Intro:
-Hello all. I’ve been a lurker on these forums for years and have never contributed, so I felt it was time to start with an off the beaten path location that has yet to appear on the forums. Many of the data sheets on here have helped me immensely with my travels over the years, leading to some of the best times of my life having happened as a result of the contributors here helping to guide my way forward in new cities and countries, so I owe a lot to the other readers and contributors on here. This is where I start paying back the favor.
-I love writing, so this article is far longer than most of the data sheets on here. Hence, I included a TLDR summary at the bottom for anyone who is shorter on time.
About me:
-What I’m going to write here about myself may sound cocky, but it isn’t intended to be in a cocky tone at all. Aesthetics, looks, and social proof are all important no matter what anyone says otherwise, and I have several advantages that many don’t, so it’s important to understand that about me as it makes my situation with women easier than average guys. So anyways, I am 6’3/193 cm tall and in my late 20’s, though I look younger. I’ve been weight lifting for five years now and have clear definition and a v-taper. I’m a genetically interesting tanned Mediterranean/Middle Eastern mix and have been complimented on my looks many, many times abroad over the years while having had plenty of my flags open or initiate with me first. I was born and raised in what most consider an elite neighborhood in one of the most world-famous American cities known globally. I started trying to game young. Growing up in this area, I became battle hardened game-wise due to how competitive it was for me growing up to even get a drop of attention from the women there. If you’re trying to guess, it’s in Cali. I generally dress to impress when I go out and catch attention from my accessories at times, but I never wear like full on suits or anything over the top like that. I’ve travelled to 30-40 countries and speak or have learned a bit of multiple languages. I also have a pretty elite occupation/educational background and am working to create a start-up in the near future, so I know that I have many advantages over the average guys out there both domestically and abroad. Yet as we all know that It isn’t the cards that we’re dealt, just how we play them. I just try to play mine incredibly well.
-I should also mention, on a side note specifically related to Tajikistan that I also speak Farsi fluently, which I’ll elaborate on more later. The younger generation in Tajikistan is learning English, but the Farsi still helps immensely with creating familiarity and whatnot.
About Dushanbe/Tajikistan:
-Tajikistan is a landlocked, impoverished, and bizarre former Soviet Republic that many will never get the chance to visit. It is one of the poorest countries in Asia and is highly dependent upon remittances from Russia to survive economically, with many Tajik men living abroad for work. Funny enough, you barely feel the supposed poverty in downtown Dushanbe. Several years ago, Dushanbe apparently underwent a big renovation, so it feels fairly modern and middle class. People have smart phones, they dress decently, there are nice cars everywhere, and it does not feel nearly as backwards as I was expecting it to feel. However, once you leave Dushanbe or the center of town, the visible poverty hits fast and hard. Culturally it is a Silk Road hybrid of a little bit of every culture that came through here. There are touches of Russian, Persian, Mongolian, Chinese, Uzbek, and everything really, I love it. The people here overall seemed to be very friendly, hospitable, and curious, as tourists are still pretty seldom seen here, especially from the US. People were very curious about me and I got lots of attention from the locals in many places I went.
-Regarding safety. The central area felt safe for me at most times. I was warned that many of the areas outside of the center can be rough and with the way I stick out compared to the locals, I’d be asking to get robbed. The parks can be dangerous at night apparently as well, though I never went deep into them in the evenings. I never felt in danger, but you should still be careful. Poverty can make people do desperate shit, especially if you stick out as much as I did. I never got a violent vibe, nor did I have any incidents with anybody at night, but keep your wits about you when alcohol gets involved. Islam does seem to have a stronger effect on Tajik culture compared to some of its former USSR neighbors. The former ISIS Minister of war was a Tajik special forces commander who was trained in the USA before he defected to ISIS. Due to the severe poverty, thousands of Tajiks have been recruited to fight for ISIS as well, so there’s definitely sympathies in the country towards their cause. Like always, keep your wits about you in Dushanbe, especially at night, but I personally never felt in danger once when walking alone everywhere.
-The country side is a different story. Several Americans and EU tourists were killed while cycling in the country side fairly recently by some crazy Islamists. There is a large border with Afghanistan where large amounts of drug smuggling and god knows what else occurs. If you venture out into those areas, please be careful, I do not need to remind you that these people are ruthless brainwashed sociopaths. I read that there are several cities on the border that have strict curfews every night due to the dangerous Taliban activity going on right across from them, so best to stay away from there.
-I wanted to go explore some local markets and outside areas like I normally do, but I never really got the chance due to a little cold that I caught. There’s apparently an open-air black market of sorts next to one of the bazaars where you could buy stolen goods or get a prostitute if that is your thing. Multiple locals told me to not go because I would get robbed by the people there. For most of you reading though, central Dushanbe will have all that you need. If you decide to go trekking, that’s another story. I recommend that you go to the SAFE local markets and explore the Bazaars and other similar things that aren’t present in the west. I’m Middle Eastern, so Bazaars aren’t cool to me anymore really, but most of you should still have a good experience exploring them and perhaps haggling for something. The President is building the largest mosque in Central Asia at the moment as well not far from the center, but it was not ready when I was there, so check it out if it’s opened when you get there.
-Another side note, I felt like I was back in time in the USSR due to how frequently you see funny propaganda photos of the increasingly fat and aging Tajik president while walking around town. It is far more frequent than any of the other former USSR countries I have been to. It’s also the only place where I’ve seen RC Cola instead of Coke or Pepsi heavily advertised and served everywhere, including on Somon Air, the new main airline for the country. These little things help to really make you realize that you’re in deep space when you are out here.
Where to stay:
-Try your best to stay in an Airbnb within the area that I circled on the map. Be as central as you can be and as close to the central area of Rudaki street as possible. The closer, the better. Everything from there is easily walking distance or a super short cab ride away, including the little cluster of nightlife spots you’ll probably end up going to. Most of the good restaurants and cafes are within walking distance from the center, as are the few attractions to see here. Plus, if you manage to snag a local girl, it’s better to have an apartment to return to instead of dealing with the possibility of the staff of a hotel not allowing you to bring a local girl back to your room. This happened to my cousin in Morocco at our hotel there several years ago and it was a nightmare. The main nightlife areas are all near the center as well, so try the best that you can to be there.
![[Image: attachment.jpg41151]](https://rooshvforum.network/attachments/attachment.jpg41151)
Why Dushanbe?
-So, why did I decide to venture all the way here to the middle of nowhere? Well at the moment I’m living not too far away in a country nearby, and when I go back to the US later this year, the opportunity to come here so easily may never present itself again. Another reason is because I am half Iranian and speak Farsi fluently. I’ve spent a month in Iran and many months of my life in other former Soviet Republics, so I thought it would be fascinating to see a country that is a combination of both cultures. I generally love the former Soviet nations, but seeing as my Russian is still pretty bad, I knew my Farsi could be an asset here. Tajikistan is the only Central Republic former USSR nation that speaks Farsi, and seeing Farsi written in the Russian/Cyrillic alphabet everywhere was such a mind-fuck for me, but I loved the bizarreness of it all.
-Plus, I feel that going off of the beaten path could be incredibly rewarding given the competitive advantage foreigners have in places like this due to our being exotic to the locals compared to those residing in the usual tourist trap locations. These types of cities and countries really offer the most growth potential and insights into life for us given how different they are from what most of us are used to, and I think they are far more rewarding. With western culture spreading all over the planet like a virus via globalization more by the day, places like this can very possibly go extinct someday, so it’s better to experience them now.
-There have been many cities I’ve been to where I get stared at often, but the level it happened to me at here was amongst the highest I’ve ever experienced. People would hear my English and get the deer in the headlight eyes and stare at me so often in the city that I still find it hilarious. In retrospect, I could have opened many girls in downtown who would stare at me, but it never really crossed my mind as a lot of them seemed like jailbait.
Logistics:
-You can get an e-visa online easily within days. You can get a visa on arrival as well here still, though I would not recommend it as the line at the airport for it was chaotic and insane, so save yourself the headache and do it ahead of time online.
-I wrote about the housing location logistics above already, Airbnb logistics are coming up.
-The Dushanbe airport is a clusterfuck both when you arrive and when you leave. Be prepared to deal with the madness here when you both come and go.
-When arriving, you shouldn’t have any trouble with the airport staff, but you might when you try to leave the country. The issue upon arrival is getting a taxi to get into the city. As I exited into the arrival terminal, I was bombarded with the usual offers from the local parasitic drivers trying to rip me off. I was used to it already given that it happened to me in Tashkent and other places, but it was on another level here. I was literally followed by one driver in the terminal for over half an hour as I tried to get onto a Wi-Fi network and contact my AIRBNB host to help me. This assbag kept following me and bothering me even as I clearly was trying to tell him to get lost without causing a scene or losing my temper. Luckily Megafon had free Wi-Fi here that I used and my host was able to get an honest driver to come get me. Many AIRBNB hosts I saw offered airport pickups, so I recommend trying to do that to save the headache of dealing with these assholes stalking you everywhere. The official version of Uber is not here yet, so do your best to arrange a ride beforehand because you won’t be able to access the local uber copy until you get a local SIM card, which unfortunately they do not have available for sale at the airport.
-Another big issue you may run into is when you leave via the airport. I won’t put in the full details here, but go to google and read about the scams pulled at the Dushanbe airport on the trip advisor forums. I got a lot of attention at the end of the airport process as well. This one worker in particular was picking up my watch and phone while asking questions about them and myself. I was prepared for this and had several small USD$ bills prepared in case he tried to take me to the office with a “problem”. However, I spoke Farsi with him and charmed him instead into letting me go. Most of you do not have that option unfortunately, and may be fucked. From what I understood, it seems that they tend to scam people during the early morning flights given the extra time pressure that you can feel if they hold you and threaten you into missing your flight by not giving them a bribe. Knowing this I booked my flight to leave in the afternoon and came early enough to be chill with what I was going to experience, so I recommend that you try to do the same. Nonetheless, it is good to be prepared.
-For SIM cards, T-Cell is the primary telecom company here, but they wouldn’t give me a SIM card without official registration. I was able to get one at Megafon for about 10-15$ though without any issues, and it came in handy as the local version of Uber here requires a Tajik phone number to work. The connection was not the best, but it’s better than being offline or relying upon the terrible Wi-Fi found in Dushanbe. Stores for both are on a corner of Rudaki not far from Sega Freddo.
-And speaking about AIRBNB…WRITE THE HOSTS BEFORE YOU BOOK! When I first searched, there were plenty of cheap apartments available in downtown, but when I wrote to ask if they were still available, given that it was winter, nearly 80-90% were not open, despite the listings being up on the app. I ended up paying more than I would have liked to for my apartment that I found, but in the long-run, these little costs don’t harm us compared to the experiences gained by getting the privilege to go to a place as crazy as Tajikistan, so it wasn’t too big of a deal, but make sure you write the hosts first if you aren’t going to book a hotel or hostel.
-You can find ATM’s at the airport and all over Rudaki avenue, so getting local currency should not a problem. You will need local currency given that not all places accept cards here.
-The local version of uber is an app called Raksh Taxi Dushanbe. As I said, you need a local number for it to work, but the taxi drives are SO cheap with this app that I feel it’s worth it to prevent getting ripped off by the local drivers. I never paid more than $1.50-2, even going to my apartment from the airport and back, which is a pretty considerable distance.
-One last note regarding logistics, the Wi-Fi. The internet speed in Dushanbe is absolutely terrible and unreliable. Luckily my SIM card was decent and had LTE, but it would still cut away and not work from time to time. Hence, I was on the phone more than I would have liked to get internet access when I was not at the cafes, but it isn’t too big of a pain. However, if you need to be online 24/7 reliably for your work, I would be careful coming here for too long. Even the high-end cafes had pretty slow speed when they were packed with people.
Food:
-There are several high-quality restaurants around town, as well as supermarkets if you wish to buy food to cook at home. Given the affordable price of most of the restaurants here and the devaluation that the Tajik Som has had in the past several years though, I would recommend eating out instead honestly.
-it is typical Central Asian cuisine, so plenty of meat/BBQ and other heavy foods. There’s a decent amount of variety available though.
-Just remember for the love of god to NOT drink the tap water, trust me. Buy bottled water or boil it if you have that option available. Even after boiling my water, it was still a white color and disgusting.
-Traktir: I’ve been to Ukraine before, and this Ukrainian restaurant here was the best Ukrainian food I’ve ever had bar none. It is in front of the opera house and fairly affordable as well. I wish I went there first as I would have ate there nightly had I known how good it is.
-Citir Usta: Right next door is this tasty Turkish restaurant. It has high quality food as well and is also pretty cheap.
-Tapioca café near Bundes bar is amazing as well. They have good coffee, salads, and pizza/pie hybrids. Lots of girls eat at Tapioca as well due to its upscale reputation, so it can be a good pick-up spot as well, though I mainly went there to get some decent wi-fi with coffee in the evenings.
-Sega-Freddo is known as the premiere high-end café here and has the fortune of having good Wi-Fi, good food, and attractive girls going there frequently, so it can be another good spot to frequent as well. It is a little pricey and infamous for being upscale and elitist, but to me it doesn’t have a pretentious vibe at all.
-Bony café: An amazing, tasty Iranian restaurant. They have most of the well-known Iranian dishes and compared to similar Iranian restaurants in LA and elsewhere, it is SO cheap that I found it hilarious. The owner is awesome too. He speaks English, has lived around the world, and he is a bro. If you come in speaking English to the staff, he’ll likely come and help you out, he’s super cool. Highly recommended for the good food and shisha quality.
-Rohat teahouse: Probably the most famous restaurant in the city. It is a world-famous teahouse that has been called amongst the best in the entire planet. I would agree, it is pretty massive and nicely designed. They have awesome, picturesque decorations, and are pretty affordable too. Most of the menu was not available when I went there, which is apparently a normal occurrence. I also had nearly the entire giant tea hall to myself which felt odd, but I would still recommend it due to the sheer size and beauty of the place. It is a must-see for foreigners at least once given that there is not much else to see in Dushanbe.
-Merve café: I did not go here personally, but a lot of expats and locals swear by this place. Every time I walked by it was super crowded, so I think it’s worth a gamble.
-Omar Khayyam: An upscale restaurant with local food that still has a good reputation. Apparently, they have great BBQ, but I never had a chance to go.
-Toqi: A long walk or short cab away from the center. I WISH I came here more, it was SO good. It has a more traditional Tajik and Central Asian menu, but they have the standard BBQ menu with local dishes as well. If I could do it again, I would have eaten here and at Traktir every day. Highly recommended.
-There are two famous Indian restaurants in town as well, but I thought Taj was better than Delhi Darbar.
To do:
-Dushanbe is pretty boring honestly. I do not know what I would do if I were stuck there for too long. You can see the city in a day walking around. There is a fort about 20 minutes away by taxi or Marshrutka, but it’s nothing special. The central park and statues there are kind of cool and good for day game, which I’ll write about later on. The former tallest flag pole in the world is here, and I must admit It’s still pretty impressive. The Rohat tea house is cool to see. Beyond that though, there’s not much else here.
-However, Tajikistan is a trekker’s paradise. With both the Pamir and Fann mountain’s, it offers some of the best, virgin mountaineering opportunities in the world. Unfortunately, due to my arriving in winter and not wanting to deal with the high costs, dangers, and pain in the ass logistics, I did not get a chance to do a trek through the Pamir’s, though it is on my bucket list for the future. If you read up on the Pamir’s, they truly are the roof of the world. It offers some of the most unspoiled, desolate, beautiful mountain range driving in the entire planet. I’m not much of a nature person, but I still am intrigued by the Pamir mountain road trip someday with better weather and more time to go off the grid than I had available during this time period.
-On the other hand, the Fann mountains logistically are much easier to handle and are much closer to Dushanbe than the Pamir’s are. I went on a day trip to Iskanderkul Lake, named after Alexander the Great. Legend has it that while Alexander was in the lands that later would become Tajikistan, his beloved horse ran away from him one day. He pursued and chased after him, and found him at the edge of this lake. Apparently, Alexander loved the lake so much that he set up camp there for a while before marching onwards to his eastern campaigns. It truly was majestic. It took me about three hours to get there with the driver that I hired. Most of the road on the mountainous part once you leave Dushanbe is in horrible condition and has no metal protective railing on the sides of the road, so with one mistake you can easily drive off to your death. I thought I would die half of my time driving there and back, but it was SO worth it. On the way there you see some of the terrible poverty that you hear about regarding Tajikistan, such as malnourished cows, homes made of rocks and sheet metal, and other signs of terrible poverty that really open your eyes. When we got to the lake, we had the entire lake to ourselves and I felt a sense of serenity so deep that I never wanted to leave. Ask your driver to take you to the waterfall that the lake feeds into as well. There is an incredibly dangerous looking observation deck over the waterfall and I had an adrenaline rush about just thinking of walking on there. The observation platform is probably older than me, rusted, and held down by local boulders found nearby, but is amazing to venture onto while facing the fear of death.
-Besides Iskanderkul lake, there are seven lakes nearby that are called the Seven Pearls. They are only accessible by trekking, and it’s apparently an easy trek that takes several days to complete. I fell in love with the Fann Mountains, and if I were not here in the winter, I would have definitely trekked to see these seven lakes as apparently, they are even more beautiful than Iskanderkul lake. I would recommend going to them if possible.
-You can get a cool view of the highest point in the city from the top of the twin towers, the new tallest building in Dushanbe. Boring, but it can help kill a little bit of time I guess.
-Again, other than nature activities and possibly wife-hunting, I could not see myself here for too long, especially with the shoddy internet connection. The burgeoning café culture and hospitality from the locals is chill, but not game-changing for me.
Girls:
-So, let’s finally get to what we are all really here for. Culturally the girls appear to be pretty conservative, feminine, and traditional here, with the Islamic influence appearing to be a little bit stronger than some of the neighboring former USSR nations. I befriended a younger virgin, and she told me that many of her friends are virgins as well. She’s lived abroad and travelled extensively as well, traits that one would expect to result in her being more open minded about sex, but alas, not all stereotypes are true. She dumped her old BF of two years because he wasn’t masculine enough for her. She also told me she’d have sex before marriage if it was with the right guy.
-Dushanbe is a pretty small city, and due to there not being many venues to go to, night life seemed to be very cliquish and social circle dominant with walls of creeper older guys at times lingering around as well to pounce on what they could shamelessly. When walking with the virgin around town, she’d see someone she knew every 5 minutes, no exaggeration either, so night life is possibly similar as well. The one-night stand culture in the normal, non-pro girls here does not really seem to exist at all. From what I both observed and was told, social circle game and a long-term strategy here would be key for the non-pro flag. I imagine that if a girl were seen going home with a foreigner the same night that she met him here in front of her friends, her reputation could possibly be tarnished. That isn’t to say that it’s impossible of course, I’ve done it in places I was told it would not happen, but compared to more open-minded and less religious countries, I wouldn’t bet on it happening here. That being said, I did have some chances to try to pull it off with locals, but things just did not go my way unfortunately. Nightlife seems better for establishing connections, getting girls intrigued by you, getting numbers and arranging dates later with the girls one on one, not for taking them home the same night. If you are not here for a long time, it may handicap you with them, but feel it out and see. You could always lie, but I’ll leave that up to your discretion.
-Physically, the women here are predominantly like Iranian women looks wise with a twist. I think actual Iranian girls are more attractive overall due to the greater genetic diversity found in Iran. I saw several stunners as well though, including a few gorgeous Iranian looking girls with a hint of Slavic mixed in with dark hair and light eyes, my biggest female weakness. There were also many girls who looked Uzbek as well. Overall though, I would say the women are generally average or below average looking even. The funny thing is that in the nightlife they look much better than they do in the streets during the day. There are interesting Iranian/Slavic mixtures here, but mixed in there’s a lot of just plainly unremarkable women too. I saw a few hot girls on the online dating apps as well, but they were definitely in the minority. The girls are pretty short here too. Well, everyone here is pretty short, I was towering over almost everyone that I saw while I was here. The bodies of the local girls are not as voluptuous or curvy as their Iranian cousins, but on the plus side there’s barely any obesity here in the young population. Most of the girls are pretty fit, but when you see the giant, older Babushka’s walking around town, you know that in the future these youngins will end up being Babushka blimp’s too, just like their mothers before them. There are some Russian girls as well, but they are rare and definitely a minority population wise compared to some of the other Soviet countries nearby, so I would not come here if you’re expect to have many available to you. Overall though, the girls seemed pretty friendly and nice. They may appear to have their bitch shields up with their friends out, but compared to LA, it’s nothing and easily overcome if present.
-With regards to potential language barriers, the new generation of students are taught English in school now. The quality is not the best of course, but many young people that I met were able to communicate with me in English instead of trying in Farsi or Russian. Hence, you should be able to communicate with the younger women at least somewhat comfortably as well. This makes wife-hunting or finding a girl for an LTR much more feasible for you all.
-Competition wise, Tajik guys are pretty bad, a common theme for most men in the former USSR countries, so you should be pretty appealing over 99% of them to the local women. It seems that their game consists of creeper tactics resembling the way that the Indian male tour groups act, though not as bad and more dependent on alcohol. Some mixture of peacocking wealth, acting super aggressive, drinking to gain liquid courage, and showing off. Despite their lack of game, most that I met were INCREDIBLY friendly and hospitable, so they would be more likely to wing for you than to cockblock you. Try to gain them as allies, given that many of the girls out in the nightlife had some guys with them anyways, so use them to gain access to the groups. The expats that I met seemed pretty pathetic, with some of them dating each other instead of locals, so their competition should be a non-factor. Similarly, to the other nations around Tajikistan, most of the backpackers and tourists that come through here are the grungy type who are traveling cheaply to see the Silk Road, and most of them should not be a match for any of you competition wise either as this subgroup tends to be pretty lame and dress like shit with no game whatsoever. The Marines that I met whom I’ll speak about again soon were really fun, in shape, and had alpha vibes, but there were only three of them, so their presence shouldn’t be harmful to you either. Apparently, the Indians come here for sex tourism, just like they do in other FSU countries, and we all know how desperate and pathetic they can be. There are two big Indian restaurants in town that I went to that were full of the men with that look of desperation in their eyes. Again, they should be a non-factor, but my god are they embarrassing.
Day game:
-Day-gaming is not personally my preferred method at all, but I noticed that there were several chill areas to try if that is what you prefer.
-You can try the upscale café’s I wrote about above, specifically Merve, Tapioca, and Sega Freddo if they appear crowded and target heavy.
-Rudaki is the main street and always has people walking around. You can pretend to be lost or looking for something or figure out other ways to open younger targets here in English as they’ll be more likely to speak it and be intrigued as to why the hell you are in Tajikistan. There are also some cool tunnel light decorations, so you can ask girls to take photos of you while you are in them chilling on a bench or something and open up a convo that way. There’re also more light art installments on Rudaki besides the light tunnels that you can use this tactic at as well.
-The local parks in the center of town always have people wandering around, and there are a few spots in them where the locals seem to congregate. I would focus on Rudaki park, around the statues and the giant flagpole. The parks are not too massive, so you can walk around and find people there at all times throughout the day. Around sunset there is a part of the park that overlooks a more industrial part of the city that is full of people to watch the view. I strolled there coincidentally and several of the people struck up conversation with me. You can also innocently ask local girls to take a picture of you with your phone near the statues that are around the park or the flag pole, it’s always an innocent way to start a convo.
Online game:
-Pathetic. Tinder is basically non-existent here beyond maybe a dozen or so girls and the occasional backpacker or expat. The only girl I got to talk to me extensively was a Kazakh girl studying abroad here, but nothing came from it. Badoo and Mamba were both basically useless. I got messages and matches on the latter two a few times, but the women were either gross or inquiring about if I was Muslim or not. None of the gorgeous girls gave me love on them, and the apps seemed like a barren wasteland compared to the other Soviet countries.
-BUT, couch surfing appears to have a lot of potential here. There are a lot of girl hosts that you could try and write to ask to meet with, and some showed up on the hang-out feature of the CS app as well. I may write another article about the potential for the CS app at another time, but I’m sure you could write girls to ask to meet around the city innocently as a tourist wanting to look around instead of asking to crash with them and being obvious about your intentions. I met with one who turned out to be a virgin, so I obviously did not get the flag, but she was super chill and had a lot of friends that I met whom I could have chased if I had more time here. She also messaged me first in a heavily flirtatious way and still is keeping in contact with me similarly now. If I stayed longer god knows what could have happened between us, but life goes on and I needed access to my fast internet back, haha. You could also use the CS hangout feature to meet local bros as well who could become allies for you given that weren’t girls on it all of the time. I met a few bros here who spoke English and were well travelled. They gave good advice and were down to wing for me. Be patient with the app when using it though, as half the time I checked it there was nobody online available to meet up. However, if there are girls on it, it should be easy for you to grab their attention and get them to meet up due to your exotic appeal of being from a western country as most of you probably are.
Nightlife:
-Regarding the nightlife, from what I experienced here, there are two-three primary bars, and three primary nightclubs here that you’ll have to work with regarding the nightlife. The chill thing is that logistically speaking, Istiqlol, Opera, and Loft are all on the same street near each other, so it makes checking out the three on the same night easy. Overall though, the normal, non-pro girls seem to primarily come out in groups, so be prepared to infiltrate their social groups if you want to get access to them. I saw lots of varieties of this: Groups that had some boyfriends present, some that were only girls, some that appeared all paired up, so be prepared. I never saw a normal girl at a bar alone or with just a friend like you see in most western countries, so be prepared to charm your way into their circle. As a foreigner, the novelty factor alone should have half of the work done for you honestly as you will be intriguing to them from that alone. Be prepared as well for the large amounts of pros you will likely encounter. I do not think they go to the bars, but they are definitely at the clubs, so keep your wits about you when interacting with girls there.
-Bundes Bar: So, this is the most famous pub in Dushanbe, and it has a pretty chill environment with cheap beer and English-speaking workers. I would pregame here at the start of the night to warm up before heading out to the tri-cluster of venues I mentioned before. Lay-out wise, this place primarily has tables where groups of people go to drink, eat, and smoke together, along with a bar where you could go and chill. Given that my normal routine relies upon me going to bars alone and trying to talk to people, I was at the bar the whole time when I would come here to try and meet some locals. Unfortunately, my luck was not running high given that only older men were at the bar with me each time I went. Now of course you could befriend them as allies to lead to a crazier adventure and all, but all the girls were at tables and that was all I was thinking of. Of course, you could approach them at tables, or sit near a table full of targets alone and try to figure a way to speak with them, but doing it at the bar is so much easier to me. Anyways, I still recommend checking this place out because it is right in the middle of Rudaki and has cheap beer. They seemed pretty busy for dinner as well during the week when I’d walk by, so it is worth checking out for food as well during the week. If you see chances, go for them, if not, call a cab to go to another nightlife spot. Also, a side note, on google it says they close pretty early, but the workers told me that the bar has no strict closing time, they only close when the last customers are leaving, so do not rush out there early to begin like I did my first night in Dushanbe.
-Istiqlol bar: Another famous bar filled with expats and locals alike. Compared to Bundes, it had a far more club like vibe. They had table service, a DJ, a darker vibe with more clubby lights, coat service, and all the other usual club shit. Unlike Bundes though it has a dance floor as well, which you could definitely use to your advantage to meet people. It has both reserved tables and a bar, but they are pretty close to each other and near the dance floor, so you should technically have more opportunities here than in Bundes if you’ll linger at the bar. I partied with a group of expats here my first night, but I could not pull any home. This place was open until 3 or 4 my first night here, but the next night here (A Saturday), it was closed completely at around midnight when I showed up. It was bizarre. I recommend it though, and there were no pros here either from what I could tell, unlike the two clubs nearby.
-Opera club: I barely went here for no more than a few minutes due to the general shoddiness I felt in there. I was warned by several expat and locals I befriended that this place is known for having large numbers of hookers preying on men there. I knew that before I came, but since it is right next door to Istiqlol bar I decided drunkenly that I should check it out anyways. I felt uneasy in there and left shortly after I entered. After you gain a little experience, you can generally tell the pros from normal girls, and I definitely saw more than I liked in here. You may perhaps have better luck, but it seems that the other nightlife options are better than here. Despite this though, I still recommend giving it a chance at least given its proximity to Loft and Istiqlol. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.
-Loft club: One of the two elite clubs of Dushanbe. The cover charge is not too high, and the booze is not too pricey either. There’s a karaoke room, and the main club room. This was where most of my chances and IOI were received from the local girls, even though I know a few were definitely pros. I became friends with some locals here who winged for me on the dance floor and were super hospitable. I interacted with a few pros and bailed from those convos. While I was on the dance floor with my new friends, three girls suddenly showed up out of nowhere near the end of the night, and one of them jumped onto me immediately. She was grinding with me hard and was super into me. We were talking and I tried to become cool with her two friends too because one of them was fat and I knew she’d try to cockblock out of envy. They were friendly with me, but the other two dragged her away before I could even get her number, leaving me blueballed for the evening. With that said, I recommend you check out the karaoke room as well as the main club hall, because the karaoke room is smaller and more intimate, so it could lead to better chances. I had other IOI’s and opportunities here too, but nothing came from them either. I will admit that I was rusty because I had not been to a club in months before coming here due to working 24/7, but that’s no excuse for my poor performance. I would recommend all of you give this place a chance though, and I know if I went back now that I would be normal and way more successful here. However, the Marines I met here had other opinions about this place, which I’ll write about below.
-Royal club: Full disclosure, I did not go here. Reason why was because it is all by itself a little bit further from the center compared to the tri-cluster of venues available, so I never made it here as I got occupied in the other bars. The opinion of the place by locals seemed pretty split. Half said that Loft is better, the other half said Royal was better. I was told that they both have normal girls and pros lingering around, so the results you have will probably be the similar in either one. It is right next to one of the nicest hotels in the whole city, so I imagine there could be a lot of lame foreigners here hunting as well compared to Loft, but I would still recommend checking it out at least to hedge your bets. Just be prepared because there will definitely be pros lingering around.
-Wild west bar: I never went here, but I heard it is a chill little rock bar with affordable drinks and a cool vibe. It is in the center of town, so you could start your nights out here or at Bundes. The only reason I never came here was because my apartment was only a 90 second walk from Bundes, so logistically it was far easier for me to go there instead.
-Tokyo/Karaoke intrigue: There are Karaoke bars around town that appeared to be super busy, even during the week when I would walk by. Tokyo seemed to be the coolest one. I know they have a dance floor, and apparently the place is pretty fun, so I would recommend checking it out. The only reason I did not go is because I did not have much time in Dushanbe, so the pubs and clubs seemed more intriguing to me given that I hate singing. If I could go back though I definitely would have come here at least once to give it a chance.
-Texas pub/bar: The only reason I am putting this here is because everything in Dushanbe closes super early, but this place is open late. I lived right next door to it, so I would walk by at night to see if there were people there out of boredom so I could try and meet new locals. It was never really packed with people, but if you are nearby you can stroll by and check, maybe your luck will be better. Keep in mind it is not consistently busy like the other places, it’s just an emergency late night option if you are close-by. It is new too, so its reputation will hopefully grow over time.
Relevant local/expat advice given to me:
-When I was here, I became friends or chilled with some locals, expats from the EU, Canada, and several American Marines who were here providing security detail for the embassy. The local bros I met here told me that it’s nearly impossible from what they have experienced to have a one-night stand here or bring a local girl home on the same night as a foreigner. You need to play the long-game or go for the hookers instead. I refuse to ever use a hooker, so I’d rather try and fail to get the flag so I could learn from it. If you want to gamble a long-term stay to try to find a wife level keeper, it is entirely feasible here, and I got that feeling as well, but just being a passing tourist probably won’t help your odds.
-When I went to Loft club the first time, I met the Marine’s and drank with them for a while. I saw them at Istiqlol the night before, but did not have a chance to speak to them. I asked them how they like being in Dushanbe and they responded incredibly negatively. They told me that that night we were in Loft together was the most fun and busiest they had ever seen it since getting there, and it was nearly half-empty. This means that if I was there coincidentally during the best night they had experienced and it was as tame as I experienced, it must be terribly boring normally. I know that the sample sizes here are small, but I trust their judgement given their longer periods of time in Dushanbe. They were also pretty charismatic and seemed like they had their shit together game wise as well, making their opinions more valid for me. They also went home alone both nights I saw them out for what it’s worth.
-My older Iranian friend who owned the restaurant swore to me that it was super easy to get girls in Dushanbe. He came here to visit a friend originally and ended up staying because he loved it. Strange, but if he’s happy, who am I to judge? He told me it was ridiculously easy once you learned how to play their game and that he could help me if I were planning on staying for a long time. I did not have the time, though he still wanted to help me anyways. He has a Tajik girlfriend as well now, so he does have some credibility. Yet again though, it comes down to the same issue as before, time. He told me one-night stands here are almost impossible to get, and that the clubs are mostly lame for that unless you solely wanted prostitutes, repeating the same themes and feelings from others.
-Another side note, I was told by a few Tajik locals that the second Tajik city of Khujand is more fun and has better nightlife than Dushanbe. I did not go, but that could be an intriguing spot for another forum member to experience. Going blind into Dushanbe without having a data sheet here available as a guide was pretty exhilarating for me given it was my first time really doing so. Being told that the girls are more open in Khujand seemed strange to me instinctually, but more than one local here insisted it is true, so I’m looking forward to read about whichever pioneer goes there first on here, because I doubt it’ll be me.
TLDR summary:
-Based off of what I experienced and learned, would I recommend you all coming here solely for the purpose of the women? Hell fucking no. Yes, you hypothetically COULD find a wife here on a long-term mission given that the younger generation is learning English now and the women seem to be fairly conservative, feminine, and nice, but there are far better countries to do that in. It appears Islam matters to a good amount of the people here too, which could complicate a potential relationship down the line. Given that the odds of getting the flag seems better for those planning on long-term stays here, it is better to come here if you’re actually interested in the country or region while treating the girls as a complimentary dish on the side. If you want a Tajik flag, it’d be easier to go for an Iranian girl instead given that they’re similar to each other with Iranian girls being more DTF and open-minded. Annoying as fuck usually? Yeah, but that’s a topic for a different post. Or you can hope to find one in a more open country like Russia.
-If you are planning on going on a trip to the area, want to go trekking, want to adventure through the Pamirs, or just want to experience a strange off the beaten path destination for growth purposes, then it could be chill. I would never recommend flying out from anywhere far away like the USA just to come here solely for Dushanbe/Tajikistan though unless you are planning a Pamir trip or something similar. It is not worth it and there’s far better places to go to. Yet, if you are in the area or going on a Central Asian/Silk Road tour or so, it could be cool to come check the place out and give it a shot given its proximity to the other countries nearby. Just don’t be disappointed if you do not get the flag during your short stay, as that should never be your priority when traveling to most places anyways.
End notes:
-I hope this data sheet can be made useful to somebody someday in either deciding to take a chance and go get the elusive Tajik flag that I was not able to grab. Or to maybe go wife hunting in a place not tainted by social media and toxic western culture yet. Or perhaps to help someone deciding on a trip here to figure out whether to dedicate their resources somewhere that could be more lucrative results wise. I’ll probably post other data sheets in the future that I feel could be useful to the community here. If anyone has any questions or so feel free to ask publicly or message me. Thanks for reading.
-Hello all. I’ve been a lurker on these forums for years and have never contributed, so I felt it was time to start with an off the beaten path location that has yet to appear on the forums. Many of the data sheets on here have helped me immensely with my travels over the years, leading to some of the best times of my life having happened as a result of the contributors here helping to guide my way forward in new cities and countries, so I owe a lot to the other readers and contributors on here. This is where I start paying back the favor.
-I love writing, so this article is far longer than most of the data sheets on here. Hence, I included a TLDR summary at the bottom for anyone who is shorter on time.
About me:
-What I’m going to write here about myself may sound cocky, but it isn’t intended to be in a cocky tone at all. Aesthetics, looks, and social proof are all important no matter what anyone says otherwise, and I have several advantages that many don’t, so it’s important to understand that about me as it makes my situation with women easier than average guys. So anyways, I am 6’3/193 cm tall and in my late 20’s, though I look younger. I’ve been weight lifting for five years now and have clear definition and a v-taper. I’m a genetically interesting tanned Mediterranean/Middle Eastern mix and have been complimented on my looks many, many times abroad over the years while having had plenty of my flags open or initiate with me first. I was born and raised in what most consider an elite neighborhood in one of the most world-famous American cities known globally. I started trying to game young. Growing up in this area, I became battle hardened game-wise due to how competitive it was for me growing up to even get a drop of attention from the women there. If you’re trying to guess, it’s in Cali. I generally dress to impress when I go out and catch attention from my accessories at times, but I never wear like full on suits or anything over the top like that. I’ve travelled to 30-40 countries and speak or have learned a bit of multiple languages. I also have a pretty elite occupation/educational background and am working to create a start-up in the near future, so I know that I have many advantages over the average guys out there both domestically and abroad. Yet as we all know that It isn’t the cards that we’re dealt, just how we play them. I just try to play mine incredibly well.
-I should also mention, on a side note specifically related to Tajikistan that I also speak Farsi fluently, which I’ll elaborate on more later. The younger generation in Tajikistan is learning English, but the Farsi still helps immensely with creating familiarity and whatnot.
About Dushanbe/Tajikistan:
-Tajikistan is a landlocked, impoverished, and bizarre former Soviet Republic that many will never get the chance to visit. It is one of the poorest countries in Asia and is highly dependent upon remittances from Russia to survive economically, with many Tajik men living abroad for work. Funny enough, you barely feel the supposed poverty in downtown Dushanbe. Several years ago, Dushanbe apparently underwent a big renovation, so it feels fairly modern and middle class. People have smart phones, they dress decently, there are nice cars everywhere, and it does not feel nearly as backwards as I was expecting it to feel. However, once you leave Dushanbe or the center of town, the visible poverty hits fast and hard. Culturally it is a Silk Road hybrid of a little bit of every culture that came through here. There are touches of Russian, Persian, Mongolian, Chinese, Uzbek, and everything really, I love it. The people here overall seemed to be very friendly, hospitable, and curious, as tourists are still pretty seldom seen here, especially from the US. People were very curious about me and I got lots of attention from the locals in many places I went.
-Regarding safety. The central area felt safe for me at most times. I was warned that many of the areas outside of the center can be rough and with the way I stick out compared to the locals, I’d be asking to get robbed. The parks can be dangerous at night apparently as well, though I never went deep into them in the evenings. I never felt in danger, but you should still be careful. Poverty can make people do desperate shit, especially if you stick out as much as I did. I never got a violent vibe, nor did I have any incidents with anybody at night, but keep your wits about you when alcohol gets involved. Islam does seem to have a stronger effect on Tajik culture compared to some of its former USSR neighbors. The former ISIS Minister of war was a Tajik special forces commander who was trained in the USA before he defected to ISIS. Due to the severe poverty, thousands of Tajiks have been recruited to fight for ISIS as well, so there’s definitely sympathies in the country towards their cause. Like always, keep your wits about you in Dushanbe, especially at night, but I personally never felt in danger once when walking alone everywhere.
-The country side is a different story. Several Americans and EU tourists were killed while cycling in the country side fairly recently by some crazy Islamists. There is a large border with Afghanistan where large amounts of drug smuggling and god knows what else occurs. If you venture out into those areas, please be careful, I do not need to remind you that these people are ruthless brainwashed sociopaths. I read that there are several cities on the border that have strict curfews every night due to the dangerous Taliban activity going on right across from them, so best to stay away from there.
-I wanted to go explore some local markets and outside areas like I normally do, but I never really got the chance due to a little cold that I caught. There’s apparently an open-air black market of sorts next to one of the bazaars where you could buy stolen goods or get a prostitute if that is your thing. Multiple locals told me to not go because I would get robbed by the people there. For most of you reading though, central Dushanbe will have all that you need. If you decide to go trekking, that’s another story. I recommend that you go to the SAFE local markets and explore the Bazaars and other similar things that aren’t present in the west. I’m Middle Eastern, so Bazaars aren’t cool to me anymore really, but most of you should still have a good experience exploring them and perhaps haggling for something. The President is building the largest mosque in Central Asia at the moment as well not far from the center, but it was not ready when I was there, so check it out if it’s opened when you get there.
-Another side note, I felt like I was back in time in the USSR due to how frequently you see funny propaganda photos of the increasingly fat and aging Tajik president while walking around town. It is far more frequent than any of the other former USSR countries I have been to. It’s also the only place where I’ve seen RC Cola instead of Coke or Pepsi heavily advertised and served everywhere, including on Somon Air, the new main airline for the country. These little things help to really make you realize that you’re in deep space when you are out here.
Where to stay:
-Try your best to stay in an Airbnb within the area that I circled on the map. Be as central as you can be and as close to the central area of Rudaki street as possible. The closer, the better. Everything from there is easily walking distance or a super short cab ride away, including the little cluster of nightlife spots you’ll probably end up going to. Most of the good restaurants and cafes are within walking distance from the center, as are the few attractions to see here. Plus, if you manage to snag a local girl, it’s better to have an apartment to return to instead of dealing with the possibility of the staff of a hotel not allowing you to bring a local girl back to your room. This happened to my cousin in Morocco at our hotel there several years ago and it was a nightmare. The main nightlife areas are all near the center as well, so try the best that you can to be there.
Why Dushanbe?
-So, why did I decide to venture all the way here to the middle of nowhere? Well at the moment I’m living not too far away in a country nearby, and when I go back to the US later this year, the opportunity to come here so easily may never present itself again. Another reason is because I am half Iranian and speak Farsi fluently. I’ve spent a month in Iran and many months of my life in other former Soviet Republics, so I thought it would be fascinating to see a country that is a combination of both cultures. I generally love the former Soviet nations, but seeing as my Russian is still pretty bad, I knew my Farsi could be an asset here. Tajikistan is the only Central Republic former USSR nation that speaks Farsi, and seeing Farsi written in the Russian/Cyrillic alphabet everywhere was such a mind-fuck for me, but I loved the bizarreness of it all.
-Plus, I feel that going off of the beaten path could be incredibly rewarding given the competitive advantage foreigners have in places like this due to our being exotic to the locals compared to those residing in the usual tourist trap locations. These types of cities and countries really offer the most growth potential and insights into life for us given how different they are from what most of us are used to, and I think they are far more rewarding. With western culture spreading all over the planet like a virus via globalization more by the day, places like this can very possibly go extinct someday, so it’s better to experience them now.
-There have been many cities I’ve been to where I get stared at often, but the level it happened to me at here was amongst the highest I’ve ever experienced. People would hear my English and get the deer in the headlight eyes and stare at me so often in the city that I still find it hilarious. In retrospect, I could have opened many girls in downtown who would stare at me, but it never really crossed my mind as a lot of them seemed like jailbait.
Logistics:
-You can get an e-visa online easily within days. You can get a visa on arrival as well here still, though I would not recommend it as the line at the airport for it was chaotic and insane, so save yourself the headache and do it ahead of time online.
-I wrote about the housing location logistics above already, Airbnb logistics are coming up.
-The Dushanbe airport is a clusterfuck both when you arrive and when you leave. Be prepared to deal with the madness here when you both come and go.
-When arriving, you shouldn’t have any trouble with the airport staff, but you might when you try to leave the country. The issue upon arrival is getting a taxi to get into the city. As I exited into the arrival terminal, I was bombarded with the usual offers from the local parasitic drivers trying to rip me off. I was used to it already given that it happened to me in Tashkent and other places, but it was on another level here. I was literally followed by one driver in the terminal for over half an hour as I tried to get onto a Wi-Fi network and contact my AIRBNB host to help me. This assbag kept following me and bothering me even as I clearly was trying to tell him to get lost without causing a scene or losing my temper. Luckily Megafon had free Wi-Fi here that I used and my host was able to get an honest driver to come get me. Many AIRBNB hosts I saw offered airport pickups, so I recommend trying to do that to save the headache of dealing with these assholes stalking you everywhere. The official version of Uber is not here yet, so do your best to arrange a ride beforehand because you won’t be able to access the local uber copy until you get a local SIM card, which unfortunately they do not have available for sale at the airport.
-Another big issue you may run into is when you leave via the airport. I won’t put in the full details here, but go to google and read about the scams pulled at the Dushanbe airport on the trip advisor forums. I got a lot of attention at the end of the airport process as well. This one worker in particular was picking up my watch and phone while asking questions about them and myself. I was prepared for this and had several small USD$ bills prepared in case he tried to take me to the office with a “problem”. However, I spoke Farsi with him and charmed him instead into letting me go. Most of you do not have that option unfortunately, and may be fucked. From what I understood, it seems that they tend to scam people during the early morning flights given the extra time pressure that you can feel if they hold you and threaten you into missing your flight by not giving them a bribe. Knowing this I booked my flight to leave in the afternoon and came early enough to be chill with what I was going to experience, so I recommend that you try to do the same. Nonetheless, it is good to be prepared.
-For SIM cards, T-Cell is the primary telecom company here, but they wouldn’t give me a SIM card without official registration. I was able to get one at Megafon for about 10-15$ though without any issues, and it came in handy as the local version of Uber here requires a Tajik phone number to work. The connection was not the best, but it’s better than being offline or relying upon the terrible Wi-Fi found in Dushanbe. Stores for both are on a corner of Rudaki not far from Sega Freddo.
-And speaking about AIRBNB…WRITE THE HOSTS BEFORE YOU BOOK! When I first searched, there were plenty of cheap apartments available in downtown, but when I wrote to ask if they were still available, given that it was winter, nearly 80-90% were not open, despite the listings being up on the app. I ended up paying more than I would have liked to for my apartment that I found, but in the long-run, these little costs don’t harm us compared to the experiences gained by getting the privilege to go to a place as crazy as Tajikistan, so it wasn’t too big of a deal, but make sure you write the hosts first if you aren’t going to book a hotel or hostel.
-You can find ATM’s at the airport and all over Rudaki avenue, so getting local currency should not a problem. You will need local currency given that not all places accept cards here.
-The local version of uber is an app called Raksh Taxi Dushanbe. As I said, you need a local number for it to work, but the taxi drives are SO cheap with this app that I feel it’s worth it to prevent getting ripped off by the local drivers. I never paid more than $1.50-2, even going to my apartment from the airport and back, which is a pretty considerable distance.
-One last note regarding logistics, the Wi-Fi. The internet speed in Dushanbe is absolutely terrible and unreliable. Luckily my SIM card was decent and had LTE, but it would still cut away and not work from time to time. Hence, I was on the phone more than I would have liked to get internet access when I was not at the cafes, but it isn’t too big of a pain. However, if you need to be online 24/7 reliably for your work, I would be careful coming here for too long. Even the high-end cafes had pretty slow speed when they were packed with people.
Food:
-There are several high-quality restaurants around town, as well as supermarkets if you wish to buy food to cook at home. Given the affordable price of most of the restaurants here and the devaluation that the Tajik Som has had in the past several years though, I would recommend eating out instead honestly.
-it is typical Central Asian cuisine, so plenty of meat/BBQ and other heavy foods. There’s a decent amount of variety available though.
-Just remember for the love of god to NOT drink the tap water, trust me. Buy bottled water or boil it if you have that option available. Even after boiling my water, it was still a white color and disgusting.
-Traktir: I’ve been to Ukraine before, and this Ukrainian restaurant here was the best Ukrainian food I’ve ever had bar none. It is in front of the opera house and fairly affordable as well. I wish I went there first as I would have ate there nightly had I known how good it is.
-Citir Usta: Right next door is this tasty Turkish restaurant. It has high quality food as well and is also pretty cheap.
-Tapioca café near Bundes bar is amazing as well. They have good coffee, salads, and pizza/pie hybrids. Lots of girls eat at Tapioca as well due to its upscale reputation, so it can be a good pick-up spot as well, though I mainly went there to get some decent wi-fi with coffee in the evenings.
-Sega-Freddo is known as the premiere high-end café here and has the fortune of having good Wi-Fi, good food, and attractive girls going there frequently, so it can be another good spot to frequent as well. It is a little pricey and infamous for being upscale and elitist, but to me it doesn’t have a pretentious vibe at all.
-Bony café: An amazing, tasty Iranian restaurant. They have most of the well-known Iranian dishes and compared to similar Iranian restaurants in LA and elsewhere, it is SO cheap that I found it hilarious. The owner is awesome too. He speaks English, has lived around the world, and he is a bro. If you come in speaking English to the staff, he’ll likely come and help you out, he’s super cool. Highly recommended for the good food and shisha quality.
-Rohat teahouse: Probably the most famous restaurant in the city. It is a world-famous teahouse that has been called amongst the best in the entire planet. I would agree, it is pretty massive and nicely designed. They have awesome, picturesque decorations, and are pretty affordable too. Most of the menu was not available when I went there, which is apparently a normal occurrence. I also had nearly the entire giant tea hall to myself which felt odd, but I would still recommend it due to the sheer size and beauty of the place. It is a must-see for foreigners at least once given that there is not much else to see in Dushanbe.
-Merve café: I did not go here personally, but a lot of expats and locals swear by this place. Every time I walked by it was super crowded, so I think it’s worth a gamble.
-Omar Khayyam: An upscale restaurant with local food that still has a good reputation. Apparently, they have great BBQ, but I never had a chance to go.
-Toqi: A long walk or short cab away from the center. I WISH I came here more, it was SO good. It has a more traditional Tajik and Central Asian menu, but they have the standard BBQ menu with local dishes as well. If I could do it again, I would have eaten here and at Traktir every day. Highly recommended.
-There are two famous Indian restaurants in town as well, but I thought Taj was better than Delhi Darbar.
To do:
-Dushanbe is pretty boring honestly. I do not know what I would do if I were stuck there for too long. You can see the city in a day walking around. There is a fort about 20 minutes away by taxi or Marshrutka, but it’s nothing special. The central park and statues there are kind of cool and good for day game, which I’ll write about later on. The former tallest flag pole in the world is here, and I must admit It’s still pretty impressive. The Rohat tea house is cool to see. Beyond that though, there’s not much else here.
-However, Tajikistan is a trekker’s paradise. With both the Pamir and Fann mountain’s, it offers some of the best, virgin mountaineering opportunities in the world. Unfortunately, due to my arriving in winter and not wanting to deal with the high costs, dangers, and pain in the ass logistics, I did not get a chance to do a trek through the Pamir’s, though it is on my bucket list for the future. If you read up on the Pamir’s, they truly are the roof of the world. It offers some of the most unspoiled, desolate, beautiful mountain range driving in the entire planet. I’m not much of a nature person, but I still am intrigued by the Pamir mountain road trip someday with better weather and more time to go off the grid than I had available during this time period.
-On the other hand, the Fann mountains logistically are much easier to handle and are much closer to Dushanbe than the Pamir’s are. I went on a day trip to Iskanderkul Lake, named after Alexander the Great. Legend has it that while Alexander was in the lands that later would become Tajikistan, his beloved horse ran away from him one day. He pursued and chased after him, and found him at the edge of this lake. Apparently, Alexander loved the lake so much that he set up camp there for a while before marching onwards to his eastern campaigns. It truly was majestic. It took me about three hours to get there with the driver that I hired. Most of the road on the mountainous part once you leave Dushanbe is in horrible condition and has no metal protective railing on the sides of the road, so with one mistake you can easily drive off to your death. I thought I would die half of my time driving there and back, but it was SO worth it. On the way there you see some of the terrible poverty that you hear about regarding Tajikistan, such as malnourished cows, homes made of rocks and sheet metal, and other signs of terrible poverty that really open your eyes. When we got to the lake, we had the entire lake to ourselves and I felt a sense of serenity so deep that I never wanted to leave. Ask your driver to take you to the waterfall that the lake feeds into as well. There is an incredibly dangerous looking observation deck over the waterfall and I had an adrenaline rush about just thinking of walking on there. The observation platform is probably older than me, rusted, and held down by local boulders found nearby, but is amazing to venture onto while facing the fear of death.
-Besides Iskanderkul lake, there are seven lakes nearby that are called the Seven Pearls. They are only accessible by trekking, and it’s apparently an easy trek that takes several days to complete. I fell in love with the Fann Mountains, and if I were not here in the winter, I would have definitely trekked to see these seven lakes as apparently, they are even more beautiful than Iskanderkul lake. I would recommend going to them if possible.
-You can get a cool view of the highest point in the city from the top of the twin towers, the new tallest building in Dushanbe. Boring, but it can help kill a little bit of time I guess.
-Again, other than nature activities and possibly wife-hunting, I could not see myself here for too long, especially with the shoddy internet connection. The burgeoning café culture and hospitality from the locals is chill, but not game-changing for me.
Girls:
-So, let’s finally get to what we are all really here for. Culturally the girls appear to be pretty conservative, feminine, and traditional here, with the Islamic influence appearing to be a little bit stronger than some of the neighboring former USSR nations. I befriended a younger virgin, and she told me that many of her friends are virgins as well. She’s lived abroad and travelled extensively as well, traits that one would expect to result in her being more open minded about sex, but alas, not all stereotypes are true. She dumped her old BF of two years because he wasn’t masculine enough for her. She also told me she’d have sex before marriage if it was with the right guy.
-Dushanbe is a pretty small city, and due to there not being many venues to go to, night life seemed to be very cliquish and social circle dominant with walls of creeper older guys at times lingering around as well to pounce on what they could shamelessly. When walking with the virgin around town, she’d see someone she knew every 5 minutes, no exaggeration either, so night life is possibly similar as well. The one-night stand culture in the normal, non-pro girls here does not really seem to exist at all. From what I both observed and was told, social circle game and a long-term strategy here would be key for the non-pro flag. I imagine that if a girl were seen going home with a foreigner the same night that she met him here in front of her friends, her reputation could possibly be tarnished. That isn’t to say that it’s impossible of course, I’ve done it in places I was told it would not happen, but compared to more open-minded and less religious countries, I wouldn’t bet on it happening here. That being said, I did have some chances to try to pull it off with locals, but things just did not go my way unfortunately. Nightlife seems better for establishing connections, getting girls intrigued by you, getting numbers and arranging dates later with the girls one on one, not for taking them home the same night. If you are not here for a long time, it may handicap you with them, but feel it out and see. You could always lie, but I’ll leave that up to your discretion.
-Physically, the women here are predominantly like Iranian women looks wise with a twist. I think actual Iranian girls are more attractive overall due to the greater genetic diversity found in Iran. I saw several stunners as well though, including a few gorgeous Iranian looking girls with a hint of Slavic mixed in with dark hair and light eyes, my biggest female weakness. There were also many girls who looked Uzbek as well. Overall though, I would say the women are generally average or below average looking even. The funny thing is that in the nightlife they look much better than they do in the streets during the day. There are interesting Iranian/Slavic mixtures here, but mixed in there’s a lot of just plainly unremarkable women too. I saw a few hot girls on the online dating apps as well, but they were definitely in the minority. The girls are pretty short here too. Well, everyone here is pretty short, I was towering over almost everyone that I saw while I was here. The bodies of the local girls are not as voluptuous or curvy as their Iranian cousins, but on the plus side there’s barely any obesity here in the young population. Most of the girls are pretty fit, but when you see the giant, older Babushka’s walking around town, you know that in the future these youngins will end up being Babushka blimp’s too, just like their mothers before them. There are some Russian girls as well, but they are rare and definitely a minority population wise compared to some of the other Soviet countries nearby, so I would not come here if you’re expect to have many available to you. Overall though, the girls seemed pretty friendly and nice. They may appear to have their bitch shields up with their friends out, but compared to LA, it’s nothing and easily overcome if present.
-With regards to potential language barriers, the new generation of students are taught English in school now. The quality is not the best of course, but many young people that I met were able to communicate with me in English instead of trying in Farsi or Russian. Hence, you should be able to communicate with the younger women at least somewhat comfortably as well. This makes wife-hunting or finding a girl for an LTR much more feasible for you all.
-Competition wise, Tajik guys are pretty bad, a common theme for most men in the former USSR countries, so you should be pretty appealing over 99% of them to the local women. It seems that their game consists of creeper tactics resembling the way that the Indian male tour groups act, though not as bad and more dependent on alcohol. Some mixture of peacocking wealth, acting super aggressive, drinking to gain liquid courage, and showing off. Despite their lack of game, most that I met were INCREDIBLY friendly and hospitable, so they would be more likely to wing for you than to cockblock you. Try to gain them as allies, given that many of the girls out in the nightlife had some guys with them anyways, so use them to gain access to the groups. The expats that I met seemed pretty pathetic, with some of them dating each other instead of locals, so their competition should be a non-factor. Similarly, to the other nations around Tajikistan, most of the backpackers and tourists that come through here are the grungy type who are traveling cheaply to see the Silk Road, and most of them should not be a match for any of you competition wise either as this subgroup tends to be pretty lame and dress like shit with no game whatsoever. The Marines that I met whom I’ll speak about again soon were really fun, in shape, and had alpha vibes, but there were only three of them, so their presence shouldn’t be harmful to you either. Apparently, the Indians come here for sex tourism, just like they do in other FSU countries, and we all know how desperate and pathetic they can be. There are two big Indian restaurants in town that I went to that were full of the men with that look of desperation in their eyes. Again, they should be a non-factor, but my god are they embarrassing.
Day game:
-Day-gaming is not personally my preferred method at all, but I noticed that there were several chill areas to try if that is what you prefer.
-You can try the upscale café’s I wrote about above, specifically Merve, Tapioca, and Sega Freddo if they appear crowded and target heavy.
-Rudaki is the main street and always has people walking around. You can pretend to be lost or looking for something or figure out other ways to open younger targets here in English as they’ll be more likely to speak it and be intrigued as to why the hell you are in Tajikistan. There are also some cool tunnel light decorations, so you can ask girls to take photos of you while you are in them chilling on a bench or something and open up a convo that way. There’re also more light art installments on Rudaki besides the light tunnels that you can use this tactic at as well.
-The local parks in the center of town always have people wandering around, and there are a few spots in them where the locals seem to congregate. I would focus on Rudaki park, around the statues and the giant flagpole. The parks are not too massive, so you can walk around and find people there at all times throughout the day. Around sunset there is a part of the park that overlooks a more industrial part of the city that is full of people to watch the view. I strolled there coincidentally and several of the people struck up conversation with me. You can also innocently ask local girls to take a picture of you with your phone near the statues that are around the park or the flag pole, it’s always an innocent way to start a convo.
Online game:
-Pathetic. Tinder is basically non-existent here beyond maybe a dozen or so girls and the occasional backpacker or expat. The only girl I got to talk to me extensively was a Kazakh girl studying abroad here, but nothing came from it. Badoo and Mamba were both basically useless. I got messages and matches on the latter two a few times, but the women were either gross or inquiring about if I was Muslim or not. None of the gorgeous girls gave me love on them, and the apps seemed like a barren wasteland compared to the other Soviet countries.
-BUT, couch surfing appears to have a lot of potential here. There are a lot of girl hosts that you could try and write to ask to meet with, and some showed up on the hang-out feature of the CS app as well. I may write another article about the potential for the CS app at another time, but I’m sure you could write girls to ask to meet around the city innocently as a tourist wanting to look around instead of asking to crash with them and being obvious about your intentions. I met with one who turned out to be a virgin, so I obviously did not get the flag, but she was super chill and had a lot of friends that I met whom I could have chased if I had more time here. She also messaged me first in a heavily flirtatious way and still is keeping in contact with me similarly now. If I stayed longer god knows what could have happened between us, but life goes on and I needed access to my fast internet back, haha. You could also use the CS hangout feature to meet local bros as well who could become allies for you given that weren’t girls on it all of the time. I met a few bros here who spoke English and were well travelled. They gave good advice and were down to wing for me. Be patient with the app when using it though, as half the time I checked it there was nobody online available to meet up. However, if there are girls on it, it should be easy for you to grab their attention and get them to meet up due to your exotic appeal of being from a western country as most of you probably are.
Nightlife:
-Regarding the nightlife, from what I experienced here, there are two-three primary bars, and three primary nightclubs here that you’ll have to work with regarding the nightlife. The chill thing is that logistically speaking, Istiqlol, Opera, and Loft are all on the same street near each other, so it makes checking out the three on the same night easy. Overall though, the normal, non-pro girls seem to primarily come out in groups, so be prepared to infiltrate their social groups if you want to get access to them. I saw lots of varieties of this: Groups that had some boyfriends present, some that were only girls, some that appeared all paired up, so be prepared. I never saw a normal girl at a bar alone or with just a friend like you see in most western countries, so be prepared to charm your way into their circle. As a foreigner, the novelty factor alone should have half of the work done for you honestly as you will be intriguing to them from that alone. Be prepared as well for the large amounts of pros you will likely encounter. I do not think they go to the bars, but they are definitely at the clubs, so keep your wits about you when interacting with girls there.
-Bundes Bar: So, this is the most famous pub in Dushanbe, and it has a pretty chill environment with cheap beer and English-speaking workers. I would pregame here at the start of the night to warm up before heading out to the tri-cluster of venues I mentioned before. Lay-out wise, this place primarily has tables where groups of people go to drink, eat, and smoke together, along with a bar where you could go and chill. Given that my normal routine relies upon me going to bars alone and trying to talk to people, I was at the bar the whole time when I would come here to try and meet some locals. Unfortunately, my luck was not running high given that only older men were at the bar with me each time I went. Now of course you could befriend them as allies to lead to a crazier adventure and all, but all the girls were at tables and that was all I was thinking of. Of course, you could approach them at tables, or sit near a table full of targets alone and try to figure a way to speak with them, but doing it at the bar is so much easier to me. Anyways, I still recommend checking this place out because it is right in the middle of Rudaki and has cheap beer. They seemed pretty busy for dinner as well during the week when I’d walk by, so it is worth checking out for food as well during the week. If you see chances, go for them, if not, call a cab to go to another nightlife spot. Also, a side note, on google it says they close pretty early, but the workers told me that the bar has no strict closing time, they only close when the last customers are leaving, so do not rush out there early to begin like I did my first night in Dushanbe.
-Istiqlol bar: Another famous bar filled with expats and locals alike. Compared to Bundes, it had a far more club like vibe. They had table service, a DJ, a darker vibe with more clubby lights, coat service, and all the other usual club shit. Unlike Bundes though it has a dance floor as well, which you could definitely use to your advantage to meet people. It has both reserved tables and a bar, but they are pretty close to each other and near the dance floor, so you should technically have more opportunities here than in Bundes if you’ll linger at the bar. I partied with a group of expats here my first night, but I could not pull any home. This place was open until 3 or 4 my first night here, but the next night here (A Saturday), it was closed completely at around midnight when I showed up. It was bizarre. I recommend it though, and there were no pros here either from what I could tell, unlike the two clubs nearby.
-Opera club: I barely went here for no more than a few minutes due to the general shoddiness I felt in there. I was warned by several expat and locals I befriended that this place is known for having large numbers of hookers preying on men there. I knew that before I came, but since it is right next door to Istiqlol bar I decided drunkenly that I should check it out anyways. I felt uneasy in there and left shortly after I entered. After you gain a little experience, you can generally tell the pros from normal girls, and I definitely saw more than I liked in here. You may perhaps have better luck, but it seems that the other nightlife options are better than here. Despite this though, I still recommend giving it a chance at least given its proximity to Loft and Istiqlol. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.
-Loft club: One of the two elite clubs of Dushanbe. The cover charge is not too high, and the booze is not too pricey either. There’s a karaoke room, and the main club room. This was where most of my chances and IOI were received from the local girls, even though I know a few were definitely pros. I became friends with some locals here who winged for me on the dance floor and were super hospitable. I interacted with a few pros and bailed from those convos. While I was on the dance floor with my new friends, three girls suddenly showed up out of nowhere near the end of the night, and one of them jumped onto me immediately. She was grinding with me hard and was super into me. We were talking and I tried to become cool with her two friends too because one of them was fat and I knew she’d try to cockblock out of envy. They were friendly with me, but the other two dragged her away before I could even get her number, leaving me blueballed for the evening. With that said, I recommend you check out the karaoke room as well as the main club hall, because the karaoke room is smaller and more intimate, so it could lead to better chances. I had other IOI’s and opportunities here too, but nothing came from them either. I will admit that I was rusty because I had not been to a club in months before coming here due to working 24/7, but that’s no excuse for my poor performance. I would recommend all of you give this place a chance though, and I know if I went back now that I would be normal and way more successful here. However, the Marines I met here had other opinions about this place, which I’ll write about below.
-Royal club: Full disclosure, I did not go here. Reason why was because it is all by itself a little bit further from the center compared to the tri-cluster of venues available, so I never made it here as I got occupied in the other bars. The opinion of the place by locals seemed pretty split. Half said that Loft is better, the other half said Royal was better. I was told that they both have normal girls and pros lingering around, so the results you have will probably be the similar in either one. It is right next to one of the nicest hotels in the whole city, so I imagine there could be a lot of lame foreigners here hunting as well compared to Loft, but I would still recommend checking it out at least to hedge your bets. Just be prepared because there will definitely be pros lingering around.
-Wild west bar: I never went here, but I heard it is a chill little rock bar with affordable drinks and a cool vibe. It is in the center of town, so you could start your nights out here or at Bundes. The only reason I never came here was because my apartment was only a 90 second walk from Bundes, so logistically it was far easier for me to go there instead.
-Tokyo/Karaoke intrigue: There are Karaoke bars around town that appeared to be super busy, even during the week when I would walk by. Tokyo seemed to be the coolest one. I know they have a dance floor, and apparently the place is pretty fun, so I would recommend checking it out. The only reason I did not go is because I did not have much time in Dushanbe, so the pubs and clubs seemed more intriguing to me given that I hate singing. If I could go back though I definitely would have come here at least once to give it a chance.
-Texas pub/bar: The only reason I am putting this here is because everything in Dushanbe closes super early, but this place is open late. I lived right next door to it, so I would walk by at night to see if there were people there out of boredom so I could try and meet new locals. It was never really packed with people, but if you are nearby you can stroll by and check, maybe your luck will be better. Keep in mind it is not consistently busy like the other places, it’s just an emergency late night option if you are close-by. It is new too, so its reputation will hopefully grow over time.
Relevant local/expat advice given to me:
-When I was here, I became friends or chilled with some locals, expats from the EU, Canada, and several American Marines who were here providing security detail for the embassy. The local bros I met here told me that it’s nearly impossible from what they have experienced to have a one-night stand here or bring a local girl home on the same night as a foreigner. You need to play the long-game or go for the hookers instead. I refuse to ever use a hooker, so I’d rather try and fail to get the flag so I could learn from it. If you want to gamble a long-term stay to try to find a wife level keeper, it is entirely feasible here, and I got that feeling as well, but just being a passing tourist probably won’t help your odds.
-When I went to Loft club the first time, I met the Marine’s and drank with them for a while. I saw them at Istiqlol the night before, but did not have a chance to speak to them. I asked them how they like being in Dushanbe and they responded incredibly negatively. They told me that that night we were in Loft together was the most fun and busiest they had ever seen it since getting there, and it was nearly half-empty. This means that if I was there coincidentally during the best night they had experienced and it was as tame as I experienced, it must be terribly boring normally. I know that the sample sizes here are small, but I trust their judgement given their longer periods of time in Dushanbe. They were also pretty charismatic and seemed like they had their shit together game wise as well, making their opinions more valid for me. They also went home alone both nights I saw them out for what it’s worth.
-My older Iranian friend who owned the restaurant swore to me that it was super easy to get girls in Dushanbe. He came here to visit a friend originally and ended up staying because he loved it. Strange, but if he’s happy, who am I to judge? He told me it was ridiculously easy once you learned how to play their game and that he could help me if I were planning on staying for a long time. I did not have the time, though he still wanted to help me anyways. He has a Tajik girlfriend as well now, so he does have some credibility. Yet again though, it comes down to the same issue as before, time. He told me one-night stands here are almost impossible to get, and that the clubs are mostly lame for that unless you solely wanted prostitutes, repeating the same themes and feelings from others.
-Another side note, I was told by a few Tajik locals that the second Tajik city of Khujand is more fun and has better nightlife than Dushanbe. I did not go, but that could be an intriguing spot for another forum member to experience. Going blind into Dushanbe without having a data sheet here available as a guide was pretty exhilarating for me given it was my first time really doing so. Being told that the girls are more open in Khujand seemed strange to me instinctually, but more than one local here insisted it is true, so I’m looking forward to read about whichever pioneer goes there first on here, because I doubt it’ll be me.
TLDR summary:
-Based off of what I experienced and learned, would I recommend you all coming here solely for the purpose of the women? Hell fucking no. Yes, you hypothetically COULD find a wife here on a long-term mission given that the younger generation is learning English now and the women seem to be fairly conservative, feminine, and nice, but there are far better countries to do that in. It appears Islam matters to a good amount of the people here too, which could complicate a potential relationship down the line. Given that the odds of getting the flag seems better for those planning on long-term stays here, it is better to come here if you’re actually interested in the country or region while treating the girls as a complimentary dish on the side. If you want a Tajik flag, it’d be easier to go for an Iranian girl instead given that they’re similar to each other with Iranian girls being more DTF and open-minded. Annoying as fuck usually? Yeah, but that’s a topic for a different post. Or you can hope to find one in a more open country like Russia.
-If you are planning on going on a trip to the area, want to go trekking, want to adventure through the Pamirs, or just want to experience a strange off the beaten path destination for growth purposes, then it could be chill. I would never recommend flying out from anywhere far away like the USA just to come here solely for Dushanbe/Tajikistan though unless you are planning a Pamir trip or something similar. It is not worth it and there’s far better places to go to. Yet, if you are in the area or going on a Central Asian/Silk Road tour or so, it could be cool to come check the place out and give it a shot given its proximity to the other countries nearby. Just don’t be disappointed if you do not get the flag during your short stay, as that should never be your priority when traveling to most places anyways.
End notes:
-I hope this data sheet can be made useful to somebody someday in either deciding to take a chance and go get the elusive Tajik flag that I was not able to grab. Or to maybe go wife hunting in a place not tainted by social media and toxic western culture yet. Or perhaps to help someone deciding on a trip here to figure out whether to dedicate their resources somewhere that could be more lucrative results wise. I’ll probably post other data sheets in the future that I feel could be useful to the community here. If anyone has any questions or so feel free to ask publicly or message me. Thanks for reading.
