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Baku - Tashkent. via Turkmenistan

Posted on 19. Jul, 2009 by yoyo in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Having our Turkmenistan transit visa (see how) we headed to the dock to get a ticket to the Trans-Caspian ferry (see how). The ferry takes about 16 hours to reach Turkmenbashi, but can be stuck out at sea for days.

We were on a tight schedule as we were suppose to meet my mother in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on Monday.

Arriving in Turkmenbashi on Saturday 4AM we wanted to get to Ashgabat (Turkmenistan’s capital, where that gold statue you heard about is) as soon as possible. A shared taxi from the terminal took us to the “bus station” for 5$!

The 2 miraculously awake drivers asked for 100$, we agreed on 50$. Later we learned locals pay 8$ each for the ride. Conclusion: the right price is closer to the one on Lonely-Planet than you think. Inflation and all.

The Amanov home-stay (just look for it in the book), the best option for transit travelers in Ashgabat has doubled his prices. We paid 10$ each. Another tourist paid 14$.

A quick marshutka (ask around) took us to Tolkuchka Bazaar. It was a bit late (Saturday 12:30), about to close down. Best hours are 8-10AM say locals. The bazar is beautiful and bizarre, different “courts” sell different merchandise. Car parts, animals, food, meat, kitchenware, electronics, cloths, carpets and what ever you can put on a table, or a carpet, or the ground for that matter. Amazingly colorful women dominated most stands.

Next stop: Ashgabat’s wonders. The Arch of Neutrality is as strange as it sounds. Its bizarreness was actually one of our reasons for coming here, and we were not disappointed. One picture is worth a thousand words, but I must add this: The golden Turkmenbashi on top revolves to view the sun. we met a few Turkmen “tourist” taking their pictures around it, it does not seem strange to them, but monumental. Strangely enough most government buildings around have their own golden Turkmenbashi, but taking pictures is not advised. Another tourist told us a policeman grabbed his camera and erased the photos, taking a look at some private pictures on the way.

After the Arch we went to see the concrete staircase leading to the mountain, another eccentric project. Turkmen officials make a yearly trip into the mountains here. Turkmenbashi’s orders. To refrain from the curfew we took a shared taxi back to the hotel. Yes, you read right, they have a 23:00 curfew, after which they do not walk out in the streets.

Early Sunday morning we got on a marshutka for Konye-Urgench (20 new Manat, 8 hr). the ride was terribly long and hot but peculiarly nice: after a day in tacky Ashgabat, the passengers “hospitality” was a big comfort. They kept buying cold bottles of Coca-Cola, Turkmen-Cola and some weird sprinkled-watered-alcoholic-milk-beverage (tasted terrible), sharing it with all passengers, including us. One of them even took the tour-guide job, explaining (in Russian) what sites we’re seeing: mostly cotton fields and canals…

In Konye-Urgench we first went to the Museum across Ali-Kubra Mausoleum. It’s well worth a look as the displays of various workshops (pottery, blacksmith, yurt-makers etc.) are interesting, although the English signs reminded me of 4^th grade English lessons.

The other part of the site, the minaret and so is also very impressive, although all the buildings were closed. It seems locals have a custom of leaving money as offerings. Several hundred bills were lying around.

A private taxi driver took us to a home-black-market-exchange, where he tried unsuccessfully to cheat us for 30$! our next taxi driver, whom we hired to the Uzbek border, literally kidnapped us to his house, where an English speaking teenager tried to blackmail us. After some shouts and threats on our part they backed down and gave us some bread. a very poor offering. Greatly annoyed they took us to the border. Which was closed.

Forced to spend the night near the border, we pitched our tent under some trees. Humidity and mosquitoes accompanied that night’s sleep.

Being first at the border crossing we got through pretty quickly. Curiously enough, the Turkmen and Uzbek custom declaration form is exactly the same.

A 10$ taxi ride took us to Nukus, where we faced a big dilemma. My mum told me she was landing in Taskent on the 12^th. Being on the 13^th we considered taking a domestic flight (64$, 20:30 or so) to Tashkent in order to meet her on the same day. The other choice being a 20 hours bus ride – which means being late to meet her by 2 days!

SMS from my mother cleared things up. She was only arriving that day. So we took the bus (20,000 Sum, 20+ hr, hot, humid, Nukus Avtovagzal). When changing money to Sum be prepared with a pushcart, the highest bill is 1000 Sum, about 66 cents. So 100$ becomes a big pile of bills (1$=1,500 Sum).

The bus ride was utterly terrible. They don’t have any standing passengers only because that would be considered human-rights violation. No windows, no AC, no deodorant. 45 Celsius outside, probably 60 inside. Good thing: at the stops people who sell cold water and Samosa get on the bus, so you don’t have to scramble down.

We arrived at Tashkent at about 14:00, after fixing a flat tire. Mum was at the hotel, and she brought Humus!

Tags: Azerbaijan, blogsherpa, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan