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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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The Turkmens don't even bother to stop the bus at their side (I guess not many foreigners ever cross here), so I unceremoniously enter the 26th country in my life.

The bus-station in Tashauz is absolute bedlam, and I don't know yet that I'm going to spend two of the most frustrating days of my life. After interviewing six locals or so (you have to abide by the Law of Big Numbers here), the bottom-line, including outright contradictions, seems to be that there are no buses to Ashkhabad. Some say there is not even a road, others pretend there never has been such a service, others say it is demanddriven (and little demand in the dead of the summer), others want to ferry me in whatever vehicle some of their acquaintances have, quoting prices for which I could actually buy the entire vehicle. I could try my luck in nearby Kunya Urgench, but why should there be a difference, because Tashauz is big enough by itself?

The consensus seems to be that I should try my luck at the railway station and get a ticket for the daily 8pm passage of the Moscow to Ashkhabad train. It's a 24hr haul, but I would still vastly prefer sticking it out for 8hrs in a bus across the desert, just for the heck of it, especially that I don't know how the then necessary re-entrance into Uzbekistan would be handled. Anyway, so on to the railway station. Underway I ask as many people as are willing, or able, to answer: apparently tickets are only on sale after 7pm, so I have about seven hours to investigate alternatives.

The first idea is of course to check out the airport, although half the people tell me that these domestic flights have been discontinued a few months ago. All my new interviewees add an interesting melange of new opinions as to the bus question. Anyway, after a torrid ride in an over-packed city-bus, I find out that there are flights, every two hours or so, to Ashkhabad! I drop my passport at the standby ...