Day 13 - Fann Mountains to Penjikent (Tajikistan)

 A better night’s sleep meant I arose feeling considerably more chipper than I did 24 hours earlier. This was to be our last full day in Tajikistan, so it was great to feel perked up.


For the first 2 hours we drove retracing our steps back towards Khodjent. That meant passing beautiful Iskandarkul (Alexander Lake) and its alluring blue water. 




Once on the main road, we could again marvel at the sheer sides of the mountains and gorges. Not only did it take superb engineering to make this road, but I also marvelled at how they had managed to erect huge pylons on sheer cliffs to get the electricity supply through from the hydroelectric plants near Khodjent. 




How on earth did that pylon get there?


Eventually we turned off towards Panjikent. Initially we continued to twist our way through the mountains, but slowly and surely the valley widened as we followed the Zaravshan River. The river itself had carved a 50 meet deep gorge deep into the soft sandstone valley bottom. This made for more great natural scenery.




Just short of our destination for the day, Panijkent, we turned off the main road and headed up to a remote village called Mazor. Here we had a tour around an ancient building that served as both a Mosque, and a mausoleum for Mohammed Bashoro (an ancient and legendary expert on the preachings of the Prophet Mohammed). The building itself dated back centuries, and was adorned with wooden doors that were over a thousand years old. We were shown around by a very elderly Imam, who was a true sage. Utterly heartwarming in an era when hear so much about the divisiveness of religion.






Onwards and into Panijkent, where the first stop was a rather boring museum with some terrible paintings, and various musings on the history of Panijkent. Museum legs kicked in almost immediately!



Downtown Panijkent 


He does love a flag


Worse still was to follow. The archeological site of the old original city of Panijkent. Rather like colostomy, just not my bag. My inner pleb rose up. I just couldn’t be arsed with it. If there was a positive, it was the view looking down on Panijkent, which incidentally seems fairly characterless. I think my bad night’s sleep from the previous day had caught up with me as I got more tired and tetchy. Or maybe it was because yet another day had passed where I’d been unable to buy stamps for postcards. In particular, to my friend Steve who has a noteworthy collection, and delights when he receives one from somewhere new. My final hopes now rest on Uzbekistan.




Tomorrow we’re back to Uzbekistan, for the jewels in the crown of this adventure - Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. Tajikistan has far exceeded my expectations. Wonderful friendly people and a beautiful natural scenery. Not at all commercial; a quiet gem waiting to be discovered.



Devashtich Monument 


Supremely stylish Soviet apartment buildings 



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