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By the time I've posted this, my springtime trip to Central Asia seems like a very long time ago. It was quite a journey to get there, but I was greeted by the friendliest of faces -- my dear sweet former colleague and housemate in Aceh, Elzat. She and her husband have been bouncing around the region the past few years as she's helped lead disaster preparedness throughout the region. I came to help them with some public awareness efforts, and though I met folks from each country involved in the project, I only traveled to Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. For the record, I did not see Borat or anyone who resembled anything in that disastrous movie. People were kind and gracious and very smartly dressed. I spent an incredible amount of time not knowing what anyone was saying, but that's totally fine. I did learn a whopping two words of Russian in the process.

The photos that follow are from Tajikistan, where we road tripped through one of the world's most disaster prone regions... Click on the photo for a larger view.

Within an hour or so from the capital city, we were careening through ice-covered roadways.

The further we traveled, the more spectacular the views became.

Cute kiddos in a village we visited.

Spectacular views!

Traffic jam!

Plav, the traditional dish of the region.

Almond trees in bloom.

Endless interesting rock formations.

These wisps of trees were everywhere.

A village very prone to landslides.