But in my memory, the whole of Tajikistan, and the city of Dushanbe, and the village of Scouts will remain as I knew them - an exotic, friendly eastern country, with a highly developed nepotism, and not only at home or in the village, but also in the entire state, including administrative authorities and the police. At the time, it didn’t seem like something scary; it was perceived as an interesting local oriental feature, and in extreme cases, it could only bring a smile. Of course, even according to my past impression, Tajikistan at that time had nothing to do with socialism... At the height of perestroika, a large number of so-called “shop tours” appeared. These are trips of the population to buy goods from the country to which the “shop tour” was organized, which have nothing to do with tourism. There were still few people traveling to Pakistan at that time; for our tourist organizations and “shuttle traders” it was still “a wild, undeveloped territory.” Naturally, attempts were made to establish commercial relations with Pakistan, at the level of private “shop tours”. We bought tickets on one of the first such trips.