Thursday, September 6, 2007

pretty as a picture

This monument is to a king named Somoni. He is on Tajik currency, and much revered. Some presidents claim to be descendants of this king, who evidently did some good things for the Tajik people that I don't know much about. Which is not a good thing. (The museum I actually made it to on my last day was closed for repairs!)

This is the garden behind the monument. There were lovely roses everywhere amongst the dirty, shoddy, and mostly non-functioning fountains.
And this is Lenin pointing the way out of that depressing amusement park! Check out his cap and vest. So proletarian, eh? I can't figure out if that's bird poop on the base of the statue or something else. Either way, the distressed nature of the statue is rather fitting, don't you think?
This was an interesting contrast to the Lenin statue. It was about 10 feet behind Lenin. The Soviets tried to Rossify Central Asia, but it didn't quite work out.
Alas, I never made it to the kareoke bar/disco club. So I have no idea what kareoke-ing is like in Dushanbe. 'Tis a pity. In my 20s, I would have been there every night, Copacabana-ing like a superstar! I'm getting far too staid in my old age.

Tomorrow I'll download the photos from my camera and post the beautiful mountain scenery. I was so taken with the scenery on today's flight back to Almaty that I didn't even sleep on the early morning flight. And am paying for it now! :p~ I think it's time to go home and take a nap.

No comments: