Over the last few years having settled into working life I have tried to spread my holidays throughout the year, with many short weekends away, as well as a big holiday lasting a week or two. After having visited India for a week back in January, in September I made the big trip of the year to Central Asia.
Having originally attempted to get on the tour in May, missing out due to my delay in booking, I went on Lupine Travel's second tour which actually fitted much better in my schedule later in the year. This was not a holiday I would be commencing alone.
Having spent the last two months getting my visas sorted for the trip, I was set to go. With no other option than taking a night flight, I spent all morning on Saturday grabbing as much sleep as possible, before taking an evening flight out of Heathrow to Istanbul. After a short hour transfer I then jumped on an overnight flight to the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.
This was tough. Neither flight was longer than four hours, and getting food an hour in meant there was little time for sleep. Before I knew it I had arrived in Ashgabat, and despite it being 3am at home, it was 7am here, and my tour was to begin in just a couple of hours.
Getting my visa on arrival, I made my way through the week old airport to arrivals where I was picked up and met the first two travellers on my tour, Daniel and Noel before we headed to the hotel to wait for the rest of the tour members.
With the Turkmen visa having all our names and DOBs printed for all to see I was already well aware of the group's demographics - including that I was the youngest member of the tour, so it was quite reassuring knowing already who I'd be spending the next fortnight with. With two minibuses and our tour guide arriving at the hotel, we jumped in and made our way to the first sight, the Hippodrome.
Horse racing is the national sport in Turkmenistan, and whilst the city was almost completely empty, the stadium in Ashgabat was packed! Even at 9am...
After observing the overwhelming majority of local women wearing traditional dress, we then made our way towards the market to look at carpets and animals before heading back to the city.
Ashgabat is a truly wacky city, full of bizarre buildings and empty squares. We arrived at the toilet plunger looking Independence Monument, where locals posed for wedding photos with the bride covered by a carpet. The monument like most in Turkmenistan was built symbolically, using the date of the independence for different dimensions. It was also surrounded by many Turkmen flags as well as a golden statue of Turkmenbashy, the first president.
Heading further down the road we made it to the tripod shaped Neutrality Monument, again golden coloured with a statue of Tukmenbashy. Now moved to the outskirts of the city, the statue used to rotate to face the sun.
Leaving the city past the Alem Cultural Centre, with it's enclosed Ferris Wheel, and the TV Tower, we made our way towards the west and the Kopet Dag mountains, which form the border with Iran and dominate the landscape.
Stopping at Köw Ata, an underground thermal lake, I had orignally attempted to swim inside. However after a long day I realised that it was probably not a wise decision and so instead sat with the other group members over lunch.
After being stung by a wasp, we reunited and headed towards the village of Nokhur in the mountains where we would be staying overnight.
Whilst Ashgabat was a modern clean city, the rest of the country was significantly less developed and accordingly so was the village.
After stopping off to look at sacred trees we arrived at the homestay where we ate a dinner provided by the family before settling down for the night sleeping on blankets in one large room. I took an early night and after going to the toilet (which as you can imagine was a pit in the ground a little walk away downhill from the house) I settled down for the night after a very busy first day.
Wacky Ashgabat & The Kopet Dag
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
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