Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan August 9, 2019 Getting off the train in Turkmenbashi at 9:30 am, I headed to the port straight away after stocking up on food and water. Who knew? Maybe a cargo ship would leave for Baku today. In the gleaming new building – white of course, with the requisite gold trim – I … More A Gilded Cage
Turkmenistan August 8, 2019 The cities of Turkmenistan are modern with excellent roads, fleets of new cars and slick buildings. Important landmarks are lavishly decorated with over-the-top grandeur. Strange monuments dot traffic roundabouts, to be topped by even stranger ones at parks and boulevards. But heading out of any city, I go past old Soviet-style … More Far from the Glitter and Gold
Turkmenabat to Mary August 5, 2019 Surprisingly painless to buy a train ticket, I wondered at the lack of rudeness on the part of the ticket agent. They must have not got the memo that all ticket agents in ex-Soviet countries received. The lack of internet and wifi to blame perhaps? Waiting in the cavernous … More Riding the Rails
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan August 7, 2019 Smack in the middle of a scorching desert is Ashgabat but you would never guess it from the number of parks and flowering shrubs that line medians and border parks. Fountains spout at corners of wide boulevards, each more bizarre in design than the last. One can only wonder at … More In a Bizarre World
Mary, Turkmenistan August 6, 2019 Wandering out to get some dinner before boarding the train, I saw streams of women dressed more elaborately than usual, heading somewhere. Following them, I found the large plaza at the corner of the street transformed. Carpets had been laid out covering the plaza dotted with yurts dressed in colorful … More A Festival in the Making
Merv, Turkmenistan August 6, 2019 The Greeks called it Margiana. Some called it Margush. Located squarely on the trade route between Asia and Europe, at the western terminus of Transoxiana, it was once called Marv-i-Shah-Jahan, or Merv, Queen of the World. The changing course of Amu Darya had over the centuries, caused settlements to shift … More Fabled Margiana
Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan August 5, 2019 I needed manats, and knowing to steer clear of the banks, headed straight to the bazar. Thanks to the huge discrepancy between official and unofficial rates, Turkmenistan like Uzbekistan before, has a thriving black market. But word is, undercover police are plentiful and discovering the result of breaking laws in … More This is Your Lunch
Farap, Turkmenistan August 5, 2019 Arriving at Alat, the last town on the Uzbek side, by happy coincidence I met a couple from Turkmenistan. They travel across the border on a routine basis to buy alcohol and cigarettes, items that are much cheaper here. Perfect, I thought. I could exchange a few dollars for Turkmen … More Anticlimactic Border Crossing
Bukhara, Uzbekistan August 5, 2019 The five day marathon begins today and I am off to Turkmenistan. This is a country with precious little information available. What there is comes from online forums and travellers met on the road. Word is, Internet and WiFi are not quite there yet. I guess I will just have … More To Turkmenistan
Tashkent, Uzbekistan July 22, 2019 I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! That is the refrain playing through my head. I still cannot believe that I got this infamously difficult visa. The rumors on traveler grapevine of Tashkent having a higher … More Over the Moon
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 