One Fine Day in Dushanbe

His poems were a rocking cradle:

they poured sounds into my life again,

poured sounds, poured desires.

They helped me break away from evil eyes,

damning glances and false friendships,

I was rinsed instead by a bright spring.

Farzaneh Khojandi - Back Again

Culture, people, and atmosphere are the three things I always look forward to when traveling to a new destination. I have come to realize that I always have the chance to travel abroad during the spring season. The best season to travel. Dushanbe as the capital city of Tajikistan has a lot of things to offer, from the post-sovyet styled building to the persian-poets themed museums and historical places. Tajik people adore their writers and poets so much that they considered them as heroes. From buildings to streets, they name it after their great writers.

Blossoming spring flowers at Rudaki Avenue.

Dushanbe is a lovely city, with beautiful surroundings and warm people. The architecture of Dushanbe buildings has nowadays transformed from the old post-soviet style to the modern european one. My friend told me that the government is currently rebuilding all the residential buildings and governmental buildings in Dushanbe because they are already old and the government wants to create a fresher look for Dushanbe so that it can attract more tourists.

Lahuti Drama Theater and Academy.

In terms of the people's habit and culture, while Tursunzoda's people are more traditional and conservative, the people in Dushanbe are more open minded and they are more exposed to modern technology. People line organizedly whenever there is a queue, while in Tursunzoda you can never know when your next turn in line is (unless you are a woman with children or an elderly). The way women dress in Dushanbe is more modern than in Tursunzoda. During my stay in my husband's hometown, I was always required to wear something longer than a knee-length dress (plus the pants), and no jeans is allowed 😂. When I traveled to Dushanbe, I could see that there were a lot of women wearing jeans and pants and the people seemed okay with it. Women did not always wear head scarf, and the most interesting thing is that I saw most men wore neat and complete suits everywhere (later that day I found out that they were required to do so during office hours).

A small park in town.

If you are feeling homesick and feel like going to a fast-food restarurant such as McDonalds, KFC,  Starbucks, etc..... you can never find it in Tajikistan, unfortunately. Even in Dushanbe. The only famous fast-food restaurant in the city is Merve (it's practically a Turkish restaurant) and they serve from turkish foods, tajik foods, to western foods such as pizza and steak, but if you are from South East Asia or used to eating foods with festive flavors do not expect a lot from the restaurant because I personally think that the taste is not so good. 

Merve Restaurant.

People in Tajikistan love drinking tea. They are a big fan of tea. There are a lot of special tea houses in Dushanbe where you can enjoy a cup of tea while having chit-chats with your friends or family. I really love the vibe at the traditional tea houses in Tajikistan and as a tea-person, I can say that the tea is definitely amazing (and cheap)! 😊

One of the oldest tea house in Dushanbe, Rohat Tea House.

I actually have a lot of pictures from my previous trips to Dushanbe, but unfortunately there was something wrong with my phone, it suddenly shut down completely so I could not access it 😢(for now, I hope all the data will be recovered by this week). But anyway, Dushanbe is definitely a great place to live. The public transportation is good (the government has just bought thousands of new bus from South Korea so it was very comfortable), the city is lively and beautiful, there are a lot of parks and also department stores, and the people are quite helpful and friendly (again, my friends told me that there is almost 0 crime in the city). However, if you are considering about living in the city for good, you also have to think about the living cost which does not balance against the average salary in Dushanbe (well, unless you have a well-paying job then you're good).

A military guarded park near the Botanical Garden area.

Overall, I would say that Dushanbe is definitely a great place to visit, and I want to give a big shout out to my crazy and open-minded friend, Lola, whom I just met in Dushanbe, for taking me around the city and share a lot of amazing facts and trivias about Tajikistan that I have never heard before! 😊 I really hope I can see her again someday!

Me and Lola, the amazing girl.

PS: please check out my short video below: