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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

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for all eternity the cheapest accommodation I ever had to pay for: the for Turkmens cut-throat rate is a stunning $0.15! However, the Soviet craze for bureaucracy makes that all sixteen guests are crammed into four rooms: the receptionist lady is selling beds, not rooms, as I realize upon entering "my" room and finding three people already in there. I don't want to create a warped impression of foreigners and their spending power, so, despite my desperate need for privacy after this harrowing day, I don't go back to the reception in order to rent an entire room for myself for a mindboggling $0.60. My room companions actually turn out to be extremely jovial and hospitable people, and they invite me to share the dinner they are preparing in the room. And the Turkmen language being a lot closer to Turkish than Uzbek, I actually round off the day in a good mood, especially that I now feel confident about reaching Ashkhabad tomorrow, by bus!

Wednesday 10 August 1994: Tashauz - Ashkhabad
Back at the airport at 7am, I ask literally every sweeper, porter, and taxi-driver where and when the bus to Ashkhabad is going to leave. Believe it or not, the answers oscillate between the non-existence of such a bus and that it departs at 8pm! In either case, it's a flagrant contradiction with the 8am I was told. Either these people spend their entire days working at the airport without realizing what's going on around them, or, in typical oriental fashion, making up a wrong answer is deemed more polite than admitting not knowing the answer at all. Information is extremely hard to come by here, as the last 24 hours have proven, and I have to exercise some self-control not to explode.
At 9am, with still no bus in sight, I lose my nerve, storm back into the airport commander's office (he is actually there now), get a (free!) handwritten notice from him, shovel my way through the already long standby queue, purchase ...