A visit to Chaikhana Rohat, a former tea house in the Tajik capital Dushanbe that was, very sadly, destroyed in 2025 as part of the government’s drive for modernisation.

Folded into the mountains of Tajikistan’s Amu Darya valley are the remains of this ancient city, unknown to even archaeologists until 2012.

A delicious autumnal recipe from the Tajik Pamirs, taken from the excellent With our own Hands cookbook by Jamila Haider and Frederik van Ouderhoven.