On we go onto our final days of Five Stans Trip 2026.

This time next week I’ll be back at work serving up steaks but, today, there’s still some exploring to do halfway around the world.

However, can’t go exploring until I got some food in my tummy…

Breakfast

The nice mid twenties temperatures from our arrival last night have been replaced with scorching temps in the mid-thirties.

Yup, it was gonna be a scorcher today.

Man, I never thought I’d say it, but I can’t wait to get back to some normal temperatures back home and, dare I say, even some rain.

Nathan had looked up “breakfast” on Google that had photos of all sorts of breakfasts including pancake, crepes, and croissants.

Granted I can’t have any of those three things because of my gluten allergy, but you just know that there’d be some breakfast plates on there as well.

We arrived at the restaurant on his map and while they did have breakfast items on their menu, they weren’t what was described on Google.

Oh well, guess we’ll have to settle for eggs and sausage which in this part of the world are actually hotdogs.

It wasn’t until later that we figured out that the restaurant Nathan had looked up was a couple blocks away.

Oops.

Well, at least we got some kind of breakfast in us.

You know what they say – it’s the most important meal of the day!

Panjshanbe Bazaar

Unlike Dushanbe where we just came from, this is a much smaller city and almost everything there is to see is within walking distance of where we’re staying.

Even the Panjshanbe Bazaar is only a 20 minute walk away from us.

So, off into the heat we went, trying to find shade anywhere we could find it as we walked to the Bazaar.

It was what every other Bazaar I’ve visited is – a collection of stalls selling meats, produce, and household goods.

I don’t know why I keep marking Bazaars on my map.

Sure, it’s an attraction but do I really need to visiting these?

Especially if it’s a 20 minute detour in the scorching sun?

Anyway, we explored for a bit and headed back into town.

I saw a taxi parked on the side of the road and was able to get him to drive us back to at least save us from another 20 minute walk.

Problem was I never asked him how much the ride would be.

I had gotten so used to just hopping in taxis and getting a fair price that I let my guard slip here and I was presented with a 50tjs ($7.50) charge for the 5 minute ride.

In context, the ride should have been at most half that cost.

Well, no big deal – that was my bad and, honestly, it’s only a few bucks.

I’ll live.

Lunch

We got back to the hostel to reset and cool down before heading back out at 1pm.

Time for lunch.

This time we headed to the restaurant that we were supposed to have gone for breakfast.

Ironically it was literally right across the street from where we’re staying at.

This place was nice and, while their menu prices were a tad more expensive, we didn’t care because, after all – we’re on vacation.

We each had duck because, ya know, nothing screams Tajik food like good old duck.

Magnificent!

Exploring Kamoli Khujandi Park

After lunch we strolled over to the nearby Kamoli Khujandi Park.

It’s supposed to be one of the more popular green spaces here in Khujand and it’s located right behind the Khujand Fortress where we’re staying.

Despite it being a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon, the place was empty.

I just don’t get it.

I know this city isn’t really a tourist hub but what about the locals?

Don’t they come out on the weekends to enjoy the parks?

Overall, not the most amazing park I’ve seen but as I’ve said before, it’s always a good day when you’re able to just hang out in a park.

A cable car ride

After our brief stint back out in the 33c weather, we were back at our hostel to, once again, reset and relax.

Yeah, it’s one of those days.

Finally, at 5:30 we got our asses back out there to see a different part of the city.

In the park next the Khujand Fortress where our hostel is located is a cable car station that goes 1km to the other side of the river.

Hey, for a 30som ($4.50) return ticket, how can we turn a cable car ride, right?

Apparently there’s a popular park on the other side and, from what I could tell, there were a handful of restaurants we could stop at for dinner as well.

It was the perfect time to board the cable car since the sun was just setting and, honestly, I couldn’t imagine riding the cars during the day since they’re basically little mini saunas floating through the sky.

The 1km ride was a nice leisurely pace and took just under a half hour giving us plenty of time to snap photos of the city down below with the sunset as a backdrop.

As we neared the end of our ride, that popular park that people had talked about was coming into view.

It was, well, not very green and not very park like.

Hmmm…

A mosaic surprise

We exited the cable car and walked over to the “park” next door.

Let’s be honest – this wasn’t a park.

There really wasn’t any green space there at all but, you know what, what we found instead was so, so much better.

Mosaics!

After spending a couple of days searching out old Soviet mosaics in Dushanbe, here they all were front and center in this so called park.

Now this was worth the trip over to the other side of the river!

After taking way too many photos it was time to grab some dinner.

Dinner

We made our way down to the waterfront in search of a restaurant that was labeled on our map.

After meandering through traffic and unmarked pathways through a soccer pitch we arrived to the map point.

And you’ll never guess what…

The place labelled as “seafood restaurant” didn’t exist.

Surprise, surprise!

See food?   Hell I can’t even see the restaurant!

Stupid maps on our stupid phones!

It actually quickly became apparent that there really weren’t any restaurants around where we were.

So, it was back onto the cable car to the other side I guess.

We ended up at the exact same restaurant we had lunch in earlier and this time I went for a classic Tajik meal.

Steak with rosemary potatoes and an avocado and apple salad.

You know, classic Tajik food!

I kid, I kid obviously but, man was it amazing.

Despite my steak being cooked well done which apparently is just how they cook steaks in this part of the world, it was super juicy and tender.

I never knew a well done steak could actually taste good.

I guess if you slow cook it, it won’t burn and dry out.

Why knew?

Seriously, it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had!

What a great way to end the day.

Tomorrow we’re heading over the border again back into Uzbekistan and our final Central Asia city of Tashkent.

Why not come back and hang out with us and read all about it?