Tajikistan - the country of beautiful mountains

Let me tell you about my motherland, Tajikistan. The republic of Tajikistan is the central Asian country having a border with the countries such as Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Tajikistan is 93 percent mountainous. That’s why Tajikistan is usually called as the country of beautiful mountains. The nature of Tajikistan is so beautiful: its lakes, mountains, rivers, flowers are so beautiful, I would say indescribable. Tajikistan is landlocked, covered by mountains of Pamir range.                 Imsoil Somoni Peak is the highest pick in Tajikistan and post Soviet Union (7,495 m). It is named under the ancestor of the Samanid Dynasty. It was used to be named as Communism Peak. There are over 900 beautiful and very long rivers, lots of wonderful lakes such as Kayrakum, Iskanderkul, Karakul and so many others. The lake Iskanderkul is one of the most beautiful one which means as the lake of Iskander, named under Alexander the Great. I would like to mention also about the main products of Tajikistan which are aluminum production, cotton, agricultural products such as fruits and vegetable. Tajikistan is also home to the hydroelectric powers. The population is getting close to 8 million people.

I strongly recommend you to visit the central Asian beauty.

Taekwondo competition

On November, 5 -7 there was South Korean Taekwondo competition held in Kukkiwon, World Taekwondo Headquarters.  There were the students from more than 60 universities.  I participated in weight category which is called as featherweight (62-67 kg).  On Friday (November, 5) we gathered in Daejeon (near KAIST Auditorium) at 6 p.m., took a bus and moved to Seoul. On first day we had check-up on our weight, which I successfully passed. On that day we stayed in Motel, woke up early in the morning and went to Kukkiwon for competition. There were about 80 participants in my category.  In order to get medal one must win at least 4 games without losing. If you lose one game, then you’ll be out, without medals. The first day of the competition was very successful for me.  My first game was against the new comer in taekwondo, which I quite easily won. The second games were tougher as I accepted. Still I won the game with score 16-8. I also won my third game in a day with the result 7-2.

Then we went back and slept early to have a rest after long busy day. The next day I just had to win at least one game to be in the list of medalists. I started game quite well with the result 3-0. But at the end because of my mistakes and my opponent’s effort the game was equalized to 6-6. We had to fight for the gold point, which is called as sudden death. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it and was out of the game.

I learned a lot from competition. I’ll keep working on plans, to get gold medal in this competition.
 p.s. Here is the video fragment of my 3rd fight below:

Trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone(DMZ) -part2

 After visiting museum, we went to one of the tunnels built by North Koreans for military invasion of South Korea.It was quite impressive because the tunnel was built very deep into the ground crossing the DMZ dug.

Before leaving the historical place we took some photos in front of the globe which kids trying to join South Korea and North Korea. I decided to help them.

I hope someday the magic of unification will happen!



























Before coming back to Daejeon we dropped to the lovely place, which was designed so beautifully. It looked like a magic Fairyland!

 

 This is my favorite photo taken there:

Finally when we were back to Daejeon, we had a very delicious dinner all together.

I enjoyed my trip spending excellent time there. I've heard a lot about DMZ, but that time I had a great change to see how it looks because as it's said that "Better to See Something Once Than Hear About it Hundred Times". I also made lots of friends.
Finally, at the end of a busy day I went to Halloween party which was held in one of the buildings within KAIST campus. 

I was so tired that I just took some photos, stayed there for about one hour, went back to my room and slept. What can be better then sleeping after such an unforgettable busy day? :)

Trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone(DMZ) -part1

On October, 30 I went on a trip to DMZ, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone).

 It is also called as the world’s last Cold War frontier, the line which has separated Korea into the 2 parts (1953).
Even though there were some shots from both sides on October, 29 still we decided to go there on the next day as we planned.we met early in the morning in front of the West Gate(KAIST), took a bus and head to DMZ. It took about 4 hours to get there. On the way of going there I made a friend from Mexico, whose name is Bernardo. I learned a lot from him about his country and about other Latin American countries. I also told him about my country, hobbies. Because of the interesting conversation I couldn't how time flied and suddenly I realized that we are already in the block post before entering to DMZ. I told my Mexican friend that the former president of the United States Bill Clinton described it as "the scariest place on Earth" and he replied that it doesn't seem to be so. When we saw some soldiers with guns my friend changed his mind and said "Actually it is" and it didn't sound funny that time.
Finally when we arrived there we took some pictures.

I was impressed to find the "Bridge of No Return"on the map.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_No_Return ):