Welcome to Tajikistan, a landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia. You may not have heard of
this country, perhaps often overlooked due to its more commonly visited neighbour Uzbekistan.
I wanted to see this mysterious country for myself and show you why it's one of the most interesting countries
to visit in this region. With a population of over 9 million people, this country has a rich
culture and history as well as beautiful scenery with mountain peaks over 5000 meters high.
Join me as I explore this unique country starting by wandering around its peaceful capital Dushanbe.
Hello, good morning from Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan. A country bordering Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, as well as Afghanistan and China. Something about Dushanbe feels a bit more
like me, in a way that it feels a lot more like a smaller town rather, in comparison to Tashkent.
Interestingly enough, many Tajiks actually live outside of Tajikistan. In fact, Bukhara
and Samarkand, the cities in Uzbekistan, are largely Tajik-speaking cities. The Persian
heritage of the Tajik people gives it closer ties to Iranians and they speak Farsi as much as the
people in Northern Afghanistan. The difference being this to the Tajik usually or generally
use Cyrillic alphabet whereas the regular the traditional Farsi speaking-people use Arabic.
I'm currently standing in front of the Rudaki statue. Rudaki himself was a Persian
poet that Tajikistan and Iran claim to be their favourite son. I think the tiles
beautifully coloured, makes it more attractive for me. The Rudaki Park as you see has such
well-tended garden. There are so many different colours of these beautifully well-tended roses.
It's just quite nice to be surrounded by this many, you know, nature in the city.
This is the statue of Ismail Somani, the 10th-century Persian-speaking leader who also lends
his name to the Tajik currency, Somoni. I think this is one of the main point of interest in the
city because there are so many locals trying to take photos and so many local photographers as well.
The local photographer was like "Photo? photo?" and then eventually I thought yeah okay why not
helping them up with you know a bit of income, but also, it's fun making friends with them and
they've been so very kind, and just curious about the fact that there's a female travelling alone.
Shukrob has been taking photos of me. He's got so many cameras, two of them.
And this is Khurshed. He's a bit shy!
I paid 50 somoni, and I bargained from 100 somoni (He overcharged me). I said, "No, that's too much!" So I paid 50.
Thank you!
Speaking of Tajikistan currency, Tajikistan is still largely a cash society
in which that card is not very much used here.
My experience with ATM withdrawals have not been successful so if you're traveling to
Tajikistan, I would highly recommend bringing some USD, physical USD, to exchange in the city.
If you don't know, Dushanbe used to be a rather small village or a town that was famous for
its Monday Market, because Dushanbe in Tajik language means Monday. It became the capital
of Tajikistan SSR known as Stalinabad, and then the name reverted back to Dushanbe.
Dushanbe personally this capital city feels very laid back and it presents this calm atmosphere which I like.
I went to the market in Dushanbe thinking that I should also capture what the Central Asian market
sort of atmosphere looked like in the city.
However, as soon as I got there, I get quite overwhelmed and I've noticed it more
and more happening as I get older, how this type of sensory makes me feel like I just want to hide.
Not that anything bad was happening, I think I was not able to cope with this kind of
uncomfortable feeling as I get older, so what I did was just taking my phone out
and take clips here and there to sort of show you what the market looks like.
One thing about people in Dushane that I found to be interesting is that how well dressed they are!
It's as if they put great importance in how they look and it is also reflected
by some of the buildings, the grand design of the monuments, the architecture that the
city has. It's quite interesting because economically Tajikistan is considered to be
like the poorest in the region because the country has neither oil nor gas as its natural resources.
Therefore economically they are quite dependent on foreign aid organizations.
I was sitting at one of the benches and then for Ferzona also came here, and she was like "Are you a
tourists?" and I'm like "Oh, yeah". She speaks really good English, so it's been really nice!
Welcome to Tajikistan! I hope you're enjoying your stay here. Oh, thank you! She's so pretty, can you see?
She's from the Pamir (region). The travellers usually would go to the Pamir Highway, that's correct.
Right now, I'm actually planning to apply for it as a tour guide because I know a lot of historical places.
Yeah, yeah especially incredible English! So my plan for the summer is like this.
Wow, especially a female tour guide, it's so nice to see! Yeah, I hope they will accept me. I think
I mean she's so pretty and then smart! I just want to show what Tajik hospitality looks like.
I am pleased to meet you! Ahh, me too me too!
Can you see this extravagant building?
This looks like a palace. I think this could be a mall? I don't know because
there are so many cars and a restaurant. It looks like there is a cinema and another restaurant.
Look what I found there is an amusement park for the locals and families!
You've got a bouncy castle. You even get an extra playground over there and an ice cream man!
This one!
It's like a perfect dessert for just five somoni!
One thing about Dushanbe that I find quite nice are the fountains!
There are quite a bit of fountains, actually functioning fountains here and there
in the city and especially when the sun gets really hot during the day!
I think travelling around to the Central Asian countries have been so interesting to me
personally, because it makes me realize how much that these countries were historically
part of each other if that makes sense, because the current border the modern border that exists
today were created during this Soviet time. The modern borders now are sort of an artificial
invention of the Soviets. Historically, these people were sort of divided between the
nomadic, the traders, the Turkic speaker and also the Persian speaker. It's just fascinating to look at!
Welcome to Rohat Tea House!
This is one of the probably even the biggest Tea House in Central Asia.
Can you see the ceilings are always decorative? I think that's very unique to Tajikistan.
I think I'm looking for a seat by
the edge because then you get to see the street over here.
So I've just got my couple of Sambusa (fried or baked pastries) and I think this is mutton Sambusas,
as well as green tea served in a teapot.
In Central Asia, the way they drink is actually served and poured that into a small bowl instead of a tea mug like
we're used to in the West or in Asia. It's interesting because the menu, they've got that
translated into English, however, some translation looks very funny! Like for example this one it
says Samsa and I think this means Samsa with mutton but instead it says Samsa the sacred.
I don't know what is it about these countries in Central Asia, I think the camera is a bit too
intrusive and some people are so suspicious about that, especially the older generation
and perhaps because of the time that they grew up in. Yeah oftentimes, I feel isolated in
that scheme, in that sense. I don't want that to deter me from actually enjoying my green tea!
I'm just walking along the main street here and
as you see there will always be a stall of like soft drinks or ice cream!
Thank you so much for watching today's episode from Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan.
I hope that you get a glimpse of what this young city looks like. Let me know what you think
down in the comment section below. Make sure to check out my social media, Instagram as well as
Patreon if you wish to support a content creator like me and my work. I can't wait to see you on
the next video because I am making my way up north to North Tajikistan and crossing the
border into Uzbekistan. We'll hopefully go through the mountainous roads of the Fann mountains and
I'm expecting an incredible journey.
Which one is going to Panjakent? These guys are scary!
No, he's increasing the price, no! The competitions are crazy!
Can I sit at the front then with 150 somoni? Really? Okay, super!
It's a fun local traffic! Look at their butts! It looks like the Kardashians.
I hope I won't get diarrhoea, okay!
There is no queuing system! That's crazy, that's crazy.
He said it's safe, I'm like yeah okay right!