There is no censorship in Tajikistan. NYTimes.com is not reachable here in Khujand Tajikistan, neither is npr.org. I am writing this from blogger.com but I cannot read the post I sent from Samarkand. I’m not sure I will be able to publish this when I am done.

We made the drive from Samarkand in the lovely bus we had been traveling in all week. After two hours on typical Uzbekistan roads, miserable, we reached the border with Tajikistan where we had to put up with over zealous exit routines and then pull our bags over 300 meters of no-man’s land to the welcoming Tajikistan entry post. Having cleared that and another 100 meters of  bad driveway we boarded what may be the worst bus we have ever experienced. The legroom is nonexistent, the fabric is disintegrating the microphone system works and doesn’t work at random and I thought I heard the clutch slipping when climbing a slight grade. And we need an external step to reach the first step in the door. The emergency exit door in the rear is a good 5 feet above the ground with no assist. Just bad! Tomorrow we are promised a smaller more comfortable bus capable of taking us over the mountains to Dushanbe. There a a couple of high passes to cross.

We are in an area that has seen little tourism and it shows wherever we go. To add to the interesting times, it is Ramadan, so restaurants have to open early to accommodate us and even those that do usually serve alcohol have not been offering it.  This is a Muslim majority nation but the state is not Muslim and many people clearly are not observing Ramadan fast.

I can post pictures of mausoleums and unused mosques, but they are of limited interest. The one mausoleum we go into was supposed to be closed to us. As we got there the door was partly open and we were invited to remove our shoes and go into the entry area, but explicitly told not to enter the holy area of the tombs. As we stood about taking pictures [now I cannot add pictures] a couple of ladies left and all of a sudden we were welcomed into the inner sanctum. After the tour and explanation as we put on our shoes and turned to leave the caretaker came out and locked up the building.

We went to lunch and returned to then hotel to freshen up before seeing some local embroidery with opportunity to purchase. Watch for another new cap to appear someplace, someday 🙂