Khujand - A tourist's delight!!!
on Elaine McGauran (Tajikistan), 17/Aug/2011 19:13, 34 days ago
Khujand– in Pictures:I had visitors all week so took the opportunity to take some snaps of Khujand. I haven’t actually done the tourist thing here since arriving, so it was a nice opportunity to see the city differently.Pictures below enjoy:The local mosque one of the largest in this region - this picture taken from the market. Ah I luv it - Pasjambe the infamous local market. Taken from the outside its a crazy vibrant hub of activity. Would make tesco in Finglas look soooo tame!!! They wouldn't last a day here.A local favourite - the tea house. Probably equivalent to the 'pub' sat outside here on a tapcham for a couple of lovely cold beers. Oh yeah the locals actually drink tea here, its just the foreign yobs who drink beer!!Well there has to be some payback for living with the heat and here you have it Karakum. The local 'tajik sea' so nice to have a dip in this heat. PS hope not making y'all jealous!!!!Students– Discussion GroupThese are some of students I meet with weekly. I love meeting up with them this week we had discussion about Irish/Tajik music. I’m organising table tennis with them on Thursday with mixed teams which should be good fun. And next week to do something different I have asked them to take me on a tour of Khujand – local style.Invitations to Ireland:Oops gone a bit mad with these. So far in no particular order I have invites out to: China, USA, Holland, UK, Tajikistan, Nepal, Germany, Canada, Finland, Norway, Italy, Urkraine, Russia, Austria, Israel, Indonesia and the Philippines. Of course am hoping some are of the reciprocal nature and not all turn up in Dublin at the same time. Otherwise might be calling on friends to offer accommodation and possibly having to resort to serious diplomacy!!Seasonal Food:It’s great here the market sells the most incredible locally grown foods. No crap all naturally grown and my god are they amazing. Tomatoes like you wouldn’t believe – so juicy and tasty. You can literally eat them on their own – sort of like a really good Irish spud. Incredible grapes, smallno pips that they dry out and use for raisins. Not forgetting aubergines cucumbers and melons to die for. The other side off the coin is when the season is over it’s over. Come winter its spuds, eggs, and that’s pretty much it. This explains why the locals are right busy bottling tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers for the long winter here.Just re-read this sounds like something from‘Little house on the Prairie’ - young readers check out re-runs always on some channel somewhere!!Oh my lovely neighbour dropped in grapes grown literally outside my window– mmmm yummy!!Hope all is well.As always from me to y’all good night!!!Lainey xxxPS:Just realised it is 3 months since I arrived in T. I got an email from a volunteer arriving in September. God felt so knowledgeable about T– it’s amazing how much you pick up. Ahhhhh guess time is going fast!!PPS;I do not work for the Tajikistan/Khujand tourist board!!