Hotel Siyakhat Ashgabat

... the sites. The highlight was the Arch of Neutrality, a hideously tacky tower, with a giant rotating gold statue of the President at the top of it. It is is a truly appalling structure and yet was the most that Ashgabat had to offer. Photography isn't allowed without written permission, which seems to undermine the point of statues. Surely, the more people that see them the better, especially in ...

... no shade. The fridge has all but packed in and the driver is paranoid about people opening the fridge door. I am supposed to be managing a bar - we are in the middle of the desert and there are cold beers in the fridge. I can only sell them if he isn't around as he will know I have opened the door of the fridge. When evening comes I get out all the beers as people are dehydrating and lying under the truck trying to lick axle grease off the prop shaft for moisture but ...

... the state religion. The Karakum desert takes up 90% of the country's area. The southern section of the country has been irrigated using water bound for the Aral Sea (which is in Uzbekistan and Kazakastan). Its disappearance has led to bad environmental problems in northern Turkmenistan, with a lot of salination of the land. We will soon be able to see the country for ourselves, as we are on the boat from Baku in ...

... beliebigen Mengen mitnehmen, mein Metal in meinen Taschen (Kam**as, Zelt, etc.) hat sie ab** sehr v**wirrt und ich durfte einiges auspacken... Die Maschinen sind leid** recht mod**n, Boeing 737-300, die Antonovs stehen h**um und rosten (wenig in d** trockenen Luft). Eine Nacht in Ashgabat bevor es nach Westen ging, mit kurzem Stop im Geburtsort von Turkmenbashi, wo ...

... the monuments around Konye-Urgench: mausoleum, minaret, mosque and a facade of either a palace or a caravanserai - all constructed between the 12th and 14th century. After a quick lunch at the bazaar, we started driving south through the Karakum Desert. After about 3 hours of driving, we came upon a fresh accident scene. A speeding BMW that passed us earlier must have flipped a few times and landed on its wheels. The father died in the single car crash. He was only one ...

... as to what countries (and thus regimes) they're supporting by pouring money into just for the sake of selling a few cars or phones. All the same, what a bunch of *****. So the three days in Ashgabat were mostly passed seeing the ridiculous monuments, eating some relatively good food, and (for John and Mark) carpet shopping. We did make one day trip, after a bit of a struggle with our travel agent about the cost. That involved a trip to a ...

... Best of all is a 12 metre high, shiny gold statue of himself he's built in the centre of Ashgabat on top of the "Arch of Neutrality" - that constantly rotates so that he is always facing the sun... All citizens are required to take his book to heart (you have to pass an exam on it to get into university, enter the civil service, even to get a driving license ...

... You have to hire a guide and have a guide with you 24/7 before you can get a visa... hard for a wee backpacker like me. You also must specify when exactly you will enter the country, from what border, and what towns you will travel to. The police/ex-KGB at the check points then make sure that you are travelling on the route ...

... times a week where we practice new methodologies and games, vocab and grammar and a song or fairy tale. Singing in front of the class reminds me how humbling the Peace Corps can be, but it is only the "itsy bitsy spider" so it is all good! My teachers are very happy to have me back and are attending all my seminars that they can. It is fun to see them and realize my mistakes of last year and adjust my expectations to what they are expecting of me. So far so good ...

... which currency we were carrying! Later I ran this story by my friend who is a dog handler at H. M. Customs at Gatwick and he told me that such dogs do exist and hey are very clever. He further explained that when the dog smells money he barks once for sterling, twice for dollars and if you are carrying Euros he bites your **** off!" Very funny. So how true it all is remains a mystery. After a brief stop at Istanbul to catch our connecting flight, we arrived ...