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worth · 11-27-2017, 08:38 PM

I crossed into Turkmenistan from Uzbekistan near Köneürgench in the northern part of the country. The only real way a tourist could get into Turkmenistan is by paying for a "tour". All other foreigners were applying for a 3 day transit visa and i'd say about 50% of those applications are rejected. I really wanted to experience Turkmenistan so I shelled out to do an 11 day tour. I was transported through the country by private vehicle.

The north is just a desert wasteland. Köneürgench is actually a really cool place and there are some neat ruins and really old structures to see there. Everyone was extremely friendly to me in the north.

Turkmenistan has the worst roads i've ever traveled on. There are some clips of those roads in the north in this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d0wxI8-Y1E&t=

I did the touristy stuff, your experience will probably be a lot different from mine. In my experience, Ashgabat is rich Mary is relatively nice and everywhere else exists is in extreme poverty. If you are working on an oilfield or something like that, it's probably not going to be the best experience.

I stopped in the middle of the country to check out the Darvaza gas craters:
http://strattondelany.tumblr.com/pos...-the-centre-of

When I got to Ashgabat, I was able to spend 4 days or so on my own there. When in the capital I was free to do whatever I wanted and generally got around by taking the city busses.

I remember reading in a guide book before I got to Turkmenistan to ask the police before you take any pictures of government buildings otherwise you will get in trouble. So, I was walking down the street in Ashgabat on my first day there. I asked one police officer in broken Russian if I could take a picture. He shook his head. I moved down the block and asked the next police office. It was a no, and move along. I asked a third and I got the picture that they were never going to say yes, so I had to go into a bit of stealth mode sometimes to get these pictures.

http://strattondelany.tumblr.com/pos...l-photo-of-the

http://strattondelany.tumblr.com/pos...is-the-capital

Turkmenistan has some interesting food. Hope you like mares milk. You can get it everywhere, including in the only shopping mall in the country with an escalator. Get the combo with the flat pizza thing. It's pretty yummy.

If you can speak Russian that will help you a ton with interacting with the population.

If you have questions fire away. I probably have a ton of other notes that I wrote that I could look at as well and a ton of other archived photos.

Central Asia is one of my favourite regions of the world I have visited. It doesn't get a ton of tourist traffic, it's super interesting, the people are nice and it's authentic. If you get the chance to do any traveling around, take advantage.

11-27-2017, 08:38 PM	#15
worth Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Vancouver Exp:	I crossed into Turkmenistan from Uzbekistan near Köneürgench in the northern part of the country. The only real way a tourist could get into Turkmenistan is by paying for a "tour". All other foreigners were applying for a 3 day transit visa and i'd say about 50% of those applications are rejected. I really wanted to experience Turkmenistan so I shelled out to do an 11 day tour. I was transported through the country by private vehicle. The north is just a desert wasteland. Köneürgench is actually a really cool place and there are some neat ruins and really old structures to see there. Everyone was extremely friendly to me in the north. Turkmenistan has the worst roads i've ever traveled on. There are some clips of those roads in the north in this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d0wxI8-Y1E&t= I did the touristy stuff, your experience will probably be a lot different from mine. In my experience, Ashgabat is rich Mary is relatively nice and everywhere else exists is in extreme poverty. If you are working on an oilfield or something like that, it's probably not going to be the best experience. I stopped in the middle of the country to check out the Darvaza gas craters: http://strattondelany.tumblr.com/pos...-the-centre-of When I got to Ashgabat, I was able to spend 4 days or so on my own there. When in the capital I was free to do whatever I wanted and generally got around by taking the city busses. I remember reading in a guide book before I got to Turkmenistan to ask the police before you take any pictures of government buildings otherwise you will get in trouble. So, I was walking down the street in Ashgabat on my first day there. I asked one police officer in broken Russian if I could take a picture. He shook his head. I moved down the block and asked the next police office. It was a no, and move along. I asked a third and I got the picture that they were never going to say yes, so I had to go into a bit of stealth mode sometimes to get these pictures. http://strattondelany.tumblr.com/pos...l-photo-of-the http://strattondelany.tumblr.com/pos...is-the-capital Turkmenistan has some interesting food. Hope you like mares milk. You can get it everywhere, including in the only shopping mall in the country with an escalator. Get the combo with the flat pizza thing. It's pretty yummy. If you can speak Russian that will help you a ton with interacting with the population. If you have questions fire away. I probably have a ton of other notes that I wrote that I could look at as well and a ton of other archived photos. Central Asia is one of my favourite regions of the world I have visited. It doesn't get a ton of tourist traffic, it's super interesting, the people are nice and it's authentic. If you get the chance to do any traveling around, take advantage. Last edited by worth; 11-27-2017 at 08:40 PM.