Steppe in Style: adventures in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

After days on the road, it’s time to relax and explore Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe.  I’ms saying right on central Rudaki Avenue, close to the Opera and Ballet Theatre. It was too dark to see much when we arrived late last night, but in the morning I stroll along Rudaki Avenue, taking in the white and…

Just like Kyrgyzstan to the north, Tajikistan is divided by high mountain ranges.  In winter the road between Dushanbe and the northern cities of Khujend, Istaravshan and Isfara is cut off as the high mountain roads become too dangerous.  Luckily I’m travelling in autumn, before the snows begin. In fact the temperatures are still in…

Early on Monday morning I’m waiting outside the Hotel Leninabad, bag packed, ready for Jyldyz’s husband’s friend to come and pick me up and drive me to Istaravshan.  Zohirjon, when he arrives, is a stylish, handsome man, with the accessories I’m starting to recognise as the hallmarks of the nouveau Tajik: a newish car, a…

My kind hosts didn’t understand the concept of travel for travel’s sake.  I only outlined my travel plans to Jyldyz once we arrived at her house, because she slept for most of the journey from Osh.  She was so perplexed at the idea I was going to Dushanbe for a holiday that I hastily invented…

Jyldyz and her husband were busy getting ready to attend their neighbour’s son’s circumcision ceremony, so she deputed her bother to drive me to Khujend.  Rather than dropping me off directly at the hotel, he decided to show me arguably the most impressive site of the city, and took me first to the Arbob Cultural…

I need to get from Osh to the Tajik border. For $100 the hostel has organised a car to take me the long way around to Batken, avoiding several small Uzbek enclaves within the Kyrgyz Fergana Valley. The bus and most shared taxis go the direct route, but only holders of Kyrgyz or Uzbek passports…

8am and I’m roaming the streets of Osh, Kyrgyzstan searching for coffee. I urgently need to get caffeinated before starting on another all-day journey, a shared taxi ride along the Fergana valley to Batken, in the far east of southern Kyrgyzstan.  Because I’m a foreigner without a Kyrgyz or Uzbek passport, I need to travel…

Approaching Bishkek’s main bus station, the river tumbles sullenly between concrete banks, on one side the tatty backs of a city bazaar and on the other an electricity substation. Behind them, a solitary and dilapidated Soviet era apartment block is silhouetted against the distant mountains. The leaves on the trees are turning from dark green…

I’m breakfasting in the rose garden in Red Guesthouse’s whitewashed courtyard. As I spread runny homemade jam onto chewy chunks of freshly baked lipyoshka bread, Galya, the proprietor, is showing me pictures of her daughter’s wedding.  The guesthouse has had a lot of foreign guests since Galya’s daughter designed and uploaded the website. That was…

It took four hours of driving, two propositions from taxi drivers and one bribe to a policeman to get from Almaty to Bishkek.  This was the first part of my overland trip from my home in Almaty, southern Kazakhstan to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The two cities are 862km from each other, but it’s…