This is a continuation of previous post from March 2, 2020.
People who follow my blog (alikarimtravelog.com) know that my wife Dilshad and I love to travel. We have been doing this for 25 years now; but only blogging in the last 10 years or so. Going to places less known, interacting with strangers, learning their cultures and their way of life, trying ethnically diverse food etc, excites us. It’s so thrilling and gratifying at the same time to learn that human beings in the western world, especially in the USA are different but same in many ways. These social interactions and cultural experiences is what makes our world beautiful and gives us reasons to continue exploring.
With the recent pandemic plaguing our planet, I wanted to share my latest blog post https://alikarimtravelog.com/more-murghab-alichur-tajikistan/ about the trip we took back in 2019 to Tajikistan, to share something brighter.
With the world turned upside down due to this virus, I recall fondly how beautiful it was when we interacted with Mohammed, a shop-owner in a small town in Jordan who we bought local deserts from, and how he refused to take money from us; instead saying “Welcome to Jordan”. To Bhuj, Kutch, where Sohail, a street food vendor selling from a street cart refused to take money from us for the food we had ordered saying we were his guests. In Kashgar, Xinjiang, China, we self-invited ourselves to a family’s house that we were admiring, and without batting an eyelid, the family hosted us warmly, and fed us tea and snacks. In a small shop in Tashkurgan, China the owner; Mofiza, fed us yak milk yogurt which we were admiring, and refused to take any money from us. Twice, during our trip to Hunza (Giglit-Baltistan) and in Tajikistan, we experienced multiple random people on the street, like Dr. Kurbanali, inviting us into their homes for tea or a meal.
These are some of many such experiences that floored us. Without exception, kindness was shown to us by complete strangers that were much less economically-able compared to us; but they had much bigger hearts than us. A product of their ancient cultures; where people take care of each other, and wealth is not a major factor in life.
This “global” pandemic may have temporarily halted our travels, but in due time, we will bounce back. Soon, we will once again travel, and explore this beautiful planet we call home.
Our most recent blog post form Tajikistan can be found at https://alikarimtravelog.com/more-murghab-alichur-tajikistan/.
We don’t recommend that people travel during these times; but we hope it can lighten your hearts by taking your mind of the current world problems.
Ismailimail 
Greatt post
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