One of the nice aspects of Dushanbe is that is has a lot of trees and large bushes to provide shade. Temperatures are in the high 30s low 40s C. and it doesn't rain from end of June till August. IREX office is inside this gate in the one-story brick building you see here. In the background is a new apt building... You might see a lot of satellite dishes on the roofs... 300+ cable channels, mostly Iranian/Farsi language, alJazeera + BBC.

In front of IREX office, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The building is a typical Tajik one-story brick building with rooms arranged around a central courtyard. A new high rise apt building is in the background. Dushanbe is undergoing a huge (I would say frantic0 building spree - mainly hotels and apt buildings. Where the money is coming from I don't know!

Tajik ladies walking along Dushanbe's main street. Most of the women in Tajikistan now wear brightly colored ankle length dresses, some are really beautiful. "They" say that Islam is making a come back in popularity, but as I walk all over Dushanbe I never see anyone pull out a prayer rug to pray...

Dushanbe's "main drag" looking towards the Presidential Palace and center of town.

Main street Dushanbe, looking towards downtown Dushanbe. In the distance, center of town, is the Presidential Palace.

The US Embassy strictly forbids anyone from taking pictures of the embassy in this post-9/11 world, so, after visiting the embassy's political officer for an interview, I took the best picture I could from across the street. After all, it IS my embassy(?). Like all of the other US Embassy's I've been to (Moscow, Nairobi, Central Asia...) our embassy is located on the outskirts of town in an open area, and the architecture looks like "Hitler's Bunker"

View from in front of the US Embassy, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Playgound outside my window. The green string is my laundry "drier." It's so hot and dry here in the summer it's like living inside a drier! Up from center in the background is a dumpster for trash and a row of storage sheds.

My apt looking from the kitchen to living room, bedroom to the left

My apt is the one with the green balcony on the second floor.

Courtyard inside my apt building. I have a balcony (!) straight ahead

Front of my apartment building in Dushanbe. Go thru the gate on the left

I left Detroit Tuesday 1 June and arrived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan Sunday 5 June; delay after delay. While waiting for my connecting flight to Riga, Latvia (don't ask) I took this picture in Istanbul from my room at the Airport Hotel. It turned out to be a very large political rally for the CEP Party (the 'conservative' party that Ataturk founded).