Living in Ashgabat

...  is quite a hang out for tourists. To just sit and observe the place was simply fascinating. In contrast to the Ashgabat street scenes of conservatively dressed women in long heavy gowns and head scarfs, the young modern female staff wore ...

... job and before returning to my beloved Vienna, off I went on four back to back Drago trips over three months from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, through, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan ending in Beijing, China.   I met up with John, another passenger due on the ...

... . I really was surprised..... For sure the craziest trip I ever made....wow. Which places in Turkmenistan did we visit? Ashgabat, Erbent, Damla, Underground Lake (Köw Ata), some mosques, Kunya Urgench, Dhasoguz, Mary, Merw. I often read that Turkmenistan ...

Hello from Turkmenistan!!! I snuck into Ashgabat today with my host sister to try to send off my first email home. I probably won't be able to check any responses from this for a few weeks, but I thought I would send a letter home to let you all know ...

... wheels spinning to answer the question “where on earth am I ?!?!” kind of speechless.  I can definitively say that Ashgabat, Turkmenistan is the strangest place I’ve ever been.  It’s got the paranoid-State feel of China, ...

Hello Hello and Happy Holidays! I am currently enjoying my time in Ashgabat, relaxing and bored out of my mind to be honest. I am still trying to understand that it is the Christmas season, even though it is days past Christmas. I don't know where ...

... and the beer was good. We don't really have either of which in the village (but we do have vodka and living rooms...arguably more entertaining). Ashgabat became a real city to me after 3 months in the middle of no where. It was amazing to see ...

... much more domestic with a 1938 sewing machine! The month of February doesnˇ¦t have much in store as of now. We will have a conference in Ashgabat the 28th to the 7th, but it does mark our freedom. We have now been at our sites 3 months and we are ...

When last we left our intrepid traveler I was whining about being sick, but by the time we got to Ashgabat I was back in form. Now just so you will appreciate how hard we 'toured' on this jaunt, let me describe our last day in some detail.  Keep in ...

... in life continue on in life! So, overall work is going really well. Since being back, I really have 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 ...

... , tstan that, in tstan it is like this, oh relax at least you are not in tstan." I remember this feeling quite well while living in Germany, but that is the 51st state in comparison. Basically I know I have lost some confidence in me and my mission, but ...

... me do it day after day. Well the other day, I was thinking about it. I have decided that my life is like Julia Roberts living in Walsenburg, CO or Window Rock, AZ. I have put this whole analogy together in my head and I hope that you can imagine ...

... table, but I thought I would try to revise the list from Germany of things I never thought I would be thankful for but since living in Tstan know they are a huge part of my life: 10. Table and chairs. Well actually, lets make it furniture. While ...

... the border from one of our tours out of Ashgabat.   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Our last (farewell) dinner: . . ...

... that are reminiscent of old French lights......... Many of the apartments are not occupied.......... One rather strange quirk of Ashgabat, is that taking photographs of government buildings or gold statues is forbidden. There are police or soldiers on ...

... punctual. Alan laughed that it was because of his skilled military background. At 4.00 am, we were whisked off to the Ashgabat airport for our Turkmenistan Airlines flight to the eastern city of Mary. On our arrival Maksat asked us for our air ...

... though to walk around spotting pieces of ancient pottery just sticking out everywhere! Mary itself was uninspiring. Similar to Ashgabat in the way that it felt virtually deserted despite being the third largest city! We stayed in the worst ...

... major incidents. I am one of the only ones not to have any GI problems and my host family is great. Right now I am living about 3 km south of Ashgabat in a family with a mom, dad, 4 brothers and a sister. I have a huge room, a toliet and a ...

... . The guard didn't notice and it passed my mind to mention it at the time. A new lady in our group who joined us in Ashgabat was a day early on her Turkmenistan visa and had to buy a ticket and fly back to Istanbul for a day before being allowed in. She ...

... Peak in Bangkok: The plane next to mine at the Bangkok airport belonged to Turkmenistan Airlines and was headed (presumably directly) to Ashgabat! We'll have to investigate that one! My KLM flight arrived in Taipei punctually at about 18:00. I was ...