Hotel Nebitchi Ashgabat

We woke up nice early in order to sort out our van dilemma before the roads got to busy. The plan was to floor it in reverse as far as a slightly firmer patch of ground and swing it around at high speed. Slowing down was bad, as it was almost impossible to get started again. Inevitably the van dug itself in deep, up to the rear axle. We were merrily putting our carpets back in place when three men pulled up. I ...

... gets by. The last few days in Uzbekistan were again full of seeing minarets, mosques and blue tiled medrassas ( Islamic schools) all from the 11th century on and extremely beautiful but the feeling was similar to when i got all templed out in India - you can have too much of a good thing. Also most of them have been so restored its like they are brand new and in doing so the Russians have preserved them but sucked out any life blood. Its all a bit sterile. We stayed ...

We have no idea what to expect in Turkmenistan. The main thing we have gleaned from our reading is that the former President Saparmurat Niyazov (he died in December 2006) was pretty strange. He was the leader of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan when the country became independent (when the Soviet Union collapsed) in October 1991, and continued on as leader, becoming almost a cult figure. Stories about him abound. He ...

Ashgabat, capitale du Turkmenistan est divisable en deux parties, les politiques et monolithiques constructions du gouvernement sovietique et les politiques et monolithiques constructions du President Niyazov, dont le nombre augmente tous les mois. C est un ensemble de batiments flambants neuf de marbre blanc entoures de parcs et jardins avec fontaines et de routes bien ...

... time we tried to take a photo. (We sneakily managed a few, but these were found and deleted at the border crossing as we left the country. Unless you managed to remove your memory card in time. [Sneaky PICS]). That night we went to the 'British Pub'. Which served Russian beer and Mexican food in a mainly French setting. Excellent fajitas though. Our Azerbaijan visas didn't come back from the embassy in time so we had an extra ...

... my stay in Turkmenistran, even though it was still hot (in the 90's). The temperature at the end of August - just 2 weeks prior to my visit - was hovering around an unbearbale 130 degree F. Before boarding the ferry to cross the Caspian Sea, I had a swim in the lake/sea by the city of Turkmenbashi. The water across on the other side in Azerbaijan would have been too oily for swimming. Capital and the President Ashgabat (population 600K) , the capital and by far the ...

... opened up at night, with a different page of "wisdom" projected; we didn't witness it, but from looking closely at the monument we figured it was possible. So it could be said that Ashgabat has had a facelift, but (as Michael Jackson has shown us) that's not always a good thing! I'll mention some interesting things we noticed around the city. Almost every residential building has huge satellite dishes clustered around every apartment. The ...

... very wealthy nation. Underneath its deserts and the Caspian Sea are huge gas and oil reserves. Turkmenbashi promised future properity based on this wealth, and started making huge contracts with Russia and whoever they could. I heard that he has promised gas to Russia for the next 20 years based on a fixed price, well underneath ...

... rambler.ru, you know why. So I will try to sum up the past two months as concisely as I can..... So to begin with, returning to Turkmenistan was the "right" decision. Things have been amazing since I have been back. I think that I have taken full advantage of my 5 month break (no pun intended) and really been able to be aware of my prior mistakes and realize what I need to do to make things happen here. I defiantly got hurt at a time that was positive: after ...

... nervous. The customs guy said "Don't worry sir, he's a cash dog." John laughed out loud, believing he was joking. That was a big mistake! The customs officer said, "No sir, I'm serious, he's a cash dog and has smelt some cash on you. How much cash are you carrying sir?" Realising the guy was dead serious John gave his answer in such a way as to leave no doubt in the officer's mind that he was telling the truth. "One thousand US dollars." "Thank you sir, that's ...