Hotel Rahat Ashgabat

... was built from scratch, the city hasn't evolved any notion of centre and so feels quite soulless. It was also 46 degrees in the wind, so that probably didn't help our mood. We paid an extortionate amount for lunch, but did get to play pool in the air conditioned restaurant. Having made the effort to get there, and having invested so much in bribes, we gave Ashgabat the benefit of the doubt and did some touristing ...

... a double bed- I slept like a star fish for 2 whole nights - except I didn't sleep. The heat has got to me of late and it has melted my intestines. As far as i am aware this is not a listed condition but I think someone should do research on the melt point of intestines. It would be a really interesting project for someone and helpful to mankind. What hasn't helped is driving into the desert and arriving at 12 noon when the temperature is 3million centigrade and there ...

... you must have a letter of introduction from the travel agent in the country who is doing your bookings, stating the date and place you enter, where you are going, and the date and place you depart - all of which encouraged us to book a tour. There has been very little information about how the country has changed (if at all) under the new leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. The country has 5-6 million people, and Sunni Islam ...

... kilo of Edam, so all was not lost. Sad moment saying goodbye to the rest of the group who weren't coming to Istanbul. Some of them had been with us since Xian, China, 10 weeks ago. Last thing we do before leaving Ashgabat is fill up with diesel, which at $0.02/litre costs less than $5 to fill up the truck, then spend the day driving alongside the Iranian border to the ferry port in Turkmenbashi (via about 12 police stops...).

Not in chronological order... North Sam, a Russian speaking American English teacher, and I crossed the border from the northwestern Uzbekistan to northern Turkmenistan. The border guard told us that, on average, there are one or two foreigners passing through that border crossing. Our guide, from Turkmenistan Department of Tourism, met us as soon as we entered the Turkmenistan border. She helped us with all kinds of paperwork - there was a lot! We were then given a tour ...

... throughout the country. One thing I noticed was, similar to Uzbekistan, quite a lot of advertising for Korean products. Almost every billboard had an LG advertisement on it; I'm guessing they paid for manufacture of the entire billboard, not just the advertising space. I guess their little project in Kaesong exploiting their fellow Koreans for cheap labor to compete with China should have cemented my opinion of Korean businesses being completely ...

Turkmenistan is run by a guy that has clearly taken his totalitarian role to heart. "Turkmenbashi" (or "Great Leader of the Turkmen") as he has renamed himself is *everywhere* in this country, with large pictures on every building and ubiquitous quotes from his book, the Ruhnama. His favourate slogan "Halk, Watan, Turkmenbashi" ("People, Country, Me") is even more ...

... A larger-than-life statue of this book also appears at regular intervals on the sides of the roads... weird! Turkmenistan is also a police state. In the 6 hour drive between Ashgabat and the border with Uzbekistan, I estimate we were stopped no less than 10 times, having to show our passports. Visas are pretty hard to get ...

... was only cold for ten days here! But I have taken that to heart and jumped right back in. Coming back, I noticed that the cows were a little skinnier, the dresses a little more elaborate, and the roads a little more bumpy, but overall, I came back and all went well..... My work is going really well....everyday it gets better. I am teaching at my old school working solely with the teachers and then I go to a new school for my own courses. I am have a teachers club ...

... as guilty as hell?! As I am a useless liar I resigned myself to the fact that I absolutely had to give the correct figure and deal with the consequences. I reluctantly gave the true figure of 4,000 US dollars, fearing that it would be inspected, confiscated or whatever, but I too was waved through. John later said he still thought the whole idea of a cash dog was all a joke, but had avoided the temptation of asking the customs officer if the dog was able to ...