In the south of Tajikistan, in the hot valleys of Khatlon that lead toward the Afghan border, a mound of clay brick holds the ruins of a Buddhist monastery. Khishttepa, near the town of Mu'minobod, was a monastic complex in the early Middle Ages, probably in the seventh and eighth centuries, when Buddhism still flourished in the lands along the Amu Darya, or Oxus, the river that now marks the border. The remains include walls of mud brick, vaulted rooms and, in their day, painted walls and clay statues, of which only traces survive. Central Asia was a place where Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and later Islam met, and the monasteries of Bactria, as this region was called, sent monks and ideas along the Silk Road to China.
The landscape is dry and hilly, golden in summer, with loess hills, terraced fields of wheat, cotton and sunflowers, and small villages of mud-brick houses with flat roofs, backed by the snowy peaks of the Pamir foothills on a clear day. The mountains are steep and eroded, and the valleys are cut by rivers that run brown with silt in spring. The summers are fierce, with temperatures over forty degrees, so the best months for a visit are April, May, September and October.
Tajik roads can be demanding. The main routes between towns are paved but often patched, with potholes, and the side roads to villages and ruins are gravel or earth, which turns to slick mud in the rain. Livestock, donkeys and children use the road freely, and trucks and old Soviet-era vehicles move slowly. This is also a border zone, so expect checkpoints, carry your passport and registration documents at all times, and ask locally about restricted areas, since some places near the frontier require special permits. The ride goes on to Shahrtepa, another ancient site, through the same landscape.
Mu'minobod is a small town of about twelve thousand people, twenty-five kilometres away, with limited facilities, and the nearest big place for fuel, a good meal and a bed is Kulob, a larger city to the north. Fuel quality can vary, so fill up when you can, and carry water and some food. In the villages, hospitality is warm, and you may be invited for tea, with bread, dried fruit and sweets laid out on a cloth. A few words of Tajik or Russian go a long way, and so does a smile.