Wow, the last week really flew by. Last Saturday I attended a Tajik concert, traditional music from the Pamir mountains where a group of 5 musicians played on their handmade instruments. People in the seats got up to start dancing the traditional dances and the musicians came down to dance with them while others kept up the beat. The best part w...

I had run into a German guy at the Afghanistan border and asked him what Dushanbe was like. "Have you been to any other former soviet countries?" he asked. I thought of Mongolia. "It's like that." As we passed through the suburbs I started to think Dushanbe would be a big disappointment. that was so wrong. I get to downtown Dushanbe and it is ob...