Wacky Dictators

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The 11th October started out like any other day, except we were leaving Uzbekistan and crossing into Turkmenistan. Things seemed a bit dire when I told everyone to make sure they had their Uzbekistan Customs Declaration forms ready to present at the border, and found out that 2 people didn't even have a form (both copies were mistakenly taken off them at Tashkent Airport). There was nothing we could do about it. Firstly we got them to offload as much currency as possible to other group members, but this still left them with around US$1470 total. Nothing for it. We knew a lot depended on the official we got, which could prove to be a costly exercise for the clients. Worst came to worst, we would have to pay a bribe. In addition, 1 client had forgotten to fill out the currency declaration on her form. The guide told me a story where some people had forgotten to fill out this section, and they were searched and found to have 1000 euro's, of which the customs officials kindly took half as a fine. We got around this by getting the client to fill out the section, and the guide was able to sweet-talk the customs official (a nice lady) by saying that the stupid person at the Airport forgot to note the currency and stamp it. As for the 2 clients without a form, they ended up only forking out US$50 total (hey presto - new forms!), which was a great result. The moral of the story is to fill out everything and keep every single piece of paper until you cross the border.

Then we had to walk through No-Man's Land for about 1km dragging our luggage. It was a very hot and dusty day. We ended up having more delays on the Turkmenistan side, as not long after lodging our passports, the border guards & passport control broke for their lunch break for over an hour. With the various delays, the 2 borders ended up taking us 5 hours.

Finally we were allowed into Turkmenistan, which I can confidently say is one of the weirdest countries I've ever visited. The previous president (aka "Turkmenbashi") died last December, and the new president (who looks eerily like the old one, and is rumoured to be his illegitimate son) was voted in without contest in February. The new President has followed on from his predecessor by replacing the enormous portraits of the previous president on every building facade with ones of himself. Plus there are tons of gold "Oscar-look-alike" statues of the previous president outside the govt buildings in Ashgabat. I was feeling the "LOVE" (Me; Myself; I) everywhere we went.

The official exchange rate to the US Dollar is 5200 Turkmenistan Manat. But you can change currency with the street moneychangers for close to 5 times that rate at 23,500 Manat. Even the government officials use them. It's purported that the previous president also used the unofficial rate as he got more bang for his buck; or in this case - a much larger mosque and mausoleum built in his honour.

Petrol is ridiculously cheap in this country at 300 Manats per litre. Also gas and electricity are practically free. On the minus side there is 60% unemployment. Internet is practically non-existent, but where there is access you have to register your passport details (even the locals). The guidebook warns you that your emails will probably be read by the authorities; plus the hotel rooms and restaurants are bugged as well. This all-encompassing fear factor over the masses is a little creepy, and quite different from Uzbekistan even though that country is also a dictatorship. You'd think with all these hoodoo tactics (didn't anyone tell them the Cold War is officially over?) that the populace would treat foreigners with suspicion, but you would be wrong. The Turkmen people have been so friendly and welcoming and generous, which has been a pure delight.

We ended up spending 2 nights in Mary, of which the major highlight was the great ancient city of Merv (also known as Margiana). Finally we went onto the capital Ashgabat for 2 nights.

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Photos

El Presidente
Spunky portrait on the facade of the Mary Municipal Council building.

4th city walls
Merv consisted of 5 cities.

Foreign relations
Barbara and I getting friendly with some local girls

Erk Kala
Ancient pottery shards are everywhere you look in the oldest of the Merv cities dating from around the 6th century BC. Apparently the locals come trawling the site with shovels after a large rainfall.

Great Kyz Kala
7th century fortresses (aka "koshks") built by the Sassanians

Ships of the Desert
The view of the camel car-park from Little Kyz Kala

Kopet Dag Mountains
The natural border between Turkmenistan (lower mountains) and Iran (upper mountains)

Tolkuchka Bazaar, Ashgabat
Wheeling & dealing in the carpets section. Turkmen carpets are renowned for their glorious shades of deep red. This enormous market is only held on weekends and Thursdays.

Telpek stand
Turkmen equivalent of the beanie

Jewellery vendors
Rows and rows for sale in the Tolkuchka Bazaar

Samosa
I lined up for ages to score one of these meat-filled delights, which cost about 10 cents.

Pomegranates
Chatted to this lovely mother and daughter who gave me some pomegranate to try.

Melons
The guidebook mentions there are over 50 varieties of melon. The watermelon in Turkmenistan was the sweetest I've tasted in ages.

Gold statue
Statue of the previous president with an Akhal-Teke horse (endemic only to Turkmenistan). Free horse races are held at the Hippodrome in Ashgabat every week; but no gambling is allowed.

And the Oscar goes to....
Another kitschy gold statue on top of the Arch of Neutrality in Ashgabat. Apparently this one turns to follow the sun.

Rhyton
Horn-shaped vessel of carved ivory used for Zoroastrian rituals and official occasions

Nissa
Nissa was the capital of the Parthians in the 3rd century BC, and was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. Unesco is currently in the process of restoring this site. The Kopet Dag Mountains are a stunning backdrop.

Turkmenbashi's mosque
This mosque is built next to Turkmenbashi's mausoleum. It can hold 20,000 people and cost US$128 million to build. We had to wait for evening prayers to finish before going inside for a look, of which a grand total of 6 people were inside. To me this building represented all that is excessive and wrong with the Turkmenistan administration.

Berzengi
This newly developing Utopia comprises row upon row of white marble apartment buildings, hotels and office towers built by the various govt depts. It felt like you were on an alien planet. Whilst the lights were on (electricity is practically free after all), you were lucky to see a few people actually living in them (govt officials only permitted), which was mega-creepy and another typical example of the govt's excesses & cronyism.

Independence Park
We had our farewell to Turkmenistan dinner at the top of this monstrously ugly shopping centre complex complete with cascading fountain/water feature and mandatory gold bust of Turkmenbashi.

Sturgeon dinner
From the Caspian Sea

Comments

[Kate Hildebrand]

o, Turkmenbashi
very interesting blog! What kind of tour are you taking?