| TAJIKISTAN | | | | 7,349,145 population, and RUSSIAN, like Tajik is |
| Population: 6.3 million (UN, 2005) | | | | generally spoken and used in government and |
| Capital: Dushanbe | | | | business. |
| Area: 143,100 sq km (55,251 sq miles) | | | | FOOD & ATTRACTION |
| Major languages: Tajik, Uzbek, Russian | | | | A good life is quite a hard concept to realize for |
| Major religion: Islam | | | | the Tajikistanis. Units in college and good grades |
| Life expectancy: 61 years (men), 66 years | | | | mean cotton farming 10 hours a day, 7 days a |
| (women) (UN) | | | | week, and 100 kilos of harvest, respectively. but |
| Monetary unit: 1 Tajik somoni = 100 dirams | | | | small programs are being launched to help the |
| Republic of Tajikistan is Central Asian territory | | | | nation improve its quality of life. Being in Tajikistan |
| known more for its remoteness, seclusion, and | | | | is a moving and exciting adventure of a lifetime |
| inaccessibility to travellers than its land marvels. As | | | | for the traveller because of the magnanimous |
| such, it is one of the few landlocked countries in | | | | locals who treat their guests as rare and fragile |
| Central Asia we know very little of. Tajikistan is | | | | jewels. The locals of Pamir offer a certain special |
| vital to the world for their production of cotton. | | | | hospitality that their modest lifestyle can offer, |
| However, if truth be told, Tajikistan is also the | | | | even at the checkpoints, but it takes a 16-hour |
| crucial element to the Euro-Asia drug trade as | | | | utterly painful and literally mind-boggling drive in |
| Afghanistan's first stop for smuggling drugs to | | | | the underdeveloped roads from Dushanbe, all the |
| Europe and Russia. | | | | way up to Pamir, but it is heck worth it. |
| The country has a brutally bloodstained past, but | | | | Dushanbe, the capital, is the most beautiful Central |
| optimism slowly inches the nation to the future. | | | | Asian city, despite poverty of the Tajikistanis. |
| After a death count of around 50,000 in the civil | | | | The Pamir range is eye candy and by itself will |
| war of 1990 that made it the bloodiest corner of | | | | take your breath away, not by thinned out |
| former Soviet, the present atmosphere of | | | | oxygen that comes with its towering altitudes, but |
| Tajikistan is rather peaceful and holds immense | | | | with its extra special views high above the skies |
| potential for tourism. Since that harshly violent | | | | that Hindu Kush appears too close at times. |
| time of the civil, nothing much has changed | | | | Wakhan Valley to the South is the site for the |
| though. The republic remains the poorest country | | | | Silk Trade route for centuries, and this is apparent |
| in Central Asia as the nation attempts to move | | | | with archaeological bits and pieces sprinkled over |
| on with their daily lives, incompetent and incapable | | | | the land, such as Buddhist wats, Islamic |
| still for full independence from Russia's control | | | | mausoleums, hermit caves, petroglyphs, and forts |
| from which they derive financial and military | | | | from the 3 B.C. Besides the resplendent natural |
| backing. | | | | scenery, there is of course, the food. |
| GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE | | | | As the traveller will have had his fill of the eye |
| Tajikistan, 39 00 N, 71 00 E, is Central Asia's | | | | delights of the majestically mountainous country, |
| smallest country (by area), with the distinctively | | | | one must not neglect one's hunger, and Tajik local |
| rugged mountainous ranges of the Pamir and Alay | | | | hospitality will ensure the traveller of a table piled |
| intensely veiling its terrain. The undulating facade | | | | high of bread, dishes, and confections. Sitting on |
| of this mountainous republic hailed the country the | | | | topchans out in the cool breeze under the shady |
| "roof of the world" with more than half its entire | | | | with all the good stuff, there can absolutely be no |
| terrain of 143,100 km2 at 3,000 metres above | | | | way to enjoy a lunch as this. First served is |
| sea level. So high, the country almost embraces | | | | tpakkshak, a noodle soup appetizer dressed in |
| the skies with its highest altitude 7,495 metres | | | | minced herbs, followed by the national dish, plov. |
| credited to the Qullai Ismoili Somoni, whereas the | | | | Yes! It's that same rice-based plov with all the |
| lowest elevation, at 300 metres above sea level, | | | | fixings ubiquitous to Central Asia and somehow |
| the Syr Darya. There are also the plush Fergana | | | | similar to the preparation of the Spanish rice dish |
| Valley to the north and Kofarnihon and Vakhsh in | | | | paella or valenciana, or even risotto, but belongs |
| the south. The mountainous regions have the cold | | | | to another palette category. In Uzbekistan, plov is |
| semi-arid climate with snow-capped peaks the | | | | cooked with raisins and chickpeas. In Kyrgyzstan, |
| whole year round. The country endures roasting | | | | plov is prepared consistently with mutton, whilst in |
| hot summers with temperatures of up to 100 | | | | Tajikistan, its simple accompaniments are rice, |
| °F, and mild cooling winters with temperatures | | | | onions, carrots, beef or mutton, cumin, and more |
| plummeting to a low of -40°F. | | | | cumin. Otala is also a noodle dish accompanied by |
| PEOPLE & CULTURE | | | | beef and chickpeas with less soup content. And |
| The most exciting and interesting part of the trip | | | | as a gastronomic norm, the meal is ended with |
| to this young, almost newly instituted nation are | | | | some refreshing fruits such as watermelon, or |
| meeting and knowing the people, the Tajikistanis. | | | | sweet candies. |
| Since its declared independence from the Soviet in | | | | For some reason, perhaps of religious tradition, |
| 1991, not much in the country has changed. The | | | | women in Central Asia are rarely seen in public. In |
| nation constituted by the Tajiks, Uzbeks, | | | | the presence of guests, women are pocketed in |
| Russians, and Kyrgyz peoples still cling to Soviet | | | | the kitchen, while men do all the entertaining and |
| ideologies, incompletely able to stand alone, much | | | | hosting. The youngest girl in the family is the |
| like their dependence on Islam, the religion of the | | | | universal server. So if you enjoy a man's |
| state, which has had a perpetuating hold on their | | | | company, you'll surely enjoy a Tajik meal. Time |
| society for over 2,000 years hence. Sunnis are | | | | won't take too long before Tajikistan basks with |
| the majority, while only 5% forms Shia. One | | | | a new reputation as Central Asia's most exciting |
| cannot overstate the tense tense religious | | | | country-the place to be says most that have |
| atmosphere in these parts, and with immense | | | | been here. Travel is no fuss with a organized visa |
| adherence to Islamic traditions, Christians are a | | | | and (proof of) accommodation. For the moment, |
| minority. TAJIK is the official language of | | | | Tajikistan's charms appeals to travellers with the |
| Tajikistan spoken by a huge percentage of the | | | | luxury of travel-and-error to boot. |