Home » Turkmenistan » Turkmenistan

This is a report of a solo-trip to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, undertaken during July/August 1994.

Turkmenistan

Pierre.Flener
2004-04-03 19:02:45

Displayed times (last time: )

fabled collection of ivory rhytons (drinking horns of Zoroastrianism) and nice displays of nomad handicraft. Other, supposedly lesser museums, also charge foreigners $1, so I give them a pass. I run into people I met at the Tashauz airport, and spend the evening again with the Iranians, Pakistanis, and our "fools."

Friday 12 August 1994: Ashkhabad - istanbul - Ankara
The flight to istanbul starts from the brand-new super-modern terminal (built with Turkish expertise), and all goes smoothly until four passengers can't get seats: undetected over-booking! First they let us swelter for about an hour in an un-airconditioned cabin, checking the tickets one by one. Even the glass of water we obtain is not enough, and the general mood is inversely proportional to the punishing sunshine outside. Eventually, they ferry us back to the terminal, for another check, and three hours later back to the aircraft for a third check. I have more chats with the friendly Turkmen lady of yesterday. But I can't believe that they never over-booked before, or don't know how to handle this (definitely not in this amateurish way), so I make sure I'm not among the last four to board, as I suspect them to bump these unlucky passengers. Everybody else has the same suspicion, and I don't describe you the mess. I am confident though, because I told an English-speaking stewardess that with my $422 ticket I had better not be bumped! Finally we get off, and I sit next to two Turkish engineers who had been involved in the construction of the new terminal. They couldn't go home for six months, and can barely wait for their upcoming feast on iskender kebap and baklava. So am I! In istanbul, I manage to get a connecting flight to Ankara.

Conclusion
Despite the sometimes discouraging effect of the mentioned difficulties and frustrations of unorganized travel in Central Asia, I highly recommend such a journey. I am also confident that by the time other people get there, some of my hurdles will have been cleared away. Visa problems can now be solved via Raisa or by bribes; linguistic problems must be solved before going there (learn minimal Russian and/or Turkish: I couldn't stress this enough, as virtually nobody speaks western languages (yet)); financial problems should disappear as soon as there is competition (Raisa's B&B chain makes things sort-of affordable, but she will have to lower her prices as soon as somebody competes with her), though I ignore how much longer the two-tiered price-lists with multipliers of up to a hundred will be maintained at hotels, museums, and domestic flights.
Everything is sensationally beautiful and exotic, and I look forward to going back there one day