There's a language we haven't heard much of!

We relaxed for the morning, then after lunch we went for a long walk here in Dushanbe. There were a couple of other attractions we wanted to see. 

Our apartment is located in the north end of the city, so we pretty much have only one route to get to the main area south of here, and of course we've done part of that route several times now. 

But eventually we got to some new sights.

The Lahuti Drama Theatre.

There is a lot of new construction of very large buildings.

The funny thing is that many of the newly completed buildings are empty. Apparently there is a lot of Russian and Chinese money flowing into Dushanbe, but I haven't quite figured out how their investment pays off when the buildings they build remain empty!

Maybe you are better off to invest in a KFC franchise.

Umm. No.

A modern apartment building.

More modern buildings in the distance.

Government buildings.

Once the tallest flagpole in the world.

Notice that there is no wind at all. 

Up until 2011, this was the tallest flagpole in the world. There are now taller ones in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, St. Petersburg, Russia, and the tallest one is currently in Cairo, Egypt.

More lavish construction.

The Palace of Nations is the official residence of the President of Tajikistan.

The National Museum.

The King of the Islamic World 1163-1203.

The Writers Union Building.

The face of the Puppet Theater building is all mosaic.

Close up of the detail.

So we're walking back to the apartment, and we passed a couple walking in the same direction. We overheard they were speaking perfect English, and as we passed, I said "There's a language we haven't heard much of!". So we chatted while we walked.

Rich and Laura are from Illinois and are working for a non profit here in Dushanbe. They've been living here for about two years, so it was interesting talking to them.

The street outside our building.

We found a cafeteria style kabob place underneath one of the nearby buildings. Totally no English, and no menu either, so the lady led us over to a display fridge where we could sort of pick out what we wanted. We ended up with some grilled chicken wings and beef skewers with some cut up veggies and mashed potatoes and a pot of tea. Not bad, and the price was right at 80 TJS ($7.25 USD, $10 CAD) for the two of us.

Out for dinner!

This afternoon, we are invited to dinner with a local Tajik family. This is the sister of the friendly guy we met in the taxi when we arrived in Tajikistan. Should be an interesting experience!

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Nice price drop on this National Geographic Chemistry Set for Kids.

And in Canada...

Great deal on these Sony Bluetooth Wireless On Ear Headphones.