Tajikistan is a small country landlocked between Kyrgyzstan to the North, Uzbekistan to the West, Afghanistan to the South, and China to the East. It was first under Russian and then under Soviet domination for a few decades until it gained its independence on September 9, 1991, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Empire.

With a ninety eight-percent Muslim population, the country is said to be a secular state and, as far as I have witnessed, it is. In the capital city of Dushanbe, for example, you can have a couple of beers with your lunch or dinner at a restaurant any day of the week even during Ramadan. Most Tajik Muslims, however, fast from dawn to dusk during that time of year.

In general, Tajik people have a good predisposition towards each other and, by extension, towards foreigners as well. Most of them are bilingual Tajik-Russian and many of them speak at least some English, while a small number actually command English well enough to converse in it. This is  a country with a high literacy rate, estimated at around 99.5%.

In Dushanbe, some women wear western-style clothes and there's a few who occasionally wear miniskirts, but the great majority of them wear the traditional long Tajik dress with flowery motifs and a wide variety of other patterns. In Dushanbe most men wear western-style clothes, but in the countryside things might change according to the province.

Tajik food has Arabic as well as Russian influence. Kebabs, Shawarmas and Sambusas abound everywhere, while Goulash and other Russian cuisine can only be found in some restaurants. Then there's the Chinese influence found in dishes like Mantú, which is similar to Chinese Dumplings (Won Ton), but larger in size. As is customary in many Muslim countries, Tajiks often eat natural yogurt with their meals.

Musically speaking, the most common local rhythms are the usual Arabic rhythms and melodies and the world-wide pervasive Hip-Hop. Then there are some Disco-like rhythms with their repetitive melodies and some of those Spanish-style songs that nowadays already sound like worn-out offshoots of Gypsy Kings music. I did hear once some local songs with rhythms that sounded like the Salvadoran "Xuc", which I thought was a rather curious thing.

As far as tourism goes, I haven't seen much of Tajikistan yet. Outside of Dushanbe, thus far I've only been to Qabodiyan, a small town located in the southwest of the country, close to the border with Afghanistan. I went there as a guest to the wedding of a workmate of mine: Farouk. Photos number 42 thru 75 show the wedding celebrations, where a few of us joined in the dancing.

Photos number 76 thru 80 show a park located somewhere along the road between Dushanbe and Qabodiyan where the locals go relax during weekends. Photos number 2 thru 5 show a multiple wedding I ran across one Sunday afternoon while sightseeing around Dushanbe and the rest are views of some of the local monuments, parks, buildings and rivers.

To view larger versions of the photos just click on any of them and keep clicking "next".