Look im not a spy ok
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2007
1
95
150
Trip End
Ongoing
Mary,
Turkmenistan
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The first issue is the boarder, mostly getting through it. After Iran and the fact as a tourist I was waved through I was hopping for the same in turkmen. Well that dream was quickly destroyed as I was told to 'empty my bags' this went on for thirty mins while they tore my bag apart looking for 'religious books' and other non-turkmen things My Cds of pics had to be looked at and then there was my ipod - what is what is on it etc etc Thank god i didn't have a laptop. What was interesting was how young the army men where - they looked like they were all 14 with machine guns
after finally getting this and shaking hands with everyone - i finally found taxis to Mary (as i wasn't allowed to see Ashgbat) and the fun started - petrol is pretty much free in turkmen but the drivers seem to think tourists dint now this and try to charge you like you are in Australia. After finally getting a decent price - though much more than a local would pay we were off to Mary across a never-ending dessert and a terrible road. However govt would let me get away this easy and every 50kms there were roadblocks that meant we had to stop and write down my password details. The locals also have to stop and go through this stupidity also.
In Mary i got to stay in the shit box that was the old soviet hotel plus i was made to pay $15 for my room while the locals paid $2 - in my opinion that was $1 too much.
he is everywhere #1
The room was terrible plus i had to deal with the crazy Russian floor lady that seem to inhabit all Russian hotels. Walking around was very Erie, huge buildings were being built and the police were everywhere on the street - basically doing nothing but the strangest thing was the photos and statutes of the fearsome ex leader of turkmen - Turkmenbashi.
This guy ruled turkmen since independence and had developed a cult around himself like Kim Jon Ill of N.Korea. He also died 2 years ago having amassed a fortune of $3 billion but thats a small detail not mentioned on the street. He also wrote a book - the holy book of turkmen - which describes the turkmen, their history (based on what he thinks) and why turkmens are so great (they invited white bread). Statues of this book are everywhere and everyone who wants a govt job or to go to uni must past a test based on this book. It really is strange. But i bought the book anyway - its certainly a page turner
The highlight of my first day in turkmen was drinking the better part of a bottle of $2 vodka and heading to the local nightclub - while not the smartest move I guess I had a great time and the young turks almost shat themselves when they found out a foreigner was in the club.
The 2nd day started with a headache and ended with me going to Merv an ancient city which almost put me to bed - don't bother going.
