Infuriated at the slow internet at apparently the best internet joint in town (the Telecom building), I left Penjikent at around 2pm after spending four hours just to do a few days worth of updates on this website. I hope New Zealand gets it’s act together and sorts out some fast cheap broadband internet before I get back…
The goal for today was to cycle the 20 or so kilometers from Penjikent to the Tajikistan/Uzbekistan border. A lovely young lass from the States (Aya – researching traiditional music and spirituality in the Pamiri peoples of Tajikistan) who I met on the Pamir Highway and lives in Dushanbe had organised for me a homestay with a Tajik family who live right on the border with Uzbekistan.
It was an easy ride, with a tail wind and smooth road to the border.
This 20km stretch of road had a slightly erie feel to it. It was perhaps the smoothest road I have experienced in Tajikistan so far, but had more children playing hopscotch on it than it had cars on it. It really did feel like the forgotten edge of a very poor country. Which is what it is…
The Istam family is a delight,, including their massive friendly smoochy dog. Istam himself is a taxi driver, sometimes going as far as Moscow. He is a big man, the evidence of a rather physically sedentary profession.
Is the house made of concrete? It looks like it has no lining on the inside.