Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan

PHOTOS: If you want to see the photo’s full-size, click the photo, it isolates to a new page and click it once again. Use browser’s “back” to return to blog.

CURRENT LOCATION: Upper right corner is my Delorme inReach Explorer satellite tracks provided by SPOTwalla. When activated, it provides a real time track of my travels. The tab “All-Star Motorcycle Circus & E” opens for more options. “Adjustments” enables the viewer to select more days of the tracks.

The tracks are archived back to my arrival in Heidelberg, April 16.

Use the zoom slider on the left to open up the map to see our entire route. The two tabs in the upper right “Map/Satellite” switches the map illustration with satellite photos.

GlobeRiders has it’s own BLOG “Silk Road Adventure 2015 LiveJournal!” There is a complete description of the excursion, rider bios, updates of the ride, and an active satellite location link.

Apologies! I’m now one week behind. There was very poor internet or no internet past Ashkhabad. (Uch-Adzhi, Bukhara, Uzbekistan; Samarkand & Khujan, Tajikistan. I’m now in Dushanbe, Tajikistan trying to catch up.

Day 24 – Tue, 26 May – Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan

Start & End Location: Ashkhabad, Turkministan (No riding today)

Hotel/Pension: Hotel Oguzkent, Avenure Bitarap 231, Ashgabat 74400,

Money Conversion:

Turkministan : $1 USD = Som 25,329 or Som 1 = $0.000395 USD

For all its glory and reputation, Ashkhabad was not what we anticipated. For the first time since starting in Istanbul, we were required to convoy into the city. Our typical procedure once we got to the hotel, checked in and cleaned up was to immediately explore the area, usually in groups of 2, 3, 4 riders. But at the Hotel Oguzkent, we quickly found out we could not walk to the left. People start yelling at us and police turn us back.

The hotel was a magnificent marble beauty. Huge, spacious lobby, all room doors except the cheap rooms faced in interior of the hotel atrium.

Hotel Oguzkent was a dream. Spacious atrium lobby.

Looking up from the lobby, very open ... very modern!

Here’s an example of our room in Bojnurd, Iran. Our room had both the western stool and the eastern squatter. Some of the riders only got a squatter.

Our bathroom in Hotel Nahar-Khoran. Mix of old and new. The rooms were functional.

Breakfast at the Hotel Oguzkent was a wonderful, well-stocked buffet spread.

Smoked salmon, meats & cheeses.

Fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, veggies, and veggies in salad form.

Dried fruits and nuts.

Omelets, fried eggs, oatmeal, soup.

Breakfast out on the pool patio had this view.

Out on the breakfast patio the cityscape was ultra modern.

We put on our tourist hats and took a 40 minute bus to a Akhale-Tekke horse breeding farm. Considered one of the oldest cultured breeds in the world, their genes are part of the Arabian horse and American Quarter Horse.

The stables were old and the horses were well maintained,

This was an albino stallion.

Black Beauty!

On our way back into Ashkhabad we stopped at Kipchuk Mosque, a $100 million dollar mosque built by the former Turkmen president Niyazov. During worship it holds 10,000 worshipers.

$100 million mosque big enough to hold 10,000.

And that was the day. We spent so much time at the horse ranch, 3 hours) we missed the Palace Square, National Museum of History and Ethnography, and the ancient Parthian Kingdom of Nisa (15 miles outside of Ashkhabad.

My roomie, Ken decided to sneak off and ride around Ashkhabad. He was back in 30-minutes with a police escort. It seems he entered the forbidden zone (government buildings, President’s palace) and was stopped, questioned, asked for passport which he didn’t have because the hotel’s in Ashkhabad keeps your passport until you check out!

Day 25 Thu 27 May – Ashkhabad – Uch-Adzhi, Turkministan

470 km (292 miles)

From Ashkhabad to Uch-Adzhi we begin to exit the green foothills, miles and miles of agriculture, farms, and into barren, desert like surroundings. Towns and villages are much further apart and “Benzen” (gas) harder to find. There are 3 CNG natural gas stations to 1 benzene station.

Again we are asked to convoy out of town. Once we get into the suburbs, we are allowed to ride independent again.

~75 km out of town the road was a divided 4-lane is good shape.

Then for ~25 km when ever there was a bridge, only the north bound lane had a bridge so all the south bound traffic detoured to the north bound lane and back to the divided south bound lane. This make our north bound 2-lanes into a single lane real quickly.

Then the south-bound lane turns to gravel and the north bound 2-lanes becomes a single-lane each way.

This is the mosque at the ancient remains of Marghiana. It is located near Merv. The ruins date back 2000 years. There are at least 5 walled cities from different eras built on top of each other. Everything is gone, the walls are now mounds. This site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mosque on the cover of GlobeRiders' Silk Road DVD.

These huge mounds of dirt were once magnificent city walls.

John Riley, Terry Gautier, David Dardaris and I with the ancient walls in the background.

Dung beetle meets us at the Hotel Ak-Yol, Uch-Adzhi, Mary, Turkmenistan.

Tonight we stay at a fairly new hotel, the Asia Hotel, in Bukhara Uzbekistan.

Day 26 – Thu 28, May – Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan Border Crossing

296 km (167 miles)

Hot, hot, hot. Water hydration is key as we ride north-east. Mid-day temps are 100°F. We each carry 3-4 bottles of water, several have Camelbacks. Water is available from roadside vendors and markets.

At the border, exiting Turkmenistan was easy. I was 3^rd in line. 300 meters away at the Uzbekistan border things got a little nastier. The agent wanted passport, maps of our travels and all our medications. This slowed down processing to one rider every 15 minutes. I got through easy … total of 3 hours, exiting at 2:30 pm. Then the wheels came off the bus and riders behind me had wait period of ~15-20 minutes while the agents took breaks, found other things to do. The riders at the end did not leave the border until 5:30 pm.

Again, no photos permitted at the border crossings.

In Bukhara, we check into the Asia Bukhara Hotel, sister hotel to the Asia Samarkand.

Bukhara is Central Asia’s oldest cities.

Day 27 – Fri 29, May – Bukhara Sites

Second day in Bukhara. There is a Silk & Spice Festival and Parade.

Huge marionettes lead the Silk & Spice parade

Then came the horns!

Then at least 50-60 dance groups each with drums, a wailing reed instrument, and tambourines

This lady was the head of one of the dance groups.

John with 2 young dancers.

All wore bright, colorful constumes.

This 5 year old girl was off to the side but she had all the moves of the big girls.

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Out near the palace walls we saw a cock fight!

Summer palace of the last emir.

Mosque with 40 pillars (really had 20 but the reflection in the water made a total of 40!

20 pillars.

Through the century's this mosque went through 4 separate dome stages.

Jim Mulcahy

June 2, 2015 at 9:51 am · Reply

Looks like you are having a great time. Thanks for the PICS and the updates.

Cletha

June 2, 2015 at 10:05 am · Reply

Wow, what an adventure you are having. Thanks for keeping us posted on your journey.

Brother Tom

June 2, 2015 at 11:53 am · Reply

Bro…all we do here in Germany is drink beer, and eat cake and coffee.

chuck h

June 2, 2015 at 2:11 pm · Reply

you should have just said your name was Borat — and your sister was the #3 …….. you know. !!
Keep ‘em coming Deano — I’m envious of your trip(s). See you soon (who knows where?).