Nearing the end of this current vacation, I feel like I should start to compile all of my thoughts of the various countries that I've been traveling in. In total, four countries have been visited this time around - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Bulgaria. While still in Bulgaria, my thoughts are else where pondering all that I've done and wondering what the next adventure will be in the coming months. This first post about my current excursions in Asia focuses on the mysterious country of Turkmenistan.
They call it the 'North Korea of Central Asia.' It's a totalitarian dictatorship in the middle of a vast desert that has some of the largest natural gas reserves on Earth, which gives it the vast wealth that has enabled it to flourish in the past few years. The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashgabat, a beautiful, modern capital city that has enjoyed a fast level of modernization thanks to the pet projects of former president Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmen) and also the current ruler. It's a city full of white marble buildings, wide boulevards and guards on every corner of the capital.
To get the visa for this haven of extravaganza, I had to wait three months and fill in various forms related to my profession, current work status, etc... On top of this, I had to pay $95 in fees to get the damn thing. Upon arrival in Ashgabat with my friend Erin, from San Francisco, we walked into what resembled an abandoned warehouse, this was their airport. Being that we arrived in the middle of the night, the custom officials took their sweet time before starting to process the small plane that carried us into this tyrannical paradise. After roughly an hour of getting the visa, customs, and finding our driver, I was ready for bed.
The funny thing about Turkmenistan is that you have to travel there through an official tourist agency. The one we chose was called Owadan Travel, a nice company that fulfilled all of their contract obligations that we paid for. A nice 19 year old Turkmen picked us up from the airport and brought us to the Ak Altyn hotel in Ashgabat, a four star hotel that is slightly outdated in certain amenities, such as the Soviet era hairdryer in the bathroom.
Ashgabat was a lovely town, and so were the people. The women wear colorful dresses with floral patterns and interesting bonnets that cover their hair, but not in a traditional Muslim way that you would think of. The men wear very western clothing and act socially in public with women, going out, holding hands, laughing, etc... on comparison to other countries in the Islamic world.
The town is ultra modern with golden statues of their 'leader for life,' Turkmenbashi littered all over the parks and lawns of official government buildings. This man, who was the leader of Turkmenistan before its independence from the former USSR, declared himself president for life and created a cult status for himself that continues to be indoctrinated into the youth of the country.
White marble buildings, green parks, roads to be glorified compared to America, can all be found in this truly lovely town. Sadly, it's forbidden to take pictures of many buildings in the capital and the guards are very strict about having their pictures taken as well. One time, I was yelled at by a guard for walking on the sidewalk next to some unknown building with a fancy gate... the same thing happened the next day.
On my two day stay in Ashgabat, I went up into the green hills surrounding the city in a cable car journey that will not soon be forgotten. The scenery was stunning and the ride was scary. Luckily for me, my travel buddy didn't rock the car like he threatened to do. I also saw the various monuments, buildings, and parks that are sparsed throughout town and was really impressed with how modern the 'country' appeared to be.
The next stop on this eery tour of Turkmenistan was a gas crater that was set on fire by the Russians in the 1970's. This crater is quite large and is totally engulfed in flames. The smell of gas proliferates around the area. This site has become the biggest tourist attraction for the 7000 tourists that pass through this country. Erin and I camped behind a small dune nearby with our guides for that day. We had some lovely shaslyk - lamb kebabs that were roasted over the fire and enjoyed a night full of gazing at the crater and the stars that you could see through the gleaming lights of the fire.
The crater was the best part of the trip for me. The last three days of our trip were spent on some of the most horrible roads you could imagine. As soon as you leave the capital, the great infrastructure that you are meant to believe exists, goes away and turns into pot-holed roads for hundreds of kilometers. If you don't like to go off roading, I would not reccomend traveling to Turkmenistan. Erin and I spent hours wishing we stayed in the capital. The last part our stay in the country was to see the UNESCO sites of Konye-Urgench and Merv.
Overall, Turkmenistan was the oddest country that I've ever been to. First off, there are very few ATMs in the country. I found one. As such, you have to bring in all of the money that think you are going to spend during your stay, oh, and your US dollars MUST. BE. PERFECT. They cannot have any writing, blotch marks, stamps, wrinkles, etc... or else they will be rejected and useless to you. Erin and I found this out the hard way and were scraping for cash in a country where an electronic debit/credit card is almost useless.
The nightlife in the country is very quiet from what we found. We found on British Pub that was rather expensive and during the course of my stay, I was hit on by a Ukrainian hooker, whose phone number of passed on to me at the end of the conversation we had. No, nothing happened.
Once you leave the capital city, most of the country is a vast wasteland of desert shrubs and arid sand dunes. There's really nothing to see outside the capital that captured my attention in the three days that I saw from the roadside.
These are just some of the details that I observed and remember at this point in time. There is a lot more that could be written, but suffice to say that I had fun in this very unusual country.
For my friend, Ann Marsh, who would like to go here in the next few months. It is my opinion that four days in the country would be more than enough - 2 in the capital, one at the gas crater, and the last one stopping at Konye-Urgench while on your way to cross into Uzbekistan. Mary and Merv are not worth the extra two-three days of your time, and since you are paying for a tour company, this would cut your cost down a couple hundred dollars at least. Ashgabat and Darvaza is more than enough to see in my opinion.
Greetings from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria!!!!!
They call it the 'North Korea of Central Asia.' It's a totalitarian dictatorship in the middle of a vast desert that has some of the largest natural gas reserves on Earth, which gives it the vast wealth that has enabled it to flourish in the past few years. The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashgabat, a beautiful, modern capital city that has enjoyed a fast level of modernization thanks to the pet projects of former president Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmen) and also the current ruler. It's a city full of white marble buildings, wide boulevards and guards on every corner of the capital.
To get the visa for this haven of extravaganza, I had to wait three months and fill in various forms related to my profession, current work status, etc... On top of this, I had to pay $95 in fees to get the damn thing. Upon arrival in Ashgabat with my friend Erin, from San Francisco, we walked into what resembled an abandoned warehouse, this was their airport. Being that we arrived in the middle of the night, the custom officials took their sweet time before starting to process the small plane that carried us into this tyrannical paradise. After roughly an hour of getting the visa, customs, and finding our driver, I was ready for bed.
The funny thing about Turkmenistan is that you have to travel there through an official tourist agency. The one we chose was called Owadan Travel, a nice company that fulfilled all of their contract obligations that we paid for. A nice 19 year old Turkmen picked us up from the airport and brought us to the Ak Altyn hotel in Ashgabat, a four star hotel that is slightly outdated in certain amenities, such as the Soviet era hairdryer in the bathroom.
Ashgabat was a lovely town, and so were the people. The women wear colorful dresses with floral patterns and interesting bonnets that cover their hair, but not in a traditional Muslim way that you would think of. The men wear very western clothing and act socially in public with women, going out, holding hands, laughing, etc... on comparison to other countries in the Islamic world.
The town is ultra modern with golden statues of their 'leader for life,' Turkmenbashi littered all over the parks and lawns of official government buildings. This man, who was the leader of Turkmenistan before its independence from the former USSR, declared himself president for life and created a cult status for himself that continues to be indoctrinated into the youth of the country.
White marble buildings, green parks, roads to be glorified compared to America, can all be found in this truly lovely town. Sadly, it's forbidden to take pictures of many buildings in the capital and the guards are very strict about having their pictures taken as well. One time, I was yelled at by a guard for walking on the sidewalk next to some unknown building with a fancy gate... the same thing happened the next day.
On my two day stay in Ashgabat, I went up into the green hills surrounding the city in a cable car journey that will not soon be forgotten. The scenery was stunning and the ride was scary. Luckily for me, my travel buddy didn't rock the car like he threatened to do. I also saw the various monuments, buildings, and parks that are sparsed throughout town and was really impressed with how modern the 'country' appeared to be.
The next stop on this eery tour of Turkmenistan was a gas crater that was set on fire by the Russians in the 1970's. This crater is quite large and is totally engulfed in flames. The smell of gas proliferates around the area. This site has become the biggest tourist attraction for the 7000 tourists that pass through this country. Erin and I camped behind a small dune nearby with our guides for that day. We had some lovely shaslyk - lamb kebabs that were roasted over the fire and enjoyed a night full of gazing at the crater and the stars that you could see through the gleaming lights of the fire.
The crater was the best part of the trip for me. The last three days of our trip were spent on some of the most horrible roads you could imagine. As soon as you leave the capital, the great infrastructure that you are meant to believe exists, goes away and turns into pot-holed roads for hundreds of kilometers. If you don't like to go off roading, I would not reccomend traveling to Turkmenistan. Erin and I spent hours wishing we stayed in the capital. The last part our stay in the country was to see the UNESCO sites of Konye-Urgench and Merv.
Overall, Turkmenistan was the oddest country that I've ever been to. First off, there are very few ATMs in the country. I found one. As such, you have to bring in all of the money that think you are going to spend during your stay, oh, and your US dollars MUST. BE. PERFECT. They cannot have any writing, blotch marks, stamps, wrinkles, etc... or else they will be rejected and useless to you. Erin and I found this out the hard way and were scraping for cash in a country where an electronic debit/credit card is almost useless.
The nightlife in the country is very quiet from what we found. We found on British Pub that was rather expensive and during the course of my stay, I was hit on by a Ukrainian hooker, whose phone number of passed on to me at the end of the conversation we had. No, nothing happened.
Once you leave the capital city, most of the country is a vast wasteland of desert shrubs and arid sand dunes. There's really nothing to see outside the capital that captured my attention in the three days that I saw from the roadside.
These are just some of the details that I observed and remember at this point in time. There is a lot more that could be written, but suffice to say that I had fun in this very unusual country.
For my friend, Ann Marsh, who would like to go here in the next few months. It is my opinion that four days in the country would be more than enough - 2 in the capital, one at the gas crater, and the last one stopping at Konye-Urgench while on your way to cross into Uzbekistan. Mary and Merv are not worth the extra two-three days of your time, and since you are paying for a tour company, this would cut your cost down a couple hundred dollars at least. Ashgabat and Darvaza is more than enough to see in my opinion.
Greetings from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria!!!!!
