My upcoming plan didn’t let me be that excited, but on the other hand I really wanted to go, after being rejected in 2020 due to covid. It was a blank space on the map and the flight to Dushanbe, the capital, was quite good.
The arrival
I was sitting next to a Tajik guy who was conversing with me without speaking English or German, but we managed somehow. All foreigners were standing in the line for all passports, but he showed me that I should stay at the local line. Actually it worked, they didn’t care and I got way faster through. There were no good controls, just stamps and that’s it. What I find interesting is that the locals are receiving an entry stamp. In Germany that is not the case.
My host Mehrubon wanted to pick me up, but he ended up not. Due to no internet I couldn’t reach him, it was quite a hustle.
At the end, he said that I should get a taxi and he would pay for it. That was super kind, but I fucked it up with the taxi, because I got into a wrong one. Usually that would not happen to me, so that was super annoying for me. A couple from Switzerland kind of got me into the car, without me thinking.
They were super interesting, he was seeing over 190 countries, quite inspiring. Problem was, I forgot about all the rules of traveling. Ask for prices and don’t get into unofficial taxis if it’s not hitchhiking. It really annoyed me, because I didn’t feel good that he would have paid for it. It told him that I would give him the money back of course, but he really didn’t want to take the money in the end….
Mehrubon was from the first moment on a really nice and friendly guy. He was living with his brother and cousin in a one room apartment at a decent location.
Getting stuff done
I had to get stuff done, because the next day I was supposed to get to Afghanistan, so I needed to organize a ride, sim card and local cash.
He was sending his cousin with me to get the stuff with the sim card and the cash, in the mall nearby, done. He didn’t really speak English, but somehow we understood each other. In the mall, I wanted to get cash and more than five ATM’s declined my credit card, I had no idea what was going on. In the meantime, while I was trying to get money, he got me the sim card without me knowing.
It took so long and stressed me out a lot, due to needing to get cash for my trip there, it was quite essential, because I had just enough cash for Afghanistan on me. Luckily there was some ATM which was working at the end and I got my cash. He didn’t want to tell me how much it cost and didn’t accept the money I gave him. It is quite annoying for me when it happens, even though I basically do benefit from it, but I have the money for it and I don’t want my hosts to help me out with stuff like that. Hosting and spending time with me is more than enough.
At the end everything worked out well, Mehrubon was organizing a ride for me the next day. It was for around 40$, but it was a single taxi and way cheaper than the Afghanistan group on WhatsApp was telling me. When you want to get in it, let me know!
So for needing to be on time at the border, I was just paying more, it just made sense in that case. By then I didn’t know the border situation there yet, so I could have easily arrived a bit later and taken a shared taxi.
First night
The guys were preparing some food for everyone and at the next moment, we were sitting on the ground and eating the local dish. It was super tasty and eating with hands is always something I enjoy a lot while traveling. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does its amazing. Best part was that they respected that I was vegetarian and left the meat out.
The food was really great and sharing it with the guys made everything better. I felt like home quite quickly. It’s also easy when having great company around you.
We were talking a lot and got to know each other way better. I was not planning to come back to his place after Afghanistan, but I ended up doing. It was due to the comfortable feeling I was having and he was happy about it too, but that will be told in an upcoming one.
He was telling me that the neighbors were snitching on the police on him a few times, because he was hosting people. He told me that the government doesn’t really want it. They want tourists to stay in hotels, but that is not a law there. So kind of bullshit that they do it. So I had to be careful when going in and out, to not get him into trouble.
The night
When it was time for bed, they rolled their Kurpachas (some type of traditional mattress) out and then slept. It was super comfortable and sleeping on them works very well. We were all sleeping in the same room and luckily nobody was snoring, what a dream!
It was quite a short night, because at 6am I got picked up from the taxi.
The ride to the border
The taxi driver was five minutes late, but drove really quick on the road. He was super friendly and happy about driving with me there. He has some family near the border, if I understood it correctly.
We were talking a bit about my next destination and he found it crazy, but wasn’t scared of my safety, which was refreshing.
While driving through the country it was actually super beautiful with many mountains and great scenery. Very peaceful, but also quite poor, while we drove through the villages. The closer we got to the border, the more underdeveloped it looked. Dushanbe is quite modern and then you see people on little self made wagons getting carried by donkeys with a lot of equipment. A different world, but the people were still looking quite happy.
When crossing the border, basically the article I wrote about it describes it the best: Click here to read about the border crossing. When I need to summarize it, the border crossing was really fucked up. The Taliban took my phone for five hours and didn’t really make a move. It went until a person I knew was coming and cleared the situation up. The same guy, who told me to be there on time. So I started to be quite annoyed from the beginning, but yeah. I got fully checked for some illegal things in my back and on my body. After I was legally allowed to get into the country. Also on the Tajikistan side I surprised a border soldier naked washing his ass while searching for the bathroom, that was quite an experience as well.
What’s up next?
My first day or days in Afghanistan and the change of scenery. Stay tuned!
