I can finally start writing my Turkmenistan blog from the safety of Uzbekistan. Apologies for the delay but internet in Turkmenistan was very limited and also is monitored by the state. What I write is simply my impressions and understanding from a very short, guided visit to the country. I enjoyed visiting the country immensley and the people I met were extremely frinedly and helpful. I did, however, find the bureacracy and lack of freedom to move around the country frustrating and often pointless. In a country as biazzare as it is beautiful it can be hard not to form strong opinions of the way the government runs itself especially when there is no opposition (all such politicians are in jail or have disappeared) and the media are decidedly one-sided and state-run. The fact that many hotels and public places are supposedly bugged adds to the frustration of visiting. On the plus side the ban on beards is completely false (though I was looking forward to a free shave on the border) and most of the other ridiculous stories we hear (such as banning pop music) are just rubbishy rumours. But it is true that Turkmenbashi loves fountains and building empty buildings. I hope this short section gives you an insight inot one of the lesser known Stans. 

At 6.30am the sound of the anchor being raised stirred me. Was it too much to believe that we might finally be on our way?

Indeed this time we were on our way and as the new day's sun greeted us, so did the rather small, soviet port town of Turkmenbashi. It was an immense relief and the fact that we had missed the first day of our our precisou 6 in Turkmenistan meant nothing provided we could get off the boat. Even having docked it took an age before any sign of letting us onto land.

The first sign was the sight of a doctor in his white coat and his nurse boarding the boat, both with face masks. Was someone ill, I asked? No, it was a medical checkup for the passangers before we were allowed to board. Seemed amusing but sensible I suppose. Actually it was nothing more than the doctor asking us if we felt ok and having our temperature taken with a communal thermometer. I acted as translator as everyone was checked and eventually passed.

We spent an hour fillingi n forms, answering questions, payng a 12 dollar entrance fee, returning to passport control, filling out more forms, having our bags checked, meeting our guide, Oleg, and then we finnally emerged onto Turkmen soil. All of this is apparently done to prevent spies entering the country. One wonders that if a country spends its whole time paranoid about letting spies in, then the only people who will go there will be spies! Still we had passed and been accepeted as just tourists and that was all that mattered.

Our guide, Oleg, was a tall, loud and rather large man from Turkmenistan. He'd been waiting for us for 2 days and had been as unsuccessfuli in finding out about our fate as we had. He was pleased to see that we had finally arrved and took us off for breakfast to welcome us. We changed our money for another wadge of almost worthless notes. This time 100 dollars bought 2.4 million Manat in neat, crisp 10,000 Manat notes (this being the largest denomination and worth less about 40c).

We had a full day's drive ahead of us, hardlywhat we wanted after a long trip but it was 580km to Ashgabat, the capital. The presence of Sparmyat Nizayov Turkmenbashi, the president of Turkmenistan could be felt immediately. His picture appears everywhere you go in the country. SImilarly gold statues of the dictator also adorn most public places. His personality cult is for the most part amusing until you realise that the money would be better spent on his people who are in many cases desperately poor in what (due to its natural resources) is considered a rich country.

The drive was mostly through scrubland, filled with dried vegetation and rocky sand. The odd camel grazed by the side of the road, tended by Asian-looking men and women in traditional dress with ther motorcycle. Occassionally a mountain or two permeated this repetitive landscape. As we drove further on patches of irrigated land appeared due to the presence of a 1200km canal from the Amu Darya river that had been dug during the Soviet era. Unfortunately it was badly built and poorly maintained and much of the water is lost through the canal bed before reaching the fields. Furthermore the region's land is generally full of mineral salts and irrigation only brings much of these to the surface, making crystalline white fields a common sight.

We dorve on passing the former silk road oasis of Durun on the orad to Ashgabat and nesteld into the foot of the Kopet Dagh mountains. In the pastthe climate was far more moderate and made this an ideal place for passing trade caravans to stop. Sadly none of the old houses exist and the town has taken on a more "modern", Soviet feel. Only the artificial mound of the citadel now remains.

We stopped off at the village of Geok Depe where the remains of a Turkmen fortress that was overtaken and looted by the Russians during the Great Game era, is visible. Just next door there is a formidable mosque commissioned bythe Great Turkmenbashi, leader of all the Turkmens, and built by the French company Bouyges. It is a massive, sterile and largely empty building, nothing in comparison to the mosques I had seen in Iran. The eery tranquility of what Turkmenbashi has called the Turkmen Mecca suggests it is rather a waste of money. Supposedly Turkmens should make the pilgrimmage here every year, but most are pretty secular muslims and Mecca cannot easily be replaced by something constructed in 1992.

We drive on the Ashgabat, stopping off at another monstrously tacky display of Turkmenbashi's risiculous construction projects. Gold adorns the dome, doors and windows of yet another empty mosque. One can't help but feel thatthe money would be better spent on his people's education than on gold doorknobs, marble walls and giant carpets. If he did that the maybe the people would build a hundred monuments and buildings in his honour out of free will rather than imposition.

We arrive late in the evening, have a tour of Ashgabat's main sights and check into our hotel. It has been a long few days and a good night's sleep is deserved.