Nothing says "welcome to Tajikistan!" like being detained by Tajik immigration soon after arriving at Dushanbe airport. After three days of flying via London and Istanbul I arrive in Dushanbe airport at 3:30am on September 27th.
In order to visit Tajikistan, one has to obtain a letter of invitation from a local NGO or tourist agency. Unbeknownst to me, the tourist agent that I used in Tajikistan did not know that he had to follow the proper channels and also inform the government that I was arriving. The invitation letter that he provided to me in the end was only good enough to wipe my ass and give my Tajik friend Manucher a great laugh, especially the sentence in the letter that said "Please be assured that I shall provide all the help needed to make your visit comfortable".
Without a formal invitation letter I was held in detention for several hours because it was 4am and none of the NGO contacts that I had were awake at that time. I had to ask my Tajik friend who I traveled with to contact someone once it was a decent hour. Meanwhile I sat in the officer's lunchroom and cursed for several hours until Komiljon from the Aga Khan Foundation (Anne's employer) came to bail me out....but not after more bureaucracy and negotiating. Within 9.5 hours I was a free man, but with only a 2 week visa.
After this little adventure foreigners much register themselves with the local police. Even with the help of my friend Manucher who came with me to register it still took some bureaucratic maneuvering and a small kickback to the office staff to get me registered. The government doesn't make it easy for people who want to come to Tajikistan on their own. So to all of you clamouring to come here (I know you all are!) get invited by an NGO.
Having experienced the first of what I am told will be many more bureaucratic obstacles, I have to say I am enjoying the first few days here.
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1 comment:
hi,
i read your update on all the problems one faces going to tajikistan...and i must tell you that im from there and now live in the US. its so sad that it is the way it is...it is the main reason why i don't want to go there. there are problems getting in and getting out of the country...it's just ridiculous and sad because there are a lot of people who'd like to go and honestly i think Tajikistan would benefit from letting people go in and out easily :)
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