Turkmenistan Trail

Turkmenistan Trail

Although there’s a lot to see in Turkmenistan tourism is very restricted. In 2016 only 6000 foreigners visited Turkmenistan – including those who came to Turkmenistan as part of an official delegation. It’s hard to get a visa to visit Turkmenistan. Rules of admittance can change at any moment. Tourism is not encouraged, to put it mildly. When you are lucky enough to get a visa a guide has to be with you all the time! This is just like in North-Korea.

Entering Turkmenistan is difficult. Our driver drops us with the luggage at the border. First we leave Uzbekistan. Then we have to go by mini-bus through the neutral zone, approximately one mile. You pay for the trip in cash, two dollar per person. Apart from a Japanese guy we’re the only ones entering Turkmenistan this morning.

At the Turkmenistan border office first our temperature is measured. We show our entrance papers and pay the visa at the cashier. They check our papers and passport check again. Before the luggage check, we need to call our guide to make sure we are collected by him. Border control needs this confirmation.

Suitcases have to be opened. My wife brought along two binoculars for bird watching. The custom officials are very interested in these. They take their time to sift through them and they ask a lot of questions. They also want to know my occupation, whether we have children. You notice tourism and foreigners visiting are fairly uncommon here.

Finally we enter Turkmenistan. We meet our guide Serdar and driver Oaez. First we drive to Kunya-Urgench. We have lunch here in a family restaurant and then we take a stroll on the local bazaar. We have a look at historical Urgench and we visit a few centuries old mausoleum and a colossal minaret dating from the 11^th century. A big place with a lot of archeological remains. We also meet some nice local people, however they don’t speak English.

In a big mausoleum our guide Serdar recites, or better, sings out loud a Koran verse. Another visitor ‘answers’ with the next verse. Sometimes days are spend in this way.

In the modern city of Dashoguz – we saw here one of the biggest mosques ever – we take a plane to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. Serdar flies with us and we have conversation. He is a nice man. He prepared on his computer a lengthy presentation of his country. It takes almost all fly-time to see it. A family tree from Dzjengis Khan and the history of Turkmenistan. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, independent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Serdar speaks his own form of English. Now and then a little difficult to understand. When he talks about famous people he says ‘this man was very vamoos’.

Late in the afternoon we arrive in the capital. Drive to the hotel. It’s called Hotel Yildiz. The look of the hotel is futuristic. Almost as big and beautiful as the Burj al Arab in Dubai. There are very few guests in the hotel. For dinner we have pancakes with salmon and caviar.

Next day Serdar takes us on a city tour. Close to the hotel we start on Memorial Square. Statues from the life and times of the first president since independence Niyazov , also known as Turkmenbashi – Head of the Turkmen. In one detail we see the mother of the future president rescuing him from an earthquake.

Old Nisa is a city made of clay. It was founded by Arsaces the First who reigned from 250-211 B.C. and was the royal residence of the Parthian kings. A lot of the city remains. We explore the site under supervision of the chief archaeologist.

Back to Ashgabat: such modern a city. We’ve never seen anything like it. Even the bus stops with roofs are made out of marble. Beautiful, breathtaking. One strange thing though: almost no people on the streets! Well, Turkmenistan is one of the most sparsely populated nations in Asia. But in this insanely beautiful capital it looks almost forbidden for inhabitants to go outside…

Independence square. Here a big group of people get together. It turns out to be a traditional wedding. We feel blessed to witness! Nice clothing they all wear. The bride’s face is covered by a big veil. In the evening the groom may remove it.

Elsewhere on the square is a big statue of Turkmenbashi. Next to it, in a man-made pond is the statue of a big book. The book called ‘Ruhnama’ was written by Turkmanbashi. It was meant as a ‘spiritual guidance of the nation’, including poems, history and autobiography of Turkmanbashi. The book used to open every hour to display some pages but that system doesn’t work anymore.

The monument of neutrality. Turkmenistan’s neutral foreign policy has an important place in the constitution. Its status of permanent neutrality was even formally recognized by the United Nations, hence the monument. Note the statue of Turkmenbashi on top of it, which rotates to always face the sun.

We are not encouraged to leave the hotel. Our cell phone does not work here, also there’s no internet. Dinner in the hotel restaurant, there we are all alone. There’s a piano in the corner. I point at it when we order and little time after this someone comes to play the piano.

We fly to Mary. Picked up by guide Eugenia and her driver. With them we then drive to Merv. But first, on our way, we visit an animal market. Very busy here. Farmers buying and selling animals. We talk to some people. They are interested to know where we‘re from. One of them asks for prices in our country for a good cow or a good horse. Sorry, that’s beyond my knowledge.

Merv was a major city on the historical Silk Road. It was inhabited on from the 3^rd millennium BC. Repeatedly, Merv changed hands throughout history. It has been ruled by Greeks (Alexander the Great conquered the city), Arabs, Turks and Persians. The site is huge, a lot of remains.

Eugenia shows us around. She is well educated. Historian, archaeologist, former director of a museum in Moscow. When we politely ask why she changed to tourist guide the answer is vague. Something to do with Soviet times. We don’t persist.

There’s much to see. Eugenia even points out the best picture places… Climate is hot most of the year in this region. To store perishable goods people long ago built ‘Ice houses’. The shape of the building guaranteed a very low temperature. When we enter one of them it’s really cold inside. We are the only foreigners here. A lot of local school groups visit the place for educational reasons. When we meet these groups students are very curious about us. They want to practice their English! Nice conversations though.

Stop at the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar. Very well preserved. Dating back to 1157. Sanjar was Sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire. His tomb was the site of pilgrimages. Afterwards we have lunch in a place called ‘Krystall’. Then some other local guests offer us beer and locally brewed liquor. People here tend to be very hospitable.

Last day we drive to the border. We will experience the border procedures once again. It’s very hot in the car. Sun shines all the time. When I attach the sunscreen to the window, Eugenia warns: ‘put it back’. Police wants to see who’s in the car. Hence, no sunscreens in Turkmenistan!

This trip was made in 2017.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

 asia culture