Wednesday, April 23rd. Peek-a-boo... we're back in the land of wi-fi.
Today we traveled by road to the Turkmenistan border, arriving about mid-morning. We had to line up to check out of Uzbekistan, get our passports checked repeatedly, all of which took a half hour before taking a small mini bus across no-mans land. There we had to hand our passports in as a group and wait for the visa to be placed in it. Then when we got it back we had to hand it in again to get it stamped and then have it checked by four more people before we came out the other side. We were greeted by a friendly man saying welcome. Turned out he was our new local Turkmen guide. There we were able to board our new bus and proceed to the nearby Turkmen city of Dashauz (Dashoguz), where we had lunch at a nice restaurant. They served it in courses starting with salad, then a nice lentil soup, followed by some grilled vegetables and meats. I was feeling better today and enjoyed the soup and some pieces of chicken, but I avoided the salad for now. The we visited a local bazaar which turned out to be a sad poor man’s flea market and produce stand. The highlight was the way our local guide interacted with the locals and how they responded to him and welcomed us. We were stars, I don’t think they get many tourists here. They posed for us and wanted to take photos with us. Very warm and welcoming people.
Later in the afternoon we transfered to the airport and flew from Dashauz (Dashoguz) to Ashgabat (Ashkhabad). We arrived in Asgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan at 8:40 after a 50 minute flight. The airport was new, only 8 years old and sparkling clean and bright. Our guide, Elias, accompanied us and lead us out to the bus. On the way out he had the driver stop so we could take a photo of the front of the airport which is all lit up and made to look like a falcon in flight. Then we drove to our hotel through the streets. All the cars in the city are white, by a presidential decry and all the buildings are lit up with neon lights and some even had animated animals running across their facades. We are only about 10km from the Iranian border. Ashgabat is located in a spectacular natural setting, between the Kara-Kum Desert and the Kopet-Dag mountain range. Elias told us that a settlement on the site of the city was successively occupied by the Parthians, Seljuk Turks, and the Mongols. Under Russian control, it became the administrative capital of the Trans-Caspian oblast, and was the centre of trade between the Russian empire and Persia; the Trans-Caspian railway reached here in 1885. Our hotel, the Sport Hotel, is right beside a huge ‘olympic complex’ where they hosted the Asian wrestling and martial arts championships. The hotel is a large glizty bright place with chandeliers and all. We checked in to our room and settled in for an early night as we are up again early. No Wi-fi here at all.
Some really excellent pictures, Joe, and I understand that Turkmenistan has put a lot of money into building projects over the past number of years. You say all cars are white (by presidential decree); from some of the pictures I've looked at online, it seems that most of the new buildings are white as well (as a few of your photos suggest). So glad to hear that the people are all so friendly and, on the surface, look very happy given that they are pretty strictly governed. Thanks for the first peeks into their culture.
ReplyDeletepretty fancy digs Joe
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