Tajikistan

The differences that we experienced in Tajikistan were felt as soon as we stepped off of the plane. It was blazing hot. Gold toothed men crammed themselves around a single doorway, attempting to get into the airport. They were wearing layers of clothing with sports jackets over it all. I was dieing of heat in an Underarmor t-shirt. Once we got into the airport, we had to get a visa to remain in the country. We did not see any signs or anything at all for that matter except for the line to get your passport checked. So we tried to just walk into Tajikistan. That didn't go over so well without a visa. They ushered us to an unmarked room...the only room in the airport. There were no windows, no chairs, no lights...just a desk in the middle of the room with a few pieces of paper on it. A Tajik man stood behind the desk and questioned us about what we needed. We gave him our passports and he slapped visas on them. We paid is US currency...of which he pocketed a nice amount I'm sure...and get into Tajikistan for 7 days. Some amazing things happened to us in Tajikistan. We stayed in the capital city, Dushanbe. Dushanbe was filled with cops. They were everywhere you looked. This was unsettling at first, but eventually we got used to it. The first hotel we stayed at was called the Vaskh, run by fierce Soviet babushkas. The room was terrible and the shower produced brown liquid when turned on. However, right across the street was a huge fountain and outdoor eating where we had kabobs, salad, and bread almost every night. Oh, and of course RC Cola. RC has a monopoly in Tajikistan. That's all they drink..and they love it. And we loved it too. We went on walks into the valleys outside of Dushanbe and saw incredible sights. Talked to a man who knew no English about his days in the Tajik army, killing Russians, met a little boy names Muhomad who thought we were from Los Angeles, and made some friends from Afghanistan who were studying in Tajikistan. We also saw a 70+ year old man walking around a grown bear on a leash. Two of my favorite memories of Tajikistan happened very close to eachother. We found a Christian book store and purchased many of our souveniers from them. We communicated that we would like to go to church with them and they gave us a map. We eventually found it and we got to meet some amazing people. We met a 19 year old boy who is studying to be a pastor and a 20 year old Russian girl who teaches the chrildren's Sunday school class. It was amazing to see a fully functioning church, completely led by locals, in the middle of Dushanbe. On our way back from our visit, we stopped by a large river and swam with some Tajik boys. I watched a kid fish with little more than a stick and walk away with more fish than he knew what to do with. It was an incredibly relaxing time as we rested in the river.