Welcome to Turkmenistan, country #61

We had to get up at 4:15am in order to walk to the airport bus stop for its 5:00am departure. We had said goodbye to Cheryl the night before so we didn't have to wake her. We packed our bags and headed out the door.

A twenty minute walk in the rain got us to the bus stop where the bus was already loading. We paid our 149 lira ($7.25 CAD, $5.34) and with very little traffic at that hour we made it to Istanbul Airport (IST) in an hour and ten minutes. Much better than the two and a half hours it took when we arrived!

That meant we had lots of time before our 9:45am flight to Ashgabat. 

We found the Turkmenistan Airlines check in counter and got in the line. When we got to the front, the guy said "This line is for Ashgabat." as if to ask us if we were in the right lineup. "Yes, we know," and he shrugged his shoulders. Okay. Not many tourists go to Ashgabat, and especially on Turkmenistan Airlines! 

We got our boarding passes, but the girl said we had to check our carry on bags. We figured that was okay, so they were tagged and sent off.

Not many people can say they've been on a Turkmenistan Airlines flight!

We had a couple of hours to waste before boarding, so we made our way to the premium lounge to get some breakfast. 

Ruth in the new Istanbul airport.

There's our plane!

We boarded right on time!

The first class section.

But we sat near the back.

Everything is in Russian and English.

And we're off!

We left the gate right on time, but it was almost 10:15am by the time we took off.

We got a nice meal on the three and a half hour flight.

Almost everyone on the plane was a Turkmenistan citizen. They have a visa free travel agreement with Turkiye, so it's one of the few countries where they can actually travel. We did not see any other western tourists.

Arriving in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. All the roofs are green!

More green roofs.

On the ground.

Ashgabat has a new billion dollar airport terminal. In the theme of everything else in the city, it's all made of white marble with gold and silver decoration. The leader of Turkmenistan likes white, silver, and gold. In fact, there is a law in the city of Ashgabat that every car must be either white, silver, or gold.

Oh, and green. They definitely like the color green here as well.

Inside the terminal.

We made our way to passport control where we first had to get our entry visas. We already had the letter of invitation approved, so we presented that, and had to pay $99 USD each (in cash) to process the visas.

Then went through passport control and we were stamped in to Turkmenistan.

Into the arrival area where we quickly saw our driver holding a sign. He was an older fellow who only spoke Russian. 

You can have any color of car you want, as long as it's white, silver, or gold.

And, cars must be kept clean. If your car is dirty, you will receive a fine.

The airport terminal is very cool!

Wide boulevards, with very few vehicles on them.

A lot of monuments and statues.

Yes, everything is white, gold, and silver.

And green.

Our hotel was about 6 kms (4 miles) from the terminal. We were checked in, and told that free buffet breakfast was the next morning between 8am to 10am.

Our room.

View from our 7th floor room.

This building is used for horse show events.

The WiFi works, but many sites are blocked. There is no access to any social media, but gmail and most google services work fine. Our blog is run by google, so we are able to update it, but aren't likely to have internet once we leave the hotel.

We went out for a walk around.

There are a lot of parks like this one.

As tourists, we are allowed to wander Ashgabat freely, however once we leave the city we have to have a guide with us.

This is a big shopping mall.

Outside the Russian Bazaar.

There are a lot of statues, however some have guards posted where we are not allowed to take photos.

And there are a lot of fountains.

Back at the hotel, we met up again with Lauren and went out to have some dinner. The rest of the group arrived overnight, so we won't see them until breakfast.

I had the beef medallions with cheese and spinach and grilled vegetables.

It was delicious.

Ruth had lamb curry with rice.

And Lauren had lamb chops.

Total bill for the three of us was under $21 USD. Restaurant food here is fairly cheap!

We're heading down for breakfast, and then we set out on our tour at 10:30am with the rest of the group.