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
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 Aug 3, 2019 The trading domes in the old town dating back to the Silk Road days, still have shops. But these now sell handcrafts, most very beautifully made. Suzanis and carpets, embroidered table-cloths and cushion covers, jackets and dresses, hand-painted miniatures vie with handmade knives and swords made by master craftsmen. What … More A Shopaholic’s Delight
Bukhara, Uzbekistan Aug 1, 2019 The oases of Samarkhand and Bukhara have always been major stops along the Silk Road and are no less so these days on the tourist trail. Justifiably famous for its well-preserved medieval monuments, Bukhara is a delight. I happily did my tourist duty and wandered around the old town re-visiting … More An Oasis of Medieval Grandeur
Surkhondarya, Uzbekistan July 29, 2019 My questions about sites I wanted to see around Termez, met with bafflement immediately followed by a string of excuses. Either unknown or too far or not accessible or not permitted. I could only go to the ones firmly on the tourist radar. Given time, I suppose I could have … More When Bactria was Buddhist
Termez, Uzbekistan July 28, 2019 My wanderings in Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan were intriguing because of the wealth of history this part of the world is steeped in. And frustrating because I could not travel easily or see the many sites that I wanted to. But Bactria of old had boundaries that stretched beyond Amu … More In Bactria Again
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 