In Bukhara we met Andrew from Sydney. He had decided at the last minute to join the Turkmenistan tour and the organisers asked if we would meet up with him in Bukhara and have him join the tour with us. We went out to dinner together the night before leaving. He worked for the Australian Football League and had taken a year off to travel to unusual places before returning to the grind again. He was a very chatty, easy going 28 year old and we shared some travel tales over dinner.
The next day it was an early start as the border was an hour's drive and opened at 9am and the tour organisers told us that we would take a long time to cross the border but a driver would be waiting to escort us on the other side. Andrew arrived with a snicker's bar for his breakfast and when we asked the hotel if he could pay for a breakfast they let him have what he wanted for free and even cooked him one of their delicious omelets.
At the border there was already a queue of Uzbek men at 8.30am. A money changer was happy to take our last Uzbek soms for Turkmenistan manats so we were ready for our fifth and last 'Stan' country.
The border buildings and roads were under renovation and it was chaotic. The Uzbeks who made us fill out currency forms were not interested in how much money we had on leaving the country, nor were they interested in seeing if we had taken any photos that would show their country in a bad light. I sauntered past what I thought was an office under construction to later discover that John and Andrew had to show their accommodation registration slips and bank exchange receipts there.
Once outside the gates, we were in a no-man's land and still had a long walk in the hot sun to get to our drivers' Nissan Pathfinder. Murad said we had to wait for a mushrukta to come but I suggested we start walking because no one was approaching the border from the Turkmen side and we could have been waiting hours. He checked with the border guards who okayed us to walk. No sooner had we headed off when an empty passenger bus heading our way signalled us to get in.
We drove with Murad to Turkmenabat where we visited a bazaar to buy some meat samsa (samosa), nut and date pastries, and grapes for lunch. The bazaar was well laid out with products of the same ilk together, making it easy to find things. In 2009 a gas pipeline opened here to take gas to China so it was a prosperous looking city, and the second largest in the country.
We drove two and a half hours across the Karakorum Desert, where we saw lots of camels grazing, to the Historic UNESCO site of Merv. It is an oasis-city on the Silk Road and in the 12th Century it was claimed to be the largest city in the world. It was briefly named Alexandria after Alexander the Great. In 1221, Tolui, Genghis Khan's son butchered over one million people here. Genghis wanted a tithe of grain from Merv and the Seljug chose to slay the tax collectors so causing the retaliatory butchering.
Murad drove us around the ruins of Erk Kala, an earthen doughnut shaped site. A kala is a fortification. We were able to walk to the top and view a large part of the ancient complex of ruins. The oldest, Kyz Kala, was constructed in the 7th century and was still used by Seljuq sultans 600 years later. Archaeologists are still working on the ruins and it looks like it is made of huge rounded post of clay. The mound of a Buddhist stupa that was functioning in the early Islamic era was the westernmost point to which Buddhism spread. Merv had Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Zoroastrians living together.
There were some ruins of conical shaped ice houses- brick buildings where they stored ice to preserve food. As a result of the shifting rivers, five cities were built next to each other in this area. We drove over an ancient road to visit the sites.
The Mausoleum of Mohammed Ibn Zeid was deserted but an important pilgrimage site for Sufi followers a little further from the ruin site.
As it was getting late we had a brief visit to the old Shahriyar Ark (or Citadel of Sultan Kala) before heading for a garden restaurant beside the river in Mary. We had a shaslik and a draught beer watched on by tables of women and children dining there.
The hotel we stayed at was luxurious. It was recently completed and we heard that some of the floors are still not completed inside. The room was enormous and could have been in any large western city. Andrew needed to phone his mum in Australia and do some banking and work related emails but the free wifi would not let him into the sites he needed. After talking to a receptionist we were all loaded up with a VPN that gave us access to Facebook, You Tube, Skype, and other sites that are blocked in Turkmenistan.
Hot bread
The next day Murad drove us to Gonur, a two hour drive, stopping on the way to get freshly baked bread and watermelon for lunch. The last section of the road was sandy and needed some skillful four wheel driving on Murad's part. In 1972 a Russian-Greek archaeologist Victor Sariandi discovered the ruins of Bronze Age villages in the area near the Murgab River. The site revealed one of the oldest fire-worshipping civilisations. The current excavations have been dated back to 3000 BC.Sariandi believed that Gonur was the birthplace of the first monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism. The site reveals four fire temples and evidence of a cult based on a drug potion from poppy, hemp and ephedra plants.
Fire pit
Camel unearthed in the necropolis
On the way back from Gonur we passed through small farming villages with cotton plantations. We saw a couple of factories with cotton balls piled up high. A man was seen with long wooden tongs picking up the balls that fell from the trucks along the road side. Most of the cotton pickers were women and we did read that in the school holidays the school children have to help with the harvest. It is illegal to have a dirty vehicle in the city so Murad stopped by a car wash business to have the sand waterblasted off his truck.
We had made a public posting on the Couchsurfing website and met with a local man called Kerwen Meretogly. He told how he had travelled to several countries including Indonesia representing his country at a maths Olympiad. He went on to university to study maths and is now teaching at the university. At age 23 he plans to marry soon.
Murad found a modern restaurant called Nescafe to take us to for dinner. It had small tables outside near the footpath and was like a nightclub inside. The decor was quite unexpected and could have been in any big city. The owner had been a school friend of Murad's but could not speak English so dragged a passerby in to translate the menu for us.The three star Mary hotel we are staying at does not serve dinner.
The library at night. All the government buildings were lit up at night.
Window cleaners outside the library who gathered as they wanted John to take a photo of them. All the women wear this style of head scarf and long dresses.
On the last morning in Mary we awoke to find the breakfast restaurant full with Chinese and Japanese tourists. They must have arrived in the night and were being bused out early.
Before leaving Mary we visited the National Museum which had a huge room of Photoshopped photos of the president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in a yurt, riding horses, playing sport etc. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos. The best part of the museum was seeing models of Gonur and Merv as they would have been and all the artifacts from their ruins. The strangest part was being observed by 2 or 3 attendants in each room!
Mary mosque that we visited without headress and I was allowed into the men's section even though there were women behind a wall at the back of the mosque.
Inside the mosque
Government buildings, parks and statues.
Murad took us to a bazaar to meet his sister and niece where he bought us all local embroidered caps. The caps are worn by old men and also are a part of the school uniform. They caused a stir as we wore them back to the hotel. We got heads turning like the ping pong clowns at the funfair. Some people grinned, some had wide smiles, some said 'beautiful' while others gave us the thumbs up, without the hats no one took any notice of us. I had noticed Murad had a stiff neck so gave him some anti-inflammatories and had got Kerwen to translate the instructions for him. I think the caps were his way of saying thank you.
Buying melons on the side of the road at Tejen.
We drove towards Ashgabat and on the way was a river fish restaurant where he had lunch of fried fish. Murad had told us that the President had banned alcohol for a month over the time of the upcoming Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. With the games on in Ashgabat all vehicles not from the area were not allowed to enter the city so we swapped drivers and said goodbye to Murad.
The next day it was an early start as the border was an hour's drive and opened at 9am and the tour organisers told us that we would take a long time to cross the border but a driver would be waiting to escort us on the other side. Andrew arrived with a snicker's bar for his breakfast and when we asked the hotel if he could pay for a breakfast they let him have what he wanted for free and even cooked him one of their delicious omelets.
At the border there was already a queue of Uzbek men at 8.30am. A money changer was happy to take our last Uzbek soms for Turkmenistan manats so we were ready for our fifth and last 'Stan' country.
The border buildings and roads were under renovation and it was chaotic. The Uzbeks who made us fill out currency forms were not interested in how much money we had on leaving the country, nor were they interested in seeing if we had taken any photos that would show their country in a bad light. I sauntered past what I thought was an office under construction to later discover that John and Andrew had to show their accommodation registration slips and bank exchange receipts there.
The Turkmen immigration office was also a disaster area. A dozen officers sat around looking at computers and not really knowing what they should do. We were ushered into a room that looked like a clinic and a lady scanned our foreheads to measure our body temperatures. I was sweating from the heat but my temperature showed up as low, while everyone else was normal. She chased me about a dozen times trying to get a reading other than low but was befuddled as to why my temperature would not comply with her gun-like gadget. We had to have photos taken, finger scans and pay an arrival and administration fee. Luckily the driver, the organisers had sent to pick us up, managed to enter the customs area and help get us through with his basic English as no one else could communicate with us.
I went through the bag x-ray machine and three officers searched through everything in my bag. Andrew passed through next and when one of the three officers opened a zip pocket in his pack, some pills fell out along with some condoms. The two female officers were very excited. One showed her ring finger to Andrew to ask if he was married. Andrew showed his back saying no and they were signalling that the 26 year old and Andrew could get together. It was hilarious. The whole place was laughing. John came through last and they waved him on without doing his search. They were still trying to get over the thrill of seeing Andrew's condoms. All in all it took just under 3 hours to cross the border.
I went through the bag x-ray machine and three officers searched through everything in my bag. Andrew passed through next and when one of the three officers opened a zip pocket in his pack, some pills fell out along with some condoms. The two female officers were very excited. One showed her ring finger to Andrew to ask if he was married. Andrew showed his back saying no and they were signalling that the 26 year old and Andrew could get together. It was hilarious. The whole place was laughing. John came through last and they waved him on without doing his search. They were still trying to get over the thrill of seeing Andrew's condoms. All in all it took just under 3 hours to cross the border.
Once outside the gates, we were in a no-man's land and still had a long walk in the hot sun to get to our drivers' Nissan Pathfinder. Murad said we had to wait for a mushrukta to come but I suggested we start walking because no one was approaching the border from the Turkmen side and we could have been waiting hours. He checked with the border guards who okayed us to walk. No sooner had we headed off when an empty passenger bus heading our way signalled us to get in.
We drove with Murad to Turkmenabat where we visited a bazaar to buy some meat samsa (samosa), nut and date pastries, and grapes for lunch. The bazaar was well laid out with products of the same ilk together, making it easy to find things. In 2009 a gas pipeline opened here to take gas to China so it was a prosperous looking city, and the second largest in the country.
We drove two and a half hours across the Karakorum Desert, where we saw lots of camels grazing, to the Historic UNESCO site of Merv. It is an oasis-city on the Silk Road and in the 12th Century it was claimed to be the largest city in the world. It was briefly named Alexandria after Alexander the Great. In 1221, Tolui, Genghis Khan's son butchered over one million people here. Genghis wanted a tithe of grain from Merv and the Seljug chose to slay the tax collectors so causing the retaliatory butchering.
Murad drove us around the ruins of Erk Kala, an earthen doughnut shaped site. A kala is a fortification. We were able to walk to the top and view a large part of the ancient complex of ruins. The oldest, Kyz Kala, was constructed in the 7th century and was still used by Seljuq sultans 600 years later. Archaeologists are still working on the ruins and it looks like it is made of huge rounded post of clay. The mound of a Buddhist stupa that was functioning in the early Islamic era was the westernmost point to which Buddhism spread. Merv had Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Zoroastrians living together.
There were some ruins of conical shaped ice houses- brick buildings where they stored ice to preserve food. As a result of the shifting rivers, five cities were built next to each other in this area. We drove over an ancient road to visit the sites.
The Mausoleum of Mohammed Ibn Zeid was deserted but an important pilgrimage site for Sufi followers a little further from the ruin site.
As it was getting late we had a brief visit to the old Shahriyar Ark (or Citadel of Sultan Kala) before heading for a garden restaurant beside the river in Mary. We had a shaslik and a draught beer watched on by tables of women and children dining there.
The hotel we stayed at was luxurious. It was recently completed and we heard that some of the floors are still not completed inside. The room was enormous and could have been in any large western city. Andrew needed to phone his mum in Australia and do some banking and work related emails but the free wifi would not let him into the sites he needed. After talking to a receptionist we were all loaded up with a VPN that gave us access to Facebook, You Tube, Skype, and other sites that are blocked in Turkmenistan.
Hot breadThe next day Murad drove us to Gonur, a two hour drive, stopping on the way to get freshly baked bread and watermelon for lunch. The last section of the road was sandy and needed some skillful four wheel driving on Murad's part. In 1972 a Russian-Greek archaeologist Victor Sariandi discovered the ruins of Bronze Age villages in the area near the Murgab River. The site revealed one of the oldest fire-worshipping civilisations. The current excavations have been dated back to 3000 BC.Sariandi believed that Gonur was the birthplace of the first monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism. The site reveals four fire temples and evidence of a cult based on a drug potion from poppy, hemp and ephedra plants.
Fire pit
Camel unearthed in the necropolisOn the way back from Gonur we passed through small farming villages with cotton plantations. We saw a couple of factories with cotton balls piled up high. A man was seen with long wooden tongs picking up the balls that fell from the trucks along the road side. Most of the cotton pickers were women and we did read that in the school holidays the school children have to help with the harvest. It is illegal to have a dirty vehicle in the city so Murad stopped by a car wash business to have the sand waterblasted off his truck.
We had made a public posting on the Couchsurfing website and met with a local man called Kerwen Meretogly. He told how he had travelled to several countries including Indonesia representing his country at a maths Olympiad. He went on to university to study maths and is now teaching at the university. At age 23 he plans to marry soon.
Murad found a modern restaurant called Nescafe to take us to for dinner. It had small tables outside near the footpath and was like a nightclub inside. The decor was quite unexpected and could have been in any big city. The owner had been a school friend of Murad's but could not speak English so dragged a passerby in to translate the menu for us.The three star Mary hotel we are staying at does not serve dinner.
Mary library opposite the hotel with the gold dome on top that opens out.
The library at night. All the government buildings were lit up at night.
Window cleaners outside the library who gathered as they wanted John to take a photo of them. All the women wear this style of head scarf and long dresses.
On the last morning in Mary we awoke to find the breakfast restaurant full with Chinese and Japanese tourists. They must have arrived in the night and were being bused out early.
Before leaving Mary we visited the National Museum which had a huge room of Photoshopped photos of the president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in a yurt, riding horses, playing sport etc. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos. The best part of the museum was seeing models of Gonur and Merv as they would have been and all the artifacts from their ruins. The strangest part was being observed by 2 or 3 attendants in each room!
Inside the mosque
Government buildings, parks and statues.
Murad took us to a bazaar to meet his sister and niece where he bought us all local embroidered caps. The caps are worn by old men and also are a part of the school uniform. They caused a stir as we wore them back to the hotel. We got heads turning like the ping pong clowns at the funfair. Some people grinned, some had wide smiles, some said 'beautiful' while others gave us the thumbs up, without the hats no one took any notice of us. I had noticed Murad had a stiff neck so gave him some anti-inflammatories and had got Kerwen to translate the instructions for him. I think the caps were his way of saying thank you.
Buying melons on the side of the road at Tejen.
We drove towards Ashgabat and on the way was a river fish restaurant where he had lunch of fried fish. Murad had told us that the President had banned alcohol for a month over the time of the upcoming Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. With the games on in Ashgabat all vehicles not from the area were not allowed to enter the city so we swapped drivers and said goodbye to Murad.
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