Doing Dushanbe
4 AugAnother successful campsite! Yet another night without being interrupted. Just as we finish our muesli, a farmer comes by with a herd of cows, this is followed by 3 further herds. We’d like to leave before we get questioned, but due to the bad fuel, our car is now horrible to start in the morning. It takes a 10 minute ritual of attempts before it finally fires, but during that time we wave happily to the passers by, and there are no queries.
We drive to Dushanbe, but we’re not sure what to do when we get there. It’s only 8am, and we’re waiting on news from Tim. All going to plan he will arrive tonight.
Dushanbe is a lovely city. It still feels very Soviet, but the proportion of Asian looking people is very much increasing. It’s not hot, sunny, and dry like Shymkent, it’s green, with street after street lined my gorgeous trees. Dushanbe means Monday in Tajik. This is because it used to be a town known mainly for it’s massive Monday bazaar. During the Soviet era from 1929-1991 it was called Stalinabad, but after the revolution its name was reversed. There was also a massive statue of Lenin here, but in 1999 it was replaced with a statue of Shah Ismail Samani (founder of the Samanid Dynasty in Persia). This was the 1100th anniversary of the Samanid Dynasty.
I convert my Uzbek money to Tajik (a more user friendly currency at 3.5 to the $US), and then we find somewhere for a coffee. They are sold out of coffee, any half of the menu, but we somehow leave satisfied. We are pretty dirty, and get a lot of bad looks in the city.
We find an internet café, and get an update from Tim. It’s all bad. The British Consulate in Almaty will issue him with an emergency document that will enable him to either fly to Moscow, or fly to Australia. Moscow is the best option. From there the Australian consulate will get a new passport, but it will have to come from London, and will take 7 days. On top of this, the trip to Moscow will be Tim’s second visit to Russia. We only have double entry visas, so Tim will not be able to leave Russia. He will meet us in the east of Russia, and proceed into Mongolia. This is bad news, but from our end there is really nothing we can do.
We spend some time walking around the city, admiring (often with a confused expression) the Soviet architecture, and looking for a Hotel. Eventually we find one where someone speaks good English. They have a spot where we can work on the car, which is good as we need to check the brakes before the Pamirs. We have to walk back to where we parked, pick up the car, and return to the hotel. On the way, we pass a massive monument (where Lenin’s statue used to be). I take a photo, and the Police nearby blow their whistle and beckon us. They are seated on a gutter, and signal us to sit down. Apparently it is someone’s 45th birthday (some confusion between the officers, is it 40 or 45...you think they’d have the story straight by now). It would be much easier to celebrate on this hot day if they had some Piva (beer). In disbelief, and going along for entertainment sake, we agree to purchase some Piva. Stephen buys four, and as soon as he has done that, they are asking us to buy two loafs of bread. You can’t have beer without something to eat, is the argument. Stephen flatly refuses, and he and the three officers have a quiet drink in the park. I try and take a photo, but not surprisingly, they’re not so keen. We return to the car and drive to the hotel.
While at the hotel I set to work on the car. I change the fuel filter, which is surprisingly black, and full of metal shavings and rust. I check the air filter, all okay here. Next it’s the rear brakes, one side at a time as we only have the standard jack. My original thought is that the front brakes are working too hard on the big downhills, causing them to overheat. This is probably because the shoes are poorly adjusted (reference a post a long time ago when I said the self adjustment was broken). However on removing the drum, I discover the hydraulic cylinder has leaked, and the brake shoes are covered in fluid. This is no problem, as we have brought a spare cylinder. I put this side back together and remove the other side. Unbelievable, both sides have failed at the same time! I have another spare cylinder, brand new, but it’s sitting in Brackley. I thought there was no way we’d break both cylinders.
For now we’ve plugged the rear brakes, so they are disconnected. We’ve stripped one cylinder, and will take it and the new cylinder to some special automotive market tomorrow. A man at the hotel says he will take us there. We hope either we can buy a whole cylinder, or maybe just new seals. I am not very hopeful. If there are no parts, we will plug the side that is leaking the least, and install the new cylinder on the other side. We’ll drive the Pamir highway with brakes on only 3 wheels, and have the other new cylinder posted to Kyrgystan. Tomorrow we hope to have a better look at the engine.
After dark, we head across the road to a big park, where vendors are selling Shaslik kebabs. We eat a lamb, a beef, a mince beef, and a chicken. The flavour is fantastic, and Stephen labels the lamb as the best food he has had so far on the trip. I’m close to agreeing.
Then it’s a bit of time writing the blog for you lovely souls, and off to bed.
The Presidential Palace in Dushanbe
The concert hall, with a fountain that has seen better days in the foreground. It’s around here where we sit and eat Shaslick (shish kebab) and drink Piva (beer).
A big memorial. The statue used to be Lenin, but since 1999 it’s been Shah Ismail Samani.
Why wouldn’t you do your washing with Barf?
