Ashgabat
The cultural differences between Turkmenistan and any of the European countries became quite evident, even before we were allowed to get onto the plane. There were a number of women, probably aged 30-65+ dressed in traditional Turkmenistan long fitted dresses with embroidery to highlight the neckline and the traditional scarf/hats, who had more luggage than was allowed. They had packing tape with them and they wrapped the cloth they had bought in Istanbul around each other’s waist, backs and legs until it looked as if some of them morphed from a size six to a size twenty in five minutes. As soon as they got through the luggage control and gate check in, they then helped each other shed their extra weight and made bags out of the tape to hold the cloth. It was a fascinating display of cheating the system & the Turkish Air staff didn’t do or say anything as they had fulfilled their obligations at the gate. Once we arrived in Ashgabat, it was very clear from the way they greeted the customs agents that they made these shopping trips on a regular basis as the trolleys they had for their bags were piled to eye-height. When Elena, our guide, met us I asked, and she confirmed, that this was their business; they would go shopping in Istanbul and then sell their newly acquired products – cloth, shoes, toys, whatever, - for a highly marked up price in Turkmenistan. I hadn’t realized that the prices here would be so much higher than in Turkey, but apparently they are, at least for these kinds of goods.
A bit later in the day I asked about taxes as she informed us (I’m travelling with a friend for the Central Asia portion of the trip) that the mark-up on bringing cars into the country is 0, as they don’t produce any. The standard cost for car taxes, registration etc. is approx. US $ 600. This is vastly different from what it costs just over the border in Uzbekistan where, according to Elena, there is a 100% markup on cost. In Europe the cost differs by country but the additional tax cost of simply buying the car is between 20-50%. I will now think less nasty thoughts about the 10% I paid when I bought my car in Flagstaff a couple of years ago.
Ashgabat is on the edge of the Karakum desert and the Kopet Dag mountains that form the border with Iran about 40 km to the south. The natural landscape is very similar to that of around Gila Bend to Yuma in Arizona. The former president, and there have been only two since gaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, asked everyone to plant trees in the city and the capital is now very green. It is also immaculately clean. There isn’t a paper out of place. The buildings are almost all white & the many of the newer ones have gold trim. There are a couple of blue glass structures to complement the sea of white. As most of the inner city is new, since Independence, it is laid out in a highly structured manner; you can feel as well as see the grid lines on the architect’s drawing board come to life in the manifestation of the streets, colonnades, buildings, monuments and fountains. Modern Ashgabat is full of monuments and fountains! The monuments seem to be of three basic types: 1)to commemorate independence and promote the identity of the five regions of the country, each with it’s own carpet design that appears on the national flag, 2) to commemorate leading Turk individuals past and present ( & these seem equally divided into poets and warriors) and 3) to honor the Presidents. The past president was also an author of seven books, one of which came in two volumes, the Ruhnama, and was intended to promote a renewed sense of spirituality in a country that had been stripped of religion for over 60 years. An image of the book is now a major monument. What I missed seeing today, were people and birds in the parks. It wasn’t until this evening when I went for a walk around the hotel that I saw kids playing and mothers with strollers.
It is a fascinating experience being here. It appears to be quite safe as crime is minimal. It is a neutral country, not siding with either of its neighbors, Afghanistan or Iran, or with the West. The people we’ve met so far have been very friendly, and we can somehow figure out what each other means even without understanding each other's spoken language. Tomorrow we fly to Mary and the archeological site at Merv. This was one of the leading centers of the Sogdian civilization, which was a major world power in the 10th BCE. The desert sands hid its history from view until 20th C archeologists started sniffing around. Tomorrow we will see the fruits of their work.
