are we there yet?

 Trip route:

 Tajikistan route:

Our journey from Sydney was a nightmare - we were late leaving Sydney, delayed at our first stop Huan Zhou so missed our connection from Beijing to Novosibirsk.

In Beijing the airline managed to get us on another flight to Novosibirsk 24 hours later but the Novosibirsk to Dushanbe flights were all full for the next 7 days. So they said would we like to fly to Khujand, the 2nd largest city in Tajikistan.

We didn't know where it was but a quick look at the map showed us it was a few hours from our trekking region so we said yes. It turned out to be a positive as our trekking company was actually based in Khujand and it saved them a trip down to Dushanbe to pick us up. But it meant we missed 2 days resting from the flight in Dushanbe and would began trekking the next day.

We had little opportunity to see much of Khujand as we arrived late in the afternoon. The following morning our car arrived after breakfast and we were taken to see the old fort and mosque:

(Click on pix to see full size - then hit back button to return to blog.)

before heading off to Istaravshan (aka: Osrūshana after the legend that Roxana, Alexander the Great's wife died here, and Cyropolis after its founder Cyrus the Great.)

Then it was on to the town of Autuch in the Fann Mountains where we were to begin the trek.