Off to see Stan again
Following last year's epic trip to Central Asia I've had yearning; a nagging curiosity bugging me about the the "Stan" we didn't get to.
Before going on, I need to clarify; as far as I'm concerned the "Stan's" are the five countries that came into being following the end of the USSR. Namely, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. I am fully aware of the existence Pakistan and Afghanistan, but currently I have no great desire to visit either; particularly the latter.
If you read any of my blogs last year, you'll know that we visited Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Along the way we did briefly enter into Kazakhstan, albeit not officially, i.e. through a formal border crossing.
In the latter part of our trip last year, we travelled within a couple of miles of the border with Turkmenistan. Our Tour Leader, James had been there, and talked enthusiastically about the strangeness of the place, particularly the capital, Ashgabat. Having read more about the place, that "strangeness" has lured me in, to the extent that I'm booked on a trip to visit there at the end of May. I'll explain more about the country later on., but for the moment, I'll just say that in order to go there, you have to be on an "organised tour" and accompanied by government guide. Yep it's a very private place, that doesn't get that many visitors. That, of course, makes it even more appealing to my inner "Michael Palin"!
It has finally come to pass that I'll be able to "scratch the itch" in a few days time. I'm travelling "sans Cate" back to Uzbekistan, and into Turkmenistan on a short 9 day tour. Getting clearance to enter the country is no mean feat. You have to apply (via your Tour Company) to get a "Letter of Invitation" into Turkmenistan. Thereafter, you (without help from the tour company!) can go through the challenging procedure of applying for a tourist visa. That whole process has taken 3 months; but I do finally have my visa in my passport. I'm now genuinely excited; but also not without some trepidation too.
I'm not a great sleeper at the best of times, so the prospect of three "challenging nights in the first five is not joyous - Night 1 on the flight from Istanbul to Tashkent, Night 3 on an overnight "sleeper" (I'll believe it when I see it!) train from Tashkent to Khiva, and Night 5 camping ("no proper toilet facilities") in the Karakum Desert. Never mind hey! As they say in every Corporate Conference presentation, "it's a great opportunity, and it will be challenging and exciting". A vomit inducing set of words, if ever there were any!
The great thing about flying into Tashkent is that I'll get a day and a half to have a good nose around the place. Last year we only got a couple of hours there, and I forewent the opportunity to get out as I was not feeling great. It wasn't until after 2 days of being at home that it transpired that I'd got "the covid". Of course, by the time I found that out, I was feeling fine wandering around Oxford! Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing Tashkent, especially a few of its ostentatious Metro stations
Following the overnight train journey from Tashkent, I'll get the chance to visit wonderful Khiva again. An absolute jewel in the desert near the border with Turkmenistan. We spent two days there last year, but I'm more than happy to enjoy 36 hours there again.
Khiva, Uzbekistan
Then the fun starts! We cross the border into Turkmenistan. That apparently can take hours, and includes a 20 minute walk across no man's land between the two border posts. Once in Turkmenistan, we head way out into the desert to the Darvaza Gas Crater. That's where we'll camp, with the most basic of facilities. If you want to know about the crater, see the link below:-
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210610-the-darvaza-crater-the-ussrs-top-secret-desert-mystery
From there, we go to the capital of Turkmenistan; Ashgabat. Turkmenistan has good reserves of gas and oil, so the money from those natural resources have helped fund the building of one of the world's most ostentatious cities. Marble everywhere, allegedly. For some completely daft reason, this is the place I'm most looking forward to seeing on this trip. Bizarrely, by comparison, I couldn't be less interested in visiting other renowned ostentatious places such as Vegas or Dubai. Maybe it's all about the challenge of getting to lesser visited (massively lesser!), and almost unknown, Ashgabat?.
After a couple of nights in Ashgabat, we head out to the more historic cities of Mary and Merv. Apparently, they're a lovely couple, and they've been happily married for years! Both cities were significant places on the old silk road. Mary (pronounced "Mah-ree") is now largely a modern place, and will be our base for a couple of nights.
Mary is a really ancient place with some significant old buildings, and ruins dating back to the heyday of the silk road. It is, however, little more than that; and could realistically be considered to be a suburb of nearby town, Bayramaly. I'm no great historian, but it looks fascinating.
Greater Kyz Kala Fortess, Merv
I finally return to Ashgabat for a night, before heading home via Istanbul.
Unfortunately, the internet in Turkmenistan is meant to be very patchy, and access to the the standard social media platforms is not possible either. That may have changed, but it's likely to mean that there'll be no blog whilst I'm there. I intend to write some notes each day, and will then share them sequentially once I'm back home. I do plan to write "in real time" for the days in Uzbekistan.
That's it for now.
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