Before I came, this was the day I was most worried about: traveling from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. People told us it was a beautiful six-hour drive, but it was impossible to hire a driver in advance from the U.S. We knew we would need two drivers—one on each side of the border.
Our Airbnb host told us, “Wait until you arrive, and we’ll try to find drivers then.” I’m always nervous when plans aren’t confirmed, because by the morning of, it’s too late to book a flight or make other arrangements.
But we should have trusted just how much Uzbeks want to care for their guests. This morning, our Airbnb host drove us to the border, and his Tajik friend was waiting for us on the other side. No problem.
The border crossing took about 45 minutes and we showed our passport ten times at different places. Not sure why.
My kids roll their eyes when I talk to strangers, but I’ve met super interesting people in lines like these. Today I saw a familiar tag:
travel with
The owner was a Cuban woman who leads EF tours like I do. Also in line behind us were two Iranians (one now living in Canada, the other in North Carolina.) We compared notes about our Central Asia travels, and had some insightful discussions about the war in Iran as we waited for passport control.
The drive was beautiful!
They drive a little differently than in our country. I wasn’t too worried because I knew the driver knew the road well and he hadn’t died, so I figured I was pretty safe. However, as you can see in the picture below he was talking to a group of friends on Zoom while driving.
When traffic slowed, he and Jim would communicate over Google Translate. I’m not making this up.
The roads are two lanes, but if you want to pass someone, you simply create a third lane down the middle. Somehow, everyone understands that the car you’re passing and the oncoming car will move toward the edges of the road to make room for you!
It was a seven hour journey, but I was so glad we did it because the scenery was so beautiful.
We checked into our hotel and left immediately to meet our young friend, Austin at a local mall. Austin was a student at the high school I taught at, and until recently attended my church. After a YWAM mission in Tajikistan he felt called to return to this country to serve for an extended time. It was fun to meet his team: friends from Argentina, South Africa, Pakistan, Indonesia, England, South Korea who are finding ways to strengthen the fledgling churches here.
It’s great to see a young person embrace a new culture, learn a new language well enough to get along, and be so passionate about his chosen vocation.
