Exploring The National Museum Of Tajikistan In Dushanbe

National museums can act as a collective attic and the main Tajikistan museum in Dushanbe is a typical example. Some archeological artifacts, old textiles, some taxidermy, painting, busts of important figures, maybe a koran, some mining information. Time to explore.

The building is new and impressive. Lots of display space.

Starting early, the great cave man hunting party. Pensive dog, sad sheep. A hefty horse, roped off.

Important folks come in threes.

Proud paintings. There's a wall of WWII, Great Patriotic War portraits, looking a bit like folk art. King cotton, the crop so successful that mounds the size of mountains are created. Socialist triumph!

On to the Ice Age. A room re-creating arctic conditions. Chilling.

Strolling Rudaki Park In Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan and the country has created a nice, central park to celebrate its heritage and to provide a little green space for its people.

Photo-bombed by Ismail Samani, important amir from the 900s.

More pieces of grand ambition, a triumphal arch entrance and a super giant, marble map of what Tajikistan looked like in the 9th, 10th centuries.

Cosmic. Rudaki, a great author, writer, poet from the 8th century. The park is named for him.

Jumping about 10 centuries, a monument to current Tajikistan independence. Tall. Unfinished business. Awaiting renovation, Your Century Here.

Rudaki park is a nice respite from the urban grid of Dushanbe, especially the large lake area.

A Cemetery Outside Uchkuduk

Somehow Uchkuduk, a tiny mining town in the middle of nowhere, is big enough to locate its cemetery about 10 minutes out of town, way in the Kyzyl Kum Desert. Buried beyond the middle of nowhere.

Approaching the cemetery. Nothing, and then graves.

Arms race of appealing family mausoleums.

Inside a typical mausoleum, the traditional, simple Muslim grave mound and markers.

Cemented details. Soda bottles, permanent flower vases. Tea set, mounted.

Plenty of room for growth (death).

Around Uchkuduk, Part Two

Continuing the tour around Uchuduk, concentrating on some lovely details.

Uchkuduk translates to Three Wells and there's a big monument, sculpture to that theme at the edge of town. The Soviet band Yalla also wrote a famous song devoted to the city that everyone in Uzbekistan knows. Welcome again!

Methane fuel station. Walls between pumps are to limit explosions. Wall at station's edge is to keep out the infinity of the desert. Surreal sunshade.

Tetris-looking, mixed-use apartment building.

Whitewashing. Tree protection and a down day at the local market stalls.

Behold the great mine! Operating since 1967! Several surrounding hills proudly display extraction accomplishments.

Around Uchkuduk, Part One

Getting to Uchkuduk in Uzbekistan is a bit of a feat. The small mining town is waay out there, not a place for tourists and not on the way to anything. Let's go!

Big Welcome sign. Uchkuduk is in the middle of the Kyzyl Kum desert. If you're on the road to town, you won't miss the town.

A model city. There's a tiny museum at city hall, more a set of rooms with development accomplishments. A large mural at a school. Studying is for winners!

A sculpture to the past. Life size look at a typical Silk Road-era camel caravan.

Uchkuduk is a low rise, dusty town filled with Soviet-era apartment blocks. And little kiosks painted in curious colors. Plum is in.

Schoolgirl at the mini mart/fabric emporium.

A Traveling Zoo In Uzbekistan

Sometimes the zoo comes to you. If you live in a small town in Central Asia, there probably isn't any sort of zoo and you never get to see live, exotic animals. Until the zoo rolls into town.

Bright colors in a drab landscape. The traveling zoo hits Zarafshon, Uzbekistan.

The setup is nothing more than a series of trailers, cages with a side that opens up. Lonely lion.

The trailers are arranged wagon train style, in a U shape, creating a sort of inner courtyard, some privacy to the attraction. You gotta buy a ticket to see the animals.

It's a sad spectacle. An old-school, small cage existence for the animals, causing a bear to pace and a lion to zone out.

Put those animals anywhere. Maybe you see an ostrich, camel, llama, a goat.

Housing Construction In Zarafshon

Zarafshon, Uzbekistan, supports the nearby mining industry and that sector is booming. More mining means more people and they need to rest their tired bodies somewhere. Zarafshon is busy building apartments.

The future is now, out torwad the horizon.

The playground is in. Local (not so) portable toilet at a construction site.

Minimart, waiting for the surrounding, new metropolis.

It's always sunny in Zarafshon. Too sunny, finished apartments with residents adapting to the searing sun.

Endless building for maximum growth.

Apartment Living In Zarafshon

Zarafshon, Uzbekistan is an isolated town in a mining area. Imagine a Soviet city popping up overnight to support all that rock removal. Block after block of iconic, brutalist style apartment housing.

Typical row of apartment buildings.

Signs of little lives, a tiny kiosk and a small garden.

A block showing its age. And satellite dishes and air conditioners.

Details. A graphic look, ode to László Moholy-Nagy. More air conditioners, new and old, at a market.

Colorful concrete zoo, a break from apartment block monotony.