The 5 Stans of the Silk Road

[juddles]

I will engage in this TR as I think the trip is fantastic. But I am also a tad jealous.... And you will miss flush toilets - we all do when there are not same. You will not miss the Sofitel.

 

[RooFlyer]

You will not miss the Sofitel.

Come day 2 in the yurts, I think there's a decent chance that I will....

 

[JohnM]

Snowflakes, the lot of you .

 

[henleybeach]

I thought the men's EK business amenity kit was worth highlighting. Pretty good, but with the very odd omission of ear plugs!

View attachment 182358

Those mini shaving creams come in very handy! When we stayed at the rosewood in Abu Dhabi I mentioned it to the cleaner and she gave me 5 extra ones. They are great to pack away for O/S trips in your toiletries bag

 

[drron]

Those mini shaving creams come in very handy! When we stayed at the rosewood in Abu Dhabi I mentioned it to the cleaner and she gave me 5 extra ones. They are great to pack away for O/S trips in your toiletries bag

Not for all of us.

 

[RooFlyer]

A 9pm check out from the Sofitel and a deftly avoided 'hotel taxi' at 70 dirhams in favour of a regular metered taxi saw a bit of a white knuckle ride to DXB Terminal 2, on the unfashionable far side of the airport. Cost 50 dirhams.

I've used FlyDubai and T2 before; FZ was quite OK in economy and this time I'm in business, so hoping for a good ride.

T2 is the LCC t terminal and is basic, but efficient.

I was able to use the Smart Gates at immigration, thanks to being registered at arrival.

The gate lounges:





FZ has a Business Lounge and for some reason I was expecting something OK.

It's a bit of a shocker



This is the bar


She does have some beer wine and spirits hidden behind there, but I settled for a Sprite.

Food offerings just plain dodgy. Lucky I stocked up in the Sofitel Club lounge!!



I went for a banana.

 

[RooFlyer]

We'll, I owe FlyDubai an apology. I went first upstairs in their lounge, bypassing what I thought was a small ground floor part. But on closer examination, this is the better bit

Some good hot food options, sweets, breads, soup plus the same cold stuff as upstairs and fridges of juices and soft drinks. No booze here though.









Not a great lounge, but OK for an hour or so.

 

[RooFlyer]

And a dedicated gate for business pax

 

[RooFlyer]

And here it is. TKWIA, obviously.



And this would be our bus:

 

[RooFlyer]

Good morning Ashgabat!!



View from my hotel. This isn't the actual city - just apartments. Over the mountains is Iran.

Landed at the new 'falcon' airport.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm just about to head off for breakfast, so i'll leave you with this quiz question:

What do 2 passengers who swapped passports, 10 passengers who refused to pay excess baggage, 1 passenger who got very argumentative at the cabin door and a deficit of 10 bottles of water add up to?

 

[Norjet441]

If FZ to ASB then a very long delay which was often the norm! Lived and worked in TM for 18 months 2014-15 - it's quite a different experience and one you won't forget. Enjoy ASB, the city of white marble and fountains. The Gateway to Hell is amazing. Hope you get to see some of the ruins near ASB and Mary. Try a swim in the underground lake in those mountains you can see, and also in the Caspian Sea if you get to Turkmenbashy.

 

[JohnM]

A: One VERY sh!tty @RooFlyer .

 

[egoode]

Loved my travels through the 5 Stans last year have a great time. The gateway to hell is pretty amazing. I was told a tour guide actually got drunk and fell in once and had to wait in there for a couple of hours before being rescued! When I was there they had just put up a fence around it maybe to stop that happening again!
Also good luck with trying to cross into Afghanistan that would be a cool stamp to get in your passport.

 

[RooFlyer]

If FZ to ASB then a very long delay which was often the norm! Lived and worked in TM for 18 months 2014-15 - it's quite a different experience and one you won't forget. Enjoy ASB, the city of white marble and fountains. The Gateway to Hell is amazing. Hope you get to see some of the ruins near ASB and Mary. Try a swim in the underground lake in those mountains you can see, and also in the Caspian Sea if you get to Turkmenbashy.

An extra special welcome to AFF @Norjet441 ! - well, to posting, anyway

The underground lake isn't on the tour but I'm trying to get a side trip there tomorrow 0 and/or the cable-car. Yes, we are going to Merv, Mary and another place close to Ashgabat. Not going west, thought (other than NW, to Door to Hell.). @JohnM - that's in a bunch of 4WDs!! 16 on the tour, at least 1/2 Aussies (I think thats what Daniel said, wasn't it?). Its a big coach, like in Iran.

 

[RooFlyer]

A: One VERY sh!tty @RooFlyer .

Right now I'm too tired to be cranky, but it was a trying night. But the answer is FZ 731 DXB-ASB. Norjet 441, collect your prize at the door. An unsigned portrait of the Turkman President

OK. We boarded a bit late. J pax first, natch (busses). Then 2 busses of the whY mob. By then, 12:15am, 15 mins late. No biggie.

Then a debate started whether there was another bus to come or not. About the same time, a woman came up front and started complaining something about her passport being in the terminal. Only one of the FAs could understand Turkman language, so it was very confusing to all, but you could get the drift.

1/2 hour later, third bus load of pax turned up. Last guy to board got very argumentative at the cabin door - his wife was still in the terminal. We are now 45 mins late.

Then we notice bags being unloaded (read 'freight' - everyone takes back home at least 1/2 tonne, it looked like!!). Told that 10 pax had refused to pay excess baggage, so their bags being offloaded (yes, but that would have been known when check-in closed, at least 90 mins before this!!)

Guy still arguing at cabin door. One Turkman J pax basically told him where to get off. FAs frankly pretty useless no doubt cultural in these male dominated societies)

By this time, multiple pax from the back were coming up the front after water, the toilet, a chat etc.

Finally sort out that 2 lady pax had swapped passports - one has been allowed through security and boarded (!!), other was refused at the gate - that's the wife. Eventually missing wife is delivered. Much rejoicing.

Now an argument has broken out between the baggage handlers - you could see it clearly from the cabin. We are now 75 mins late. Some bags being re-loaded (found out that these were legit bags, taken off to get the refused bags off).

After 90 mins late, head FA announces that we need more water - as with the delay, they were nearly out. So now we send for 10 large bottles from the terminal.

Oh God, some-one just shoot me. All of business cabin really pissed off by this time. I'm happy to say I wasn't the worst, by a long shot!!

So, finally, bags all OK; water loaded, pax in seats. Departed abut 2 hrs late at 2am local.

Now, i know that's not the longest delay, by a long shot, but it was easily the biggest shambles in getting an airliner away that I've seen in my approx 1,200 flights. And that includes lots of flights in Africa, the middle east etc.

Sheesh.

 

[JohnM]

Well, my answer to the question was also correct .

 

[RooFlyer]

How good is Turkmenistan!

Our tour starts on Sunday. I flew in 2 days early, as I came via Dubai and that was the last flight until next Sunday.

As it happens, 7 other Aussies did the same! We were all collected from the 2 year old, 2 US$ Billion airport and taken to our hotel, the Alk Altyn, which means ' 'white gold', which refers to cotton.



After a bit of a rest, our tour leader for Turkmenistan ( we have a leader for each country, and an overall leader, who flies in from England with the rest of the group, very early Sunday morning) took us for a walk of the neighbourhood, telling us.does and don'ts, pointing out some restaurants, a local supermarket, trekking is done customs etc. Really helpful.

Tomorrow is a non tour day, and he's organised us to have a half day minibus doing things in Ashgabat not on the tour for about US$7 each.

Anyway, as I was saying, how good is Turkmenistan!

You go into the local supermarket, and all the usual stuff. Turkmen goods are very cheap, imported stuff very expensive ( including for and veges).





We'll here in Ashgabat at least, in the supermarkets is the draft beer counter. BYO container, or use theirs, drink there and then or take it away!!

 

[Deleted member]

It all seems very neat and tidy , or is that just the hotel grounds?

 

[RooFlyer]

Ashgabat is very neat and tidy - to the point of being a bit sterile. Roads are wide, traffic lights are obeyed, very little litter.

The people are not unfriendly, just ... indifferent. I'm pretty obvious as a tourist walking around, but virtually no curiosity on the streets. No stares from the kids, even the police, of which there are many, there is no interest. No problem of course, just a bit unexpected in what is still a pretty closed and unvisited county.