we took the path back to Artuch, I have to say a massive thank you to Joachim and the gang for letting come along on what was a very memorable experience. 

Andreas has a very good camera! look closely at the stars ) 

Summer

Hello everyone, its been a while since I last blogged, mainly because there hasn't been to much of interest happening in the last month or so. The Institute is now closed for the summer and I am waiting to hear if I am to be posted to Penjakent on the Uzbek border.
There are plans for me to visit homestays and offer advice on western hospitality and food.
A homestay is pretty much what it says, the lack of hotels in these picturesque parts of Tajikistan leaves a business opportunity for local homeowners to rent a room to some of the trekking tourists that visit this country.
I am open minded on what I might find on the visits and hope I can of help in some way. 
The summer is hot really hot, I went for a walk round Rudaki park last night and the Tajiks love a fountain or two!

This was one of the hottest days so far, but we are expecting temps in the mid 40s !!

Victory day

We know it as VE day and it falls on the 8th May but in Tajikistan victory day celebrations are on the 9th May, The main reason for this was the difference in time zones when the treaty was signed. [Quoting Stalin:]'' Today, in Reims, Germans signed the preliminary act on an unconditional surrender. The main contribution, however, was done by Soviet people and not by the Allies, therefore the capitulation must be signed in front of the Supreme Command of all countries of the anti-Hitler Hitler Coalition, and not only in front of the Supreme Command of Allied Forces. Moreover, I disagree that the surrender was not signed in Berlin, which was the center of Nazi aggression. We agreed with the Allies to consider the Reims protocol as preliminary''.
This is echoed by the Tajik people who lost approx 100,000 soldiers to the 'Great Patriotic War' 1942-1945, and the USSR of course suffering the greatest losses of all, in the region of 9 to 14 million.
The day started with the President laying the first of many wreaths at the Eternal Flame monument in Victory park, Dushanbe. 

This was followed by speeches and a matching band. After the procession had finished my colleagues and I took in the views and enjoyed the surroundings of the park,(pictures below) it has an old disused cable car built in the Soviet era, which was only closed a few years ago as it became unsafe, now its another fund raising project to try and restore to its former glory, and hopefully become a tourist attraction once more.  
There are many such projects in the planning and discussion process by ngo's (non government organisations) like the VSO and others all over Tajikistan, influencing governments and capacity building is a slow process. 

Eternal flame monument

The cable car 

This peak is one of the highest at 3000m

A quick beer with Hilary, Mary and Nadina before the walk home 

say hi to the locals

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!