[mappress]

Took a taxi (USD$10) to Merv which is around 30km away. Merv is a UNESCO heritage site and is a pretty big area which not possible to walk around in just few hours. In its heyday it was known as a great center of Islam, like Damascu, Baghdad and Cairo. However today, almost nothing remains because the sons of Ghenghis Khan destroyed the city and slaughtered its population in the 12th century.

Kyz Kala

The driver drove around Sultan Kala then to Erk Kala

The taxi driver dropped me at a shared taxi stand in Bairam Ali bazaar. Took a shared taxi at 12pm (20 new manat~USD$7) to Turkmenabat which is around 2 hours ride. Arrived at Turkmenabat at around 2pm and figured I might as well stay a night since it might be dark if I continued my journey to Bukhara.

Walked around and found Hotel Lebapgurlushyk. After haggling, I got the price down from 50 new manat to 35 new manat ~USD$13.

Turkmenabat is the 2nd largest city with a population of around 200,000. There isn’t a lot to see or do in the city. I decided to stay overnight here since I always prefer to cross borders in the morning so I will have more time and won’t feel too much pressure from the border guards and taxi drivers.

Besides Ashgabat, other cities in Turkmenistan looks very old and poor.

Guess who?

President’s Niyasov statue is everywhere

Zelyony Bazaar

Found a small restaurant and had lamb soup (5 new manat~USD$1.8).

A friendly Turkmen waitress

Ate Shashlyk for dinner (3 new manat~USD$1 for a stick) and met 2 travellers who traveled with their bikes at the restaurant. There weren’t not many travellers around Turkmenistan, so I was kind of surprise to meet the 2 cyclists.

One Response to “Merv and Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan”

1. tommy says:

   May 5, 2010 at 11:52 am

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