My final 24 hours in Turkmenistan begins with a visit to Konye Urgench, the final and the prettiest of this country’s archeo;ogical sites/ In the north of the country this was the centre of the Khorezm kingdom in the 12th century. In a familiar story it was sacked by the Mongols in the 13th century. Rebuilt soon after it was once again destroyed this time by Timur from Samarkand in the 16th century/ The buildings here are especially pretty for the ornate blue tiling which was the precursor for the magnificent buildings subsequently built in Samarkand.
Our drive then to my hotel in Dashoguz is punctuated by a stop at a cotton field where I get to see and pick cotton, its quite a weird crop when you think about it. My final photo here is as the sun is setting on Dashogus town square, the ubiquitous larger than life golden statue of the president with white marble collonade and buildings around (what else?). As I am lining up a shout from one of the workmen has me wheeling around expecting a rebuke for taking the photo. On the countraray the fellow asks “tourist”? I respond in the affirmative and he asks “American”? My response of Australian yields the standard response, yes, you guesssed it “Kangaroo”! He waves his hands broadly all round and says “Turkmenistan”? When I gush that I love Turkmenistan with a thumbs up his face lights up and we shake hands like brothers!
This morning it is off to the border for my first land crossing here. The Turkmen customs don’t want to see my back pack just all the electronic stuff. They speak no English so it turns out to be an exercise in charades, most of which was lost on them. One of them provokes my anxiety when he starts looking through my 500 photos of this trip. I am anxious because I did sneak a couple of photos of the President’s palace and the Parliament which is forbidden. Fortunately he gets bored before those pictures and inwardly I breath a sigh of relief. While the tone was friendly these searches are always intrusive.
It is an 800 metre walk through no man’s land to the Uzbek side. I am initially struck by the fact that unlike Turkmenistan they all spoke a little English. They even had English versions of the customs forms. I was told to epect that they will count every bit of money you bring in and if you have added it up and quoted on the form incorrectly they will hassle you. Amazingly customs just scribbled and stamped my forms and beamed at me and said “Welcome to Uzbekistan”.
Outside customs there is only one taxi otherwise the whole area ids deserted. I have no choice but am heartened when he quites me the same price as the guide book and everyone on the Turkmen side said was the fare namely $10 for the half hour trip. It was though too good to be true and the warnings I have had about Uzbek taxis being extortionate came true at the other end when he said he wanted $10 per bag! I snatched the $10 back from him while abusing him and waiting till he opened the boot. I was surprised to see that he did not respond aggressively and I gave him the $10 and walked off