Day 28: Tuesday 3rd October – crossing from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan and a drive through the Karakum Desert to Mary
Onward! To our fourth country, Turkmenistan. Hands up those who had to get the map out to find it?? First, the small matter of the border crossing from Uzbekistan….. no good whinging, we all know what’s involved and hey ho this is Adventure Travel! But to give you some idea it took us two hours to get out of Uzbekistan and another hour to get into Turkmenistan. Given there were only a couple of dozen travellers including our gang, you may be a bit puzzled. Well, our passports were checked – I think – six times by the Uzbeks and lots of waiting around between checks.
All this taking place in the lunar landscape of the Karakum Desert and much of it out in the sun. Getting the picture?? Turkmen guys only checked the passport four times, I think, but made us open all our luggage and rifled through it. Having been well briefed in advance I left all my dirty laundry at the top!
Once through we had our 200 mile drive through the desert: lots of excitement when we saw our first wild camels, then a bunch of domesticated beasts being herded by a guy on a motorcycle. We can’t entirely figure out why they are kept, we have never come across camel burgers……
See pics of Turkmenistan
Day 29: Wednesday 4th October – Ancient Merv
So, you have just seen the legendary Registan in Samarkand, then the incomparable Po-i-Kalyan Mosque complex in Bukhara – how do you follow that? With the truly astonishing site of Ancient Merv in Turkmenistan! What makes the place astonishing is its sheer scale and the breadth of monuments that reflect a sweep of history not seen anywhere else. On this single site you will find remnants of Ekr Kala (6th C BC) with its Citadel Gayur Kala (3rd C BC), Sultan Kala (8th-11th C AD), Abdullakhan Kala and Bairamalikhan Kala (15th C AD), the Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar (12th C AD), Great Kyz Kala and Little Kyz Kala (6-7th C AD) and the Mausoleum of Muhammad inn Zeid (12th C AD).
If that sounds like a lot of Kalas it arises for two reasons:
* The River Murghab which provided the water which made the area so fertile was constantly changing its course. Again this meant newcomers tended to build on new sites if the River course had shifted
* Merv was a rich area, right at the centre of the Silk Road and was conquered and reconquered time and time again, but new masters mostly built there own city close to the previous one and not on top of the existing
See more pics of Ancient Merv: Soon come!!!
Day 30: Thursday 5th October – a short flight across the desert to Ashgabat
Superficially, you could not imagine two worlds more different than Ancient Merv and Ashkabat. Astonished visitors to the latter often make comparisons with Disneyworld in the physical sense of a series of vast white marble monstrosities a la Cinderella’s Castle and of a fantasy world designed by and for children with no expense spared and without allowing taste or style to interfere with the imaginings. My own view is that it has a sense of Portmerion (N Wales) about it, although on an unimaginably more grandiose scale.
The place pretty much started again from scratch following the tragic earthquake in 1948 which destroyed the city and killed between 110,000 and 176,000 people (the uncertainty arises because the Soviets never gave a proper number – their official toll was 40,000). In more recent times it has become a showcase for the accomplishments of the young Republic of Turkmenistan which became independent in 1991 following the demise of the USSR.
I used the word ‘superficially’ at the beginning because there is no doubt in my mind that the first President of the newly independent Turkmenistan Saparmirat Niyazov, who styled himself Turkmanbashi did see himself as the spiritual successor to Sultan Sanjar and the other great Seljuk leaders who are buried at Merv and who ruled at a time when according to one renowned historian the city had a population of 200,000 and was said to be the largest in the world. I feel had you visited as I did Sultan Sanjar’s Mausoleum at Merv one day and Turkenbashi’s Mausoleum at Ashgabat the next you would have been left with the same impression!
Have a look at some of the pics here Ashgabat and see what you think!! Soon come!!!
Day 31: Friday 6th October – 3rd Century BC Parthian Fortress
We had our dinner last night on the top floor of a posh, marble clad, 18 storey empty hotel in Ashgabat. At night we immediately saw why many people see similarities between Ashgabat and Las Vegas: both are in the middle of a desert and both are obsessed with marble clad buildings and the pervasive use of glaring neon strips on all the buildings. I have put a few pics After dark in Ashgabat… so that you can get some idea! Soon come!!!
The Parthian Fort had been a real treat after the weirdness of Ashgabat, but after that we had one more turn around the city to have a look at some of the marble clad monstrosities and golden statues of the president that we might have missed previously. You’re right, i don’t much like Ashgabat and specifically left the place seething at the grinding poverty and oppression of so many of its citizens when the politicians are lining their pockets and indulging themselves in medieval fantasies… rant over!
Next stop was visit to a farm breeding Heavenly Horses… some pics here: Heavenly Horses: Soon come!!!
Learn more about and see pics of 3rd century BC Parthian Fort: Soon come!!!
Day 32: Saturday 7th October – Ashkabat’s surprising National Museum and crossing into Iran
We had showed up at the Turkmenistan National Museum in Ashgabat on Friday, only to find out it was closed owing to some national holiday. We were promised that if we came back first thing this morning, then we would be able to get it. And so it was…. not only that we had a personal tour of the Museum by clearly a senior guy who had fluent English, excellent knowledge of his subject and willingness to engage in a conversation about the exhibits and their history. What was not allowed was photography…. which was real shame, the whole thing was beautifully laid out with some wonderful exhibits and lots of information about each exhibit in English.
Entrance to the Turkmenistan National Museum in Ashkabat
Yes, the ground floor was full of pictures of the President and exhibits showing the wonder of his works but interestingly our guide skipped that altogether! Yes, some of the wording on the descriptions of the exhibits might be regarded as jingoistic, but generally we all thought it was a high quality museum. We had not been expecting that, given the Museum building is another one of the marble edifices we had already seen far too much of! I am only sorry i cannot share with you more about the exhibits…..
With a fair measure of excitement, we then set off for the border crossing from Turkmenistan into Iran. The two US citizens in our party just a little more tense perhaps than the rest of us….
Compared to some of our previous border crossing experiences this was a piece of cake! Getting out of Turkmenistan required a little patience but all was well in the end, we having had to put up with more statues and pictures of the President. Getting into Iran did involve sitting around for about 90 minutes, [but chairs were provided!] and our two US citizens were interviewed as to why they wanted to enter Iran, but they reported back that process was brief and courteous. Next thing we knew, we were in Iran!!
Pics of our journey: From Turkenistan into Iran: Soon come!!!
Tony's Geriatric Adventures 