Day 14

We walked thru the park with Jamshed and went to several museums. One of them had small weaving workshop where women were weaving the traditional Tajik fabric called atlas or adras. It’s ikat dyed silk and cotton woven together. Bo bought a couple of samples to add to her Uzbek ikats.  Lunch was at a restaurant called “White House”. It was the typical sequence of several salads, breads, soup and meat with rice, but the meat was surprisingly tender for a change. We also got a lot of fruit. Strawberries and cherries are now in season so we’ve been eating lots of them. Khujand area supposedly produces the best apricots in the world, most of which are exported to Russia. Unfortunately, the best apricots called kandiz don’t ripen until a month from now. We did get some good ones, though. After lunch  we went to a concert at the music department of the Khujand University. It was covert of traditional and contemporary Tajik music for students and faculty. Since our guide also works at this university in the international relations office, he got us in. The concert was quite interesting, and the guy who played the drum was a real star. After the concert Bo was interviewed by the local TV station about her impressions. Then we saw a huge statue of Lenin and also an even bigger statue of the local hero Sommoni. Then bus to border.  Exiting Tajikistan was laborious and entering Uz more so. Then a 2-hour drive back to Tashkent, dinner and hotel (Mirai) to get ready for the flight back tomorrow.