Continuing along the Silk Road again after a HK work/rest hiatus. Next destination Turkmenistan, the hermit state. This is the country where the past President (now the President for Life) apparently renamed the months of the year after his family members and banned beards for men etc. I expect to get to Ashgabat, the capital on saturday night after stopovers in Beijing and then Urumqi (4th time in Urumqi airport in the last 2 months - where tea costs more than RMB 60...). Ashgabat is apparently quite gaudy - all gold and white and plasticky. Let's see. The point of Turkmenistan is to get to Merv, an important historical Silk Road city near the border with Iran, and then to cross into Iran by road.
Internet access may be dodgy in Ashgabat. Heard it costs something like US$1 per minute in hotels! Guess this is part of the hermit mentality.
