Turkmenistan

Now to be fair to Turkmenistan I was only in the country for two days - the last half day being deported.

Initially the ferry was delayed from docking because of a queue of ships.  We had to wait our turn.  When we finally got the go ahead the ferry came in through a narrow gap in the spit.

 

When we did come into the Turkmanbashi port everything moved in slow motion.  After a couple of hours we were allowed to disembark and enter the "Farap" ( Border Station ). 

Everyone in the Farap spoke Russian and almost no English.  No problem with that as we are the foreigners and we will adapt to cope.  There were nine windows with officials sitting behind each.  Where to start?  Lucky choice the first window selected was Immigration and the young man was happy to look at our passports.  Before he could stamp our passports we had to pay a fee at a different window.  Found that window and paid the fee and back we go to Immigration.

This went on for five hours.  At one stage we had to go to an adjoining building and there find an office.  This office could only be accessed via the back door.  Jim got lost somewhere and a young soldier had stern words with him.  Still not sure who the occupant of that office was or what the fee we paid to him was for.  Everything seemed above board we were getting receipts for these payments but there must be an easier way.  Why not just say "Hey tourist you must pay $150 to enter the country" instead of every official in charge of their own affairs taking nibbles at our wallets.

Fuel in Turkmenistan is very cheap costing about forty cents per litre.  So the locals have figured that they will impose a fee on tourists which is imposed by calculating the number of kilometres the tourist will travel.  The man who was responsible for this calculation was very professional but the process was very slow.  No he couldn't take the money you had to go to another office.  An additional fee of twenty cents per litre was imposed which still made the fuel very cheap.

We were on a tight schedule and this process was eating up our valuable riding time.  We got through it and headed off east on the desert road.  It was hot and Jim was starting to suffer as he had never ridden in temperatures in 100 degree Fahrenheit zone.

Does this pass for a road?  Turkmenistan without doubt has the worst roads of any country I have been to.  They can only be described as atrocious.  Looks like the bitumen has turned to paste at some stage and then been churned up by trucks leaving deep ruts and huge pot holes.  I kept thinking to myself "It will get better".  Well it didn't and it was pretty much like that for the whole one thousand two hundred odd kilometres.

Jim saw his first camel walking across the road.

Desert country but the camels seem to doing well.



 

Arrived in Ashgabat about mid-night and went looking for a hotel.  A drunk driver stopped his four wheel drive and offered to help and also offered to share his vodka.  He took us to a swish looking hotel with a Casino attached.  It looked way over our budget but it was late and we were tired.  Yes they had a room for us and the room rate was ninety US dollars which we had to pay in dollars.

 

While unpacking our bikes in the car park Jim and I were approached by young Russian women who came out of the Casino.  Why were these attractive women talking to us old guys?  Before walking away they handed their business cards and suggested we call them.  To old, to tired and a shower before sleep is the priority

 

Had an early breakfast and headed out of Ashgabat with the temperature at twenty eight degrees at 8am.  Jim just couldn't believe it but give him credit he boxed on without much complaint.  Don't suppose Wales has to many days where it gets that hot.

 

Didn't stop for sightseeing but took this shot of one of the many monuments scattered throughout the city.

  

 

The second day was taken up by riding, re-hydrating and negotiating a deal with corrupt police.  No matter the outcome it was going to be good deal for them not good for us. 

 

At one of our frequent refreshment breaks one of the local kids tried to swap bikes.  He put a convincing case but just not good enough.

 

 

Our day and a half in Turkmenistan came to an end when we reached the border post BUT it was closed.  Who closes international borders?  The truth is that we are lucky the borders are open at all to foreign tourists.

 

 

I can't go back to Turkmenistan for twelve months.  Bugger just when I was starting to warm to the place.