Jill Will Go...

Gorgeous blue skies in Dushanbe. A visit to the botanical gardens. Tonight, we enjoyed a Georgian dinner. We were all crammed into a downstairs room which was hot. So I sweated through dinner, then listened to the rain fall with my balcony door open. Tomorrow it is on to Kazakstan.

Today we headed to Dushanbe, with a stop in a lovely little town... ...where some of the locals posed for me.... ...and there were smiles all around... ....and one shy little guy tried to play the "if I can't see you, you can't see me" game.... ...at the market... ...this lady took my picture with her cell phone, and when I asked her for a picture, she proudly showed off her meat while tucking her cell phone into her pocket... A whole wing for bread! Heaven. These little devices are placed on a baby's private parts (depending on what parts they happen to have) and the drain is threaded through the hole in the cradle so the pee falls into the bowl below. Better than diapers! We made our way through the mountains towards Dushanbe. The pretty side of the vi...

There was one last glimpse of the Registan as we said goodbye to Samarkand. Better yet were the waves and blown kisses of commuters in a passing bus. I blew them kisses right back. I loved this city in all of its restored glory. We stopped for special Samarkand bread for the drivers to bring back to their wives. Our guide joked that it was their "passport" back into the house as proof that they had really been working in Samarkand. The bread here is so specific to regions that that people can glance at a round piece of bread and know where it came from, what's in it, and the quality of it. Add the bread stamps to the equation and you are practically wearing the story of your life on that bread. It was a long driving day, with a border crossing looming. The border crossings here keep you humble, and this one was no different. But first, in anticipation of a two to four hour wait, we had to the facilities - such as they were. I've mentioned my prior restro...