May 23 And westward-ho to Ashgabat

After our sunset wanderings around the ruins of ancient Merv, we made it to our very lavish hotel in Mary for an extremely late dinner. And we were up bright and early next morning for our drive to Ashgabat. Incidentally, the name Mary derived from Margoush which means green and lush - and it is! Soem of the 'project' housing driving out of Mary looked a bit sad and stark.

A housing estate (taken like many, through a window of the car) 

Once away from town, we passed many vineyards and other richly-cultivated fields as we followed a range of mountains looming to our south. These are part of the massive Kopet Dag Mountain Range that forms the border with Iran. They stand in huge folds, creased and jagged with slanting strata pointing skyward - evidence of great compression eons ago, and they are still growing.  They were awe inspiring! We didn’t get close until we drove through a pass into Iran a few days later - and then unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos. 

(taken through the car window)

Kopet Dag Mountain Range with Iran on the other side

Along the road we passed many motorbike ‘trucks’ carting all manner of things including huge loads of cut reeds (there are many irrigation channels and much swampy ground around here). We even passed a few bicycles almost invisible under mountains of cut reeds. Stockfeed we reckoned but we also saw them used as thatching and as temporary fencing. And of course there were lots of camels along the road as we travelled. Mostly we saw dromedaries. Bactrian camels are rare and protected.

Luscious-looking grapes

Ibriham wanted a photo taken with us, the dear man

Our driver, Ibrahim, was leaving us at Ashgabat so before we got there we had a little break under some trees by a vineyard and he took some selfies with us.  In the trees where we rested were large bunches of a dried herbs. It is used to protect against the evil eye.  Ibrahim was a very gentle man. He didn’t speak English (and why would he) and we had no Turkmen at all but he spoke good Russian. I could only speak a few words of that rich language. But it is amazing how you can get by especially accompanoed with smiles. Like many people in Russia and Central Asian, Ibrahim had gold teeth. Lovely man, dazeling smile! Here we said goodbye to him as it seems that unless your car has licence plates for Ashgabat and surrounds, you can’t drive in Ashgabat. So we said goodbye to Ibrahim who was from Mary and hello to our next driver, Ashyr from Ashgabat. 

The relatively short drive from Mary to Ashgabat had been really pleasant, but we were ready for a bit of a rest. But before we put our feet up we hopped in a taxi bound for the Russian Bazaar to try to buy a new mouse (for the travel computer which Lindsay uses a lot). 

This market emerged some time ago near where the Russians had built a garrison. Local producers etc set up shop to provide goods for the soldiers. It was typical of all markets, lots of hustle and bustle, food and loads of other items. We did a ‘select and point’ type lunch - didn’t know what it was till we bit into it. Tasty, fortunately!!

We found what we were looking for and then tried out the local way of getting a ride. Just stand on the side of the road and hail a car - any car! Tell them where you want to go and if it is on their way, you just hop in. When in Rome! Trusting/brave souls that we were, we had a go and got back to the hotel for half the price that the wily cabdriver had charged us to get to the market (no metres .... hmmm). 

That night we wandered 100m up the road from the hotel and found a delightful place - Turman Pub. It was set up with comfy chairs, warm red-painted walls, and shelves piled high with books. There was quite a collection of classics - unfortunately all in Russian - AND sports was playing on the large screen telly. Interesting contrasts! It was a wonderful atmosphere to sip on rich dark Georgian wine - just love that wine. Of course I browsed the books. It was just a pity my grasp of Russian is minimal!

Then it came time to head back to the hotel for bed ready for a huge day of sightseeing the following day ........ Spokoynoy nochi  One last thing - an interesting map (because I love maps) showing the routes of the silk roads through Turkmenistan and the border where we entered the country Farap.