Tajikistan Camping Trip, Rhomint Valley

[Grannyhiker]

My son#1, who is a Senior Master Sergeant in the Air Force and is currently serving as a military attache at the US Embassy in Tajikistan, sent these pictures of a recent camping trip. The campfire picture features the American Ambassador and the Assistant British Ambassador doing the jig to the tune of "Scotland the Brave." My son is playing the alto flute.

For you geographically impaired folks (that's most of us for that part of the world!), Tajikistan is one of the former Soviet republics and is directly north of Afghanistan, east of Uzbekistan, and west of China. The climate is hot and dry in summer, cold and dry in winter and mild in spring and fall.

I uploaded the pics directly from my file--works great except that they came out in reverse order. We're going to have to play with this one a bit. EDIT--I got them in order by using the "place inline" button. Not that it really matters for this particular report. But it looks as though others are getting their pics in without using the attachment feature.

It's so nice not to have to type/copy/paste all the html stuff for a picture!

[fettster]

Cool stuff! Thank you for posting and thank your son for his service for this country.

Sounds like that is a fairly arid area, though pleasant. Perhaps we'll get a Grannyhiker trip report direct from Tajikstan sometime?

[jeffstatt]

Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing this!

[Waffle Stomper]

Bless your son for his service.

Thank you for sharing your photos.

[DennisTheMenace]

Tajikistan is home to the Pamir mountains. over 50% of the country is over 10,000 feet and some of the mountains are in the 23,000 to 24,000 range. Some serious rugged terrain there

[Grannyhiker]

I once had planned to go visit this fall, but the sharp decline of the US dollar (not in Tajikistan but elsewhere), the rapidly rising cost of living and other obligations (also costly, like kennel fees for a month or more) are keeping me home. I'm trying to persuade my son to take a trip to the Pamirs, with his camera, of course. He is halfway through his tour, so he will be back (and retiring from the Air Force) in another 9 months. Right now daytime temps are in the 100's (F) in Dushanbe, the capital. It sounds a lot like eastern Washington.

Logistics of getting there are interesting; there is one flight per week between Istanbul and Dushanbe on Turkish Airlines. You can, of course, fly from Moscow on Tajik Airlines, but they use planes that Aeroflot has discarded. Obviously, most people use Turkish Airlines!

[AlexanderSupertramp]

As someone who spent the better part of a decade in the Air Force, I know just how difficult and special it is to retire a Senior Master Sergeant. Needless to say I didn't come close . Please forward my congratulations on his pending retirement.

Adam