I left Afghanistan via the same route I entered, and even met the same border guards as the day before (one Afghani guard was obviously annoyed to see me, sine I refused to tip him the day before for checking my passport- #sorrynotsorry). The customs entering Uzbekistan took about 3 hours this time...
Afghanistan is, without a doubt, still a country in evolution. It’s history is tightly tied to it’s people groups and language, found in history books when discussing the Indus river civilizations, Indian and Chinese influence, and travelers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and Alexander the Great
Dushanbe to border: From the Green House Hostel (highly recommended), I took Mashrukta/City cab number 8 all the way to the end (8 somani ). Here, I hopped off and asked for a cab to the border, which cost me about 40 somani, shared. That cab goes right up to the border, which is pretty isolated. Here I exchanged Somani into Uzbek Som in order to get on my feet. Beware: they’ll try to change at the bank rate, but make sure yo haggle for the black market rate if you can. The truth is, the majority of Uzbekistan operates on the back market rate, so you really ought to just go with it. When I went, bank rate was about 3000 Som:1 USD. Black market averages about 6400 Som: 1 USD. So you’ll have to do some math coming from Somani, but get a good rate. Worse case scenario, you’ll need about 150K Som to make it to Termez the local way, so get at least that much.
Border is easy to walk through. On the other side, an army of taxis will be waiting to take you into Denau, you can haggle prices a bit, but supply and demand will kinda stick it to you. I paid 15K Som to Denau, shared, and it took about 20 minutes.
In Denau, you’ll be dropped off at the taxi/bus station. From there I hopped onto a shared taxi going to Termez, which was pretty easy to find. I paid 20K Som if I remember correctly, and the ride took a few hours. This a good time to mention that distance and prices NEVER match up in Uzbekistan, and it’s honestly just kinda confusing. Just argue for the best price you can.
I got to Termez about 4pm, and decided I’d make to jaunt to Afghanistan same day and avoid paying for a (what I heard was pricey) hotel there and then Afghanistan next day. Termez is a bit confusing, with a very small taxi stand going longer distances, an assortment of marshuktas, and painfully minimal taxis on the street. Most cabs wanted to charge me about 50K to the border (called “Hiraton”). Mashrukta #255 will take you there directly, and cost almost nothing. I ended up having tea with a really random guy, and then paid a cab 15K to take me there. I’d rather have done the masrukta.
Border was relatively easy. Got there around 5:30 (tea time got in the way of things), and it was basically dead. It still took a while to go through all my bags on the Uzbek side, but was painless. After that, there was a long walk across the friendship bridge and into Afghanistan. Border on Afghan side was very easy, asked me where I was going, stamped, and didn’t go through my bags.
Once through customs, walk through the gate and sandbags (yup…), and walk straight until you find a cab. It’s a pretty hardline $20 USD or 1000 Afghani to Mazar-i-sharif. I didn’t even ask questions, since it was getting dark and kinda just wanted to get there with no issues. There was nowhere to change money at this border by the way, but the USD is accepted and preferred anyhow.
Took about an hour to get to Mazar, with no traffic (NOT the 20-30 minutes LP states). I stayed at the Barat hotel, which is right downtown next to the Blue Mosque, safe, clean enough, running water, but limping wifi. It was $50 with my own bathroom.
Next day I walked around the mosque, which was gorgeous. People were very friendly, and I never felt like I was in danger personally. It should be noted, however, that this isn’t a place to be flippant with your tourist status. This is still one of the most dangerous countries (Cheak World Peace Index) on the planet, and news about a tourist in town will get around faster than you think). So after one night in the hotel, and a great time walking around the Mosque, Bazaar, and downtown a bit, I did all of the above in reverse.
The hotel arranged a cab to pick me up there and bring me to the border for the $20 again. Then it was across the border, and hopped a cab into Termex proper.
I hope these details help other travelers with this border. It’s very straight forward, and without the thought of it being Afghanistan, is a really simple/painless border. I would say Mazar is your only safe spot to travel too right now (or Ishkashim in the Pamirs), and I wouldn’t try to be cocky about it. The mosque was gorgeous, the people so, so nice, and I had some great conversations. It was worth it, and if you’re willing to pay the money for the visa, I think this is a nice little end to any official Pamir highway end/beginning. Hope it helps!
I ended up covering a significant amount of ground on this leg of the journey. My original intent was to try to make it to Termez, Uzbekistan, the last stop on the border. But things moved along at a decent pace, and fueled by the fact that Termez hotels are few and expensive, I’d save time and money heading straight to Afghanistan. But we’ll back up…
In Dushanbe, I had a small breakfast of onions, egg, bread, and tea, then packed up my things to head out. It was a bit difficult mentally to leave this hostel. As I’ve mentioned before, it was one of the best I’ve been in, and to know that the next few days ahead may be a bit challenging make it difficult to leave a place of solace and rest.
I had to piece meal it to the border. I walked to the main street and took a city marshrukta to a taxi terminal, where I was bombarded with offers to take me to the border, all over priced and tough to negotiate. After settling on just one of my arms, we made the 45 minute jaunt to the border, where I was dropped off in well, kinda the middle of nowhere. When you’re crossing these border sans car, it always feels a bit awkward- just standing there, in front of a bunch of gates and fences and thinking “Guess I’ll just walk across this thing”.
The first officer asked me (well, gestured) for my immigration card. That’s funny, cause when I crossed into Tajikistan over the Pamir mountains, I didn’t get one. Well this is awkward. He informed me I can’t leave the country. Awkwardness intensifies. After letting about 6 other people (with their cards..) through, we had a heart to heart. $40 hallelujah handshake and I was through.
Upon entering Uzbekistan, I had my first taste of the :horribly inefficient: customs bureaucracy that entangles this nation. I had to empty everything out of my bag, go through all the files on my laptop (especially pictures), camera, SD cards, external hard drive and cell phone. After this (which…takes forever), I could come on in.
From there I took shared taxi to Denau, and on to Termez, with plentiful police stops on the way, where I had to get out and have my passport number and itinerary taken down into a notebook. Once in Termez (about 3 o’clock), I figured I was this close to making the run for Afghanistan, I may as well do it. So I took a taxi to the border, and had to leave Uzbekistan under the exact same customs nightmare as before, even though I’d been here for a few hours.
Afghanistan was remarkably easy to enter. Passport, itinerary questions, stamp, and done. Once past the last gate (and rows of military sandbags), I was in. The internets informed me it’s about half an hour to Mazar, so I found a taxi and off we went.
Desert driving vibes. Also shameless selfie
After an hour (I swear the travel information is the worst for this region), of driving through sand dunes and past HUMVEEs and turrets, I was in Mazar. Naturally, the taxi driver had no idea where my hotel was, and neither did other cabbies, or even other hotels. Oh, and the phone number was one digit short of being an actually functioning Afghani number. Well thank you Wikitravel (almost the only source on where to stay here) for the complete fail. It was off to another hotel, which was actualy very central to the Blue Mosque (shrine), and fairly westernized. I had running water, “wifi” (didn’t work at all), and a secure location to explore tomorrow.
Getting trafficky!!
Shoemaster
My first impressions of Afghanistan were a stark reminder that it is less developed than anywhere in this journey so far. Aside form the dust (which has only to do with the geography), I was reminded again the smell of sewage, dirt and grime from other countries like this. I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, and was even more grateful for the hotel. Apart form that, there were a TON more people out and about, Street vendors, juice stations, friends, people chatting, it was actually very lively and nice to see. I only went out the hotel to grab some dinner (chicke pea soup with goat meat and Non), then it was a shower and to bed for me. Tomorrow will prove interesting. I’ll have a good note to look forward to!
I arrived from my epic road trip pretty late at night, and unfortunately, I hadn’t had internet for the last few days, so I was at the mercy of my travel book for a place to stay. It mentioned that there weren’t really any hostels in this town yet (…) so I opted for the cheapest hotel listed. Upon arrival they wanted to charge twice that amount, I talked them down (didn’t know I could do that at a hotel haha), and I was relieved I at least had a place to stay the night. The wifi was functional…but the water wasn’t (?!). Really too bad for a pricey hotel.
Today I woke up, and took a walk around the city's botanical gardens next door, which was the one convenient things about his hotel. Beautiful morning, and a gorgeous park with about 4 weddings going on in random places. So nice to see! Then I caught a taxi to the hostel I found online.
Park/Garden, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Hostels are a tricky business. I can’t imagine running one (OK maybe I could a little), and people certainly have an idea about how they are. This usually involves imagining 50 20-somethings screaming at the top of their lungs, smoking cigarettes into the vents, and throwing furniture out windows. While, this may rarely be the case (that was an actual description of a hostel I stayed at in Barcelona), most are pleasant places to recharge and meet other travelers. Occasionally we stumble on a really, really comfy place that has a naturally refreshing feel to it. Today I found such a hostel. It’s spacious, comfortable, quiet, and the travelers here are all on pretty cool journeys with really great perspectives. It’s nice to be in good company and a clean, comfortable oasis.
For the first time on this trip, I met a fellow American traveler (not expat). We had that shared "hey-thats-MY-accent moment", and we hit it off just like the red white and blue on our flag. A California gal with a classic valley accent (sorry had to throw that in there =P), we chatted about our travels in the area, our thoughts on the people, cultures, soviet influence (don’t expect this theme to disappear), and how american’s perspectives are limited in this regard. It was a great conversation! We decided to hit up the city and take a look around.
Dushanbe exceeded my expectations (which, weren’t really anything, cause I had nothing to go on). It has a beautiful surrounded-by-hills setting, and is chuck full of beautiful parks, cafes, monuments, and of course, a sweet bazaar. I appreciate the muslim influence in the city, as that makes people considerably respectful and easy to get along with. Amy and I put food on the priority list, and meandered over to the bazaar, where we split/explored about 6 different variations of meat and cabbage fried in dough. We then headed to the fruit section, where we decided we were both lacking various vitamins in our recents diets. A purchasing of clementines (tangerines? idk), cherries, grapefruit, and pomegranate juice ensued. A special shout out to the pomegranate juice maker, who, after our ordering, had to take the extra time to put on his juice-making jacket, button it up, and get to work. It was hilarious in the moment. We then found a popular little stall with another fried something situation, and what can only be described as, well, corndogs. People were crowding this stall and destroying said corndogs with this lady’s special dipping sauce. Who would’ve thought? Well, naturally, I joined in the feast. Finally, we tried theTajik street food version of fish and chips, which had surprisingly good fries, and remarkably bony fish (kind of expected). We topped it off with some cherry juice, and a general prayer to hope that today’s food-venture won’t result in our eventual sickness, dehydration, and deaths.
Downtown Dushanbe
THE food stall
Feeling well fed and generally anxious regarding our culinary decisions, we walked to the city center. Here lies a collection of massive statues, government buildings, and (what was…) the world’s tallest flagpole. The grounds of the park were beautiful, the sun was out (OK it was kinda brutally hot), and we generally had a nice time (even though our hunt for chocolate ice cream was in vain). And I have to mention, this flag pole is remarkably tall. I couldn’t stop standing underneath it with my neck craned up; it was ridiculous, and I loved it. After the park, we found a nice cafe to sit and relax while we waited out a sudden and unexpected thunderstorm, and then it was back to the hostel.
541' Flagpole
All in all, I love when a place exceeds what I expect of it. Of course, this is easy to accomplish when our expectations are limited in the first place. And that brings up the thought that so much of traveling places is having an idea of what it’s going to be like, and so much of our experience is based on how reality meets up with that expectation, both for good or for bad. I guess what I’m getting at is that it’s much more enjoyable to be excited for a place, but to go at it mostly with a clean slate. Dushanbe is such a beautiful city, and I’m really glad I swung by this way.
This is also the first time that I’ve met multiple travelers in one place, as opposed to just one or two. There are two Croatians, a Chinese guy, two Tajik guys (have interviews tomorrow in Dushanbe), a Korean girl, and of course, the two Americans. There is something refreshing, enjoyable, and really fun about meeting and swapping stories and travel advice. The majority of travelers (especially who make it out this direction) are generally laid back, enjoy-the-moments kind of people (with a touch of street smarts and problem solving), with a great body of perspective that makes for fantastic conversation. We spent the night eating, drinking and talking about government systems, language, education, cuisine, history, eachther/our hobbies, and everything in between. There’s a common thread and it’s a blast to be a part of it.
I guess this is all just another lesson that travels reminds me of- here’s to good friends, and unexpected places we love. I hope I can continue to find the time to enjoy wherever I’m at, take a look around, and find people to make that experience better. Enjoy the Journey!
