Sheraton Grand Turkmen Hotel Ashgabat

... west, the Alamut Valley to be precise, and I had such an amazing time I would love to go back. Due to imminent visa expiary I only had 24 hours there, but I think it was the best 24 hours of my trip so far! Not only was it beautiful scenery, with all sorts of mountains and lush grass and rice paddies, but I was taken in by a lovely Iranian couple, both 29 and both doctors running a small clinic for ...

... a man and boy on a motorbike and blue blue skies. We were told by other truckers that the journey would take at least 13 hours so we set off at ridiculous o'clock and drove along the worst roads known to mankind. They were seriously worse than any road South America or Africa has thrown at me but after a 2/3 hours we hit tarmac - oh bliss. We did the journey in just under 4 houurs so arrived in this bushcamp at just before noon and the full heat of the day. I had ...

... and wandering around. MP and Fulvio told to get off the top deck by a large woman in a blue T-shirt. Earlier, MP told to quit whistling by the officious sheet and key lady. Most avoid the restaurant food, just use the tables, although the Efes Turkish beer is now down to $2 a bottle instead of 3, or $8 for the large plastic bottle of unidentifiable, presumably home brew Kazak beer forced on us the night before by the ...

... und Gold (Gold repraesentiert Turkmenbashi). Das ganze wirkt ziemlich kuenstlich und leblos, es gibt auch keine Geschaefte oder Cafes und ueberhaupt keine Fussgaenger (allerdings viele Cleaning Ladies). Das Nationalmuseum hat einige schoene Stuecke aus Nissa (vor allem spektakluaere Rhytons, Elfenbeinschnitzereien zu religioesen Zwecken), Merv und Gonur. Das Teppichmuseum in Ashgabat hat den groessten Teppich der Erde, gewebt ...

... away day and night like a volcano on ground level for years. Our guide and driver prepared a delicious dinner. Unfortunately, the sand got into most of the dishes - it was very windy. East Using Mary (the 3rd largest city in Turkmenistan) as the base, we visited a few interesting sites in the eastern part of the country. Ancient Merv consists of a few cities built in different eras ranging from 6th century BC to 12 century AD. All these cities were built next to each ...

We arrived in the capital mid-afternoon, and were pretty much left to our own devices as long as we stayed in the city. Our hotel rooms were almost certainly bugged, and there seemed to be an excess of shady-looking staff, but as far as we knew we weren't really followed around the city. After experiencing Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, I figure that the notorious security services can't really be much more clever or hard-working than the average Joes ...

Man oh man, what a change from Iran! Who would have thought that a little ol' hop over the border from the most conservative city in Iran (Mashhad) could bring about so many dramatic changes, to the people, the landscape, the culture, the politics?! The best place to start to describe Turkmenistan is with their dictator President ...

Hey I forgot to put the link on here....here you go! Thanks again for support! I submitted the project to Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) and it is currently on the web site. I would really appreciate your help in looking for people who would be willing to donate to this project - since it is such a large sum of money, the more donors the better. If you know anyone or any group at home who would be ...

... found a peace at living out in the village. I was really nervous of returning back here without a site mate, but really the city is so crowded with volunteers now that I don't know how to act when in town. I am really enjoying not coming in contact with another American for weeks at a time and when calls come from home, I am not feeling that void as deeply. I guess you can say I have finally fully adapted to living here. Not to say there aren't days where I am ...

... useless map reading skills, it was just plain wrong. So we ditched the poor excuse of a map pretty early on and just followed our noses. Ashgabat is full of clinical white buildings and reference to "the President" as he is affectionately known, at every opportunity. The story goes that he lost his father in the war and his mother in the major earthquake that hit Ashgabat many years ago. As a memorial to the victims of the earthquake, he built a huge (black ...