Iskander Cool

I’ve always found it somewhat amazing how the calendar can turn to September and everything seems to change. A different season begins, a new “year” starts, and mind-sets alter from the work life to the different skills required for learning. While this is the experience of a (perpetual) student living in Ontario, I imagined working this autumn in Tajikistan would hold something else in store. As the air became too cool to keep our window open at night, a new fleet of children hit the streets in school uniforms, and a different work-phase was initiated, I realized that I was wrong. September was September – but in order to start it off right we would need to first make some (North American-esque) Labour Day long weekend plans!

"Mountain Gem" here we come

Luckily, with Tajikistan’s Independence Day falling on Tuesday, September the 9th this wouldn’t be too difficult, as taking one day of holiday would easily become four. After some disappointing news that the Uzbekistan border would be conveniently closed between September 1st and 12th, we pulled out our map and looked for somewhere more local to explore. Additionally restricted by the daily closure of the main road heading north out of Dushanbe between 8am and 8pm, we pulled together a mini-bus and a group of six to head to the base of the Fan Mountains at the renowned Iskander-Kul mountain lake. Holly, Nira and myself were joined by our local Tajik friends Farid, Nido, and Delaire, who would quickly turn into irreplaceable allies in our navigation of the Tajik natural world.

Our group, plus a random old man who insisted being in our photo

After a 4am departure and a predictably bumpy ride, we reached the former Soviet holiday camp (turbaza) tucked along side a magnificently large turquoise lake. With the sun still warming up the stony beach, we grabbed our carpets and ground mats and sprawled out to make up for lost sleep. Apparently the turbaza’s 30-odd family cabins are generally booked solid in the summer, but given the time of year we were one of only 2 or 3 groups at the site. This left us ample opportunity to explore, meditate, read, take photos, and chat away the days at ease. At meal times we collected firewood, peeled potatoes and carrots, and heated the cauldron to prepare soup, shashlek (meet kabobs), or sheer bringe (sweet milky rice).

Holly chilling after getting a "massage" (aka: skin ripped off her spine)

Farid is not so happy that he has to cook for 3 useless women. Not quite homemakers yet - and more than happy to sit back, watch, and eat the rewards. Ha!
Delaire's shashlek starts off mouth-watering, but it was the vegetarians who were laughing in the end.Nira and I doing out own version of the "Tree Pose."

After a wonderfully lazy day we stoked the main fire, gathered around with the guitar and a bottle of vodka (like it or not, it’s not truly Tajik without it), and laughed the night away. I retired to our waterfront tent around midnight, after first sitting under the bright moon and sky full of stars by the waterside. What a wonderful escape from the city. What a great start to a new season… which reminded me that at 2195m this was not a “summer night” and I was freezing. I’d put on some more clothes before heading to bed.

View from our tent.

Sunday morning we woke up energized and ready to walk to the nearby waterfall. During the still of the morning you could hear the water rushing in the distance and as we approached there was no doubt that we were coming nearer to the source of the sound. Iskander-Kul fed into a smaller river that gained speed until pounded through a narrow corridor and fell 30 meters into the lower mountains. As the water crashed below us, it generated a cool mist that met the morning light forming a beautiful rainbow. Needless to say, we were all infatuated with this natural wonder and observed in awe for quite a long time.

Getting as close as possible to the water crashing below us!

The perfect fairytale rainbow at this magical mountain waterfall.

When we returned to the turbaza the lake sat waiting for us. A new Danish friend of ours, Arne, had jumped in the frigid waters earlier and encouraged us to do the same upon our return. The sun was now high in the sky and the beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. It was now or never and I was sure I wouldn’t have a problem recovering from hypothermia at this time of the day. Moments later Holly, Nira, and I had swiftly put on our swimming suits and were running for the lake. In one fluid motion we ran in, went under, screamed, and ran out. The water was freezing, but refreshing, and would substitute for the lack of showers at the site. Our dip would also serve to pressure all the guys into proving their manliness – one icy submersion at a time.

So much nicer to look at then to be in!

Our not-so-long weekend ended Sunday night as we packed our things and left in time for the road to re-open at 8pm. Despite ominous sign that our driver was carsick the journey started off quite smoothly. Without delay, we entered the infamously bad mountain pass tunnel that lacks ventilation, is consistently flooded, and takes about 30 minutes to navigate. Half way through the tunnel a middle-aged man stopped our car and motioned for us to open our mouths wide and cover our ears. Moments later a massive boom vibrated deep throughout the tunnel – shaking the car and our eardrums. Apparently, they had needed to explode some piece of the mountain nearby and didn’t find it necessary to stop the cars before entering the tunnel (or do it during the day). I admit is was pretty cool to feel my heart shake off-beat and to know that such a thing would likely never happen in Canada, but I had to wonder how this scenario would have been presented in any type of safety protocols.

After a few hours our car came to a stop again, but this time I barely flinched at the traffic police roadblock that cause consistent stops during any Tajik traveling. Since our driver was passed out in the passenger seat, Nido grabbed his license and Holly’s video camera and headed into the temporary police shack. The initial thinking that such a move was not the best way to make friends and avoid tickets, was confirmed as he quickly came running out and yelling for us to take the camera, hide it, and not to delete anything. Sick of inconsistencies and corruption, Nido had caught the officer on tape trying to double ticket him illegally. After some quick maneuvering (and an officer who’d never seen a video camera before) we were able to convince him that we had deleted the video and were able to carry on.

We reached home at 1am, crawled into bed, and went to work Monday morning. With that I realized that not only had I fit a long weekend holiday into 2 days, but that autumn had officially begun and I was now beginning Tajikistan: Season 2.

"If I wanted to see a photos of Takijim-a-what-i-stan I'd just buy post-cards." I disagree, but fine, I was there too...see.