Last two days:
Woke up extremely early Thursday morning. Nude session in the outdoor hot spring at Garmchashma with the Norwegian ambassador to Central Asia, DJ, and a bunch of local Tajik men and boys. Porridge for breakfast and then back to Khorog, where I went straight to the Mountin Soceites Dev Suport Program (sic) office with His Excellency to talk about Norwegian forestry projects and restoring an old fort out in GBAO. Then to the PE office for a meeting with Jamshed about the project that's closing out and some money issues, then DJ came and we talked about PE's future plans. Then to the Khorog museum, which was a trip down Soviet memory lane, some amazing taxidermy, and a mixture of very strange and very cool dioramas and exhibits. Then lunch at the same cafe as the other day. It was Unity Day here yesterday, the anniversary of the end of the civil war in 1997, so the park was packed.
The helicopter flight was cancelled because of weather and the forecast for this morning was bad (and borne out, we had a lot of rain and a thunderstorm, but I'm getting ahead of myself), so I had no choice but to join DJ, HE the A of N, the Norwegian Deputy Ambassador to Germany, and a senior counsellor to the Norwegian delegation in Kabul on the 15-hour drive back to Dushanbe up and over the mountains. We had several stops along the way to talk about Norway's projects here with PE, including in a village along the Panj where HE put on a suit and we sat a table in front of most of the village while speeches were given, mostly in Russian. They had laid out a big spread of fruit and berries and I took a deep breath and ate two apricots. Generally I shy away from fresh fruit over here but it would have been insulting for me not to eat any. Good news: no ill effects.
It was dark a couple of hours before we reached Darvaz, the midway point (ish) of our journey and the place where we spent the night, in an extremely strange little resort complex that is owned by the big Tajik aluminum company. We were quite late and we had to get up at four this morning, so I had some Sprite and a couple of pieces of watermelon before heading up to my room and falling instantly asleep.
We had breakfast at 5 at the home of PE's regional manager for Darvaz. It was really excellent, samosas and fresh bread and tea and fresh honey, eaten sitting cross-legged on a covered platform next to his house. The setting was beautiful, in a deep and very green valley. DJ took his leave, back to Khorog, and the Norwegians and I piled into one of the Land Cruisers and took off for the final stretch to Dushanbe. It was actually a lovely drive up and over a 3200-meter pass and then down through the mountains onto the plain. We talked pretty much the whole time, about Norway, about the US, about Tajikistan. The Norwegians were (are) all very friendly and relaxed guys, and so it was an easy 7.5 hours, despite the condition of the road and the fact that I was in the middle of the back seat. I'm taller than HE but he's an Excellency so he got the front, and my back-seat-mates are both well over six feet and more than 20 years older than I am. No worries.
We got back to Dushanbe a few hours ago, had lunch, showered and then HE had some meetings with various ministers and the other two and I went for a walk down Rudaki Ave to the monument and park. It absolutely poured rain as we were coming into Dushanbe and then cleared up and is cool and sunny out. I'm writing this instead of doing work so I'd better stop, but I think my next post will be from Dubai. Car leaves here at 3 AM.
EDIT: Map of the route we took from Khorog to Dushanbe is below. The yellow dot is where we stayed in Darvaz.
Woke up extremely early Thursday morning. Nude session in the outdoor hot spring at Garmchashma with the Norwegian ambassador to Central Asia, DJ, and a bunch of local Tajik men and boys. Porridge for breakfast and then back to Khorog, where I went straight to the Mountin Soceites Dev Suport Program (sic) office with His Excellency to talk about Norwegian forestry projects and restoring an old fort out in GBAO. Then to the PE office for a meeting with Jamshed about the project that's closing out and some money issues, then DJ came and we talked about PE's future plans. Then to the Khorog museum, which was a trip down Soviet memory lane, some amazing taxidermy, and a mixture of very strange and very cool dioramas and exhibits. Then lunch at the same cafe as the other day. It was Unity Day here yesterday, the anniversary of the end of the civil war in 1997, so the park was packed.
The helicopter flight was cancelled because of weather and the forecast for this morning was bad (and borne out, we had a lot of rain and a thunderstorm, but I'm getting ahead of myself), so I had no choice but to join DJ, HE the A of N, the Norwegian Deputy Ambassador to Germany, and a senior counsellor to the Norwegian delegation in Kabul on the 15-hour drive back to Dushanbe up and over the mountains. We had several stops along the way to talk about Norway's projects here with PE, including in a village along the Panj where HE put on a suit and we sat a table in front of most of the village while speeches were given, mostly in Russian. They had laid out a big spread of fruit and berries and I took a deep breath and ate two apricots. Generally I shy away from fresh fruit over here but it would have been insulting for me not to eat any. Good news: no ill effects.
It was dark a couple of hours before we reached Darvaz, the midway point (ish) of our journey and the place where we spent the night, in an extremely strange little resort complex that is owned by the big Tajik aluminum company. We were quite late and we had to get up at four this morning, so I had some Sprite and a couple of pieces of watermelon before heading up to my room and falling instantly asleep.
We had breakfast at 5 at the home of PE's regional manager for Darvaz. It was really excellent, samosas and fresh bread and tea and fresh honey, eaten sitting cross-legged on a covered platform next to his house. The setting was beautiful, in a deep and very green valley. DJ took his leave, back to Khorog, and the Norwegians and I piled into one of the Land Cruisers and took off for the final stretch to Dushanbe. It was actually a lovely drive up and over a 3200-meter pass and then down through the mountains onto the plain. We talked pretty much the whole time, about Norway, about the US, about Tajikistan. The Norwegians were (are) all very friendly and relaxed guys, and so it was an easy 7.5 hours, despite the condition of the road and the fact that I was in the middle of the back seat. I'm taller than HE but he's an Excellency so he got the front, and my back-seat-mates are both well over six feet and more than 20 years older than I am. No worries.
We got back to Dushanbe a few hours ago, had lunch, showered and then HE had some meetings with various ministers and the other two and I went for a walk down Rudaki Ave to the monument and park. It absolutely poured rain as we were coming into Dushanbe and then cleared up and is cool and sunny out. I'm writing this instead of doing work so I'd better stop, but I think my next post will be from Dubai. Car leaves here at 3 AM.
EDIT: Map of the route we took from Khorog to Dushanbe is below. The yellow dot is where we stayed in Darvaz.
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