Hotel Margush Mary

Well, we finally got in!
We all met at the Uzbek boarder and exited the country without too much hassle and crossed over to the Turkmen side. Then the fun and games really started! We queued for hours and when we finally shuffled to the front of the line at the first check we were chucked out - no visa! Then our Saviour appeared in the form of Oleg, our tour guide. A no-nonsense bruiser of a man (an ex-captain in the Soviet army apparently!), he quickly organized our ...

Hi all, Well I actually have arrived in Buhkara, Uzbekistan after 6 days in the desert of Turkmenistan and of course having spent an enourmour amount getting across the Caspian Sea. The internet is extremely slow (non existing in Turkmenistan) and not many computers available so I am just able to do the 3 days cycling in Turkmenistan to Mary and do the last 3 days incl the day in Uzbekistan at my next rest day stop in Samarkand where we have two days rest....how ...

Salam, ich habe zwei Naechte in Mary verbracht, um von hier aus die Ausfluege nach Merv und Gonur Depe zu machen. Mary ist eine recht langweilige Stadt (wie alle turkmenischen Staedte...), es gibt aber immerhin ein Internet Cafe (ebenfalls mit nur fuenf Computern und der gleichen Ueberwachung). Das Museum ist ganz nett ebenso ...

Salam, der zweite Ausflug von Mary fuehrte nach Merv, welches eine bedeutende Seidenstrassenstadt und islamische Stadt war, um 1000-1200 so bedeutend wie Damaskus oder Bagdad. Es soll ausserdem kurzfristig die groesste Stadt der Welt gewesen sein, und auch der Ort wo 1001 Nacht entstanden sein soll. Dummerweise hat der Herrscher der Stadt einen Abgesandten von Dschingis Khan ermordet statt Tribut zu zahlen, woraufhin die Armee von ...

Salam, in Persien (Iran) gibt es ein Friesz (Felsschnitzerei) aus der Zeit von Darius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_I_ of_Persia) auf der ein in die Sklaverei gefangener Koenig aus Marginia gezeigt wird. Marginia war lange Zeit ein unbekanntes Reich bis es 1972 von einem russischen Aerchologen gefunden wurde (und erst 1990 im Westen bekannt wurde). http ...

Turkmenistan - the most crazy country in the world? Well after North Korea I cant think of any others. Getting the visa was a major hassle but I had to go and see this country for my self. The first issue is the boarder, mostly getting through it. After Iran and the fact as a tourist I was waved through I was hopping for the same in turkmen. Well that dream was quickly destroyed as I was told to 'empty my bags' this ...

Je passe les details de tranport et d hotellerie... Le but de notre venue ici est de visiter les ruines de la cite anciennes de Merv. Pendant le reigne des persans, cette ville etait un melting pot de religions, les Chretiens, Zoroastriens et Bouddhistes cohabitaient dans la paix. Cette ville est l endroit le plus a l ouest ou l on a trouve des traces du Bouddhisme. Une des statues trouvee ici est du meme style que les statues geantes en ...

After a few days of relative downtime in Ashgabat we struck east towards Mary, the third biggest town in Turkmenistan. We had a new driver, Arshod, and a Toyota minivan with A/C, which was nice for how long we were on the road. On the way we stopped by Anau, a supposedly archaeologically significant site consisting of a single ruined building currently in use as a local shrine, and Abiverd, a more extensive set of ruins. Perhaps there's more of Anau under the weeds around it, but I wasn't ...

We left Ashgabat after the morning market, and headed in our 4WD towards the third largest city of Mary, passing through countless police checks along the way. The roads were surprisingly good, but the heat was close to unbearable as we crossed through the desert. One of the boys told me that the desert of ...

Hello to all. I am back in Mumbai. I am feeling much better on my second first day here. I was able to sleep four hours on the London to Mumbai stretch and that seemed to make all the difference. However, this morning some idiot came by ringing the doorbell next door and woke me up at 6:30 a.m. and I had just gone to bed at 4:00. OK OK enough of my sleeping schedule. this morning I had a great lunch at the hotel of chicken biryani and amazing parathi (flat bread ...