Boarder crossing was smooth. We walked across the no mans land, an abandoned cotton field from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan. Even as an18yr old soldier with WWII issued AK47 stared at us full of curiosity, immigration and customs were relaxed. But I suspect without a tour group, getting visa would be difficult, especially given Turkmenistan governments extreme xenophobia. Momentarily after the crossing, we hopped onto a Boeing 717 to fly from the boarder city of Dashoguz to Turkmenbashy (eastern shore of the Caspian). The 1hr flight costs $27, alleviating much of my concern that it costs [View Full Entry]

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Having left Esfahan behind, visiting mosques, wonderful bridges straddling a river with no water and having eaten some traditional Iranian food (apart from the ever present kebabs!) we headed south to Shiraz of grape fame - isn’t it odd that they are a nation of teetotallers. Although we were spending two nights there we only had one full day to explore and half of that was spent at the Iranian Department for Aliens (yes really) extending our visas as we discovered they were due to expire a few hours before we were due to leave the country - a hefty fine [View Full Entry]

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Underused but stately buildings, older soviet era apartment blocks, Ladas with shiny 'racing' tire rims, cafes that don't serve beer - Ashgabat is different! [View Full Entry]

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I am a bit behind with this journal as Turkmenistan was pretty tight with internet access. I couldn't get phone access as well. After Bukhara we went to Khiva - wandered around more amazing buildings and bazaars. From there we travelled across the border into Turkmenistan. The Border towns had not seen many tourists so we had a lot of attention as we were changing money and shopping in the bazaar. We had a couple of days of bush camping as we made our way through the Turkmen desert. We drank our last beers as we were just out of Ashgabat. [View Full Entry]

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Straight to Ashgabat, the capital, and probably the strangest place on earth. Some interesting facts; Ashgabat has more hotel rooms that the average number of tourists for the whole country, ANUALLY. Petrol costs less than 4p a gallon. There are 17 gold-plated statues or former president (and local madman) Niazov Turkmenbashi in town. There are no taxis in Ashgabat, you just flag down a car going in the right direction. I wander the streets, amazed by the brand new and empty ofccie and residential buildings, but am unable to take any photos for fear of arrest. I can't wait to leave. [View Full Entry]

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After the hellish border crossing experience we drove almost all day then finally getting to our bush camp near the Kow Ata underground thermal pools. i noticed there are many checkpoints everywhere we got stopped so many times I lost count, when we stopped at a market to shop for dinner, I was surprised to find out there are pork sashylik here, and our guide Ata said they are not really strict here, they are a secular country. It was very windy at the camp and took lots of effort to set up our tents. The next morning we went [View Full Entry]

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We spend the entire day in and around the City of Love, doing its sights, smells and sounds. Our guide for the day is Gholuya, an old Russian woman from Ashgabat. We start with a tour to the newly constructed gigantic Azadi mosque which is more or less a copy of the Haga Sofia in Istanbul. Unfortunately it is not that popular with the locals, since the construction work was marred by some accidents costing some workers their lives. The big hall under the gigantic dome is covered in red carpets and gives a very peaceful impression at this hour. We [View Full Entry]

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