November 20 -- Off to Balkanabat

 
Breakfast on the 20th was quite excellent. While certainly not a “traditional” breakfast in the U.S. it certainly was tasty. There were turkey sausage, hard boiled eggs, a variety of other sliced sausage, cheese, breads with butter and jam, toast, olives, cucumbers, three types of juice, two types of tea, and yogurt. If you couldn’t find something you liked to fill your morning hunger you are way too picky. Breakfast was included with the price of the room.

We started our drive from Ashgabat to Balkanabat at about 10 in the morning. But we didn’t really leave the capital city until after noon. It seems the day we were going to Balkanabat the Ministry of Transportation closed Ashgabat to travel by car for people living outside of the city. This was done to help prevent road congestion during the heavy construction that was taking place in the capital city. Our driver finally got his permit to return to the capital and thus circumvent the closure. It was needed to go back to Ashgabat after they dropped us off to pick up another tourist and bring him to Balkanabat.

 After traveling for about 45 minutes we came to the attraction called Kow-Ata, the underground lake.This attraction is about 7 km off the main road between Ashgabat and Balkanabat. There is an exhibit of native nomad temporary shelters that were quite interesting. There were also places to get things to eat and drink before or after you went to the lake but not during. No food or drink was allowed in the the cave. This is not a cave like many of you have been in before. There are no stalagmites or stalactites, no ribbons, no straws, no quartz formations. Nothing to ooh or aah about except that it is still very interesting. There are supposed to be 362 steps down to the lake, didn’t count them. The steps are not very well lit so I would advise a flash light or a cell phone light. There are two entrances. One is used by the people entering the cave and the other is a natural one that can be seen from the first landing. As you move down the stairs there is really not much to see except more stairs. Once you get to the water if you have a swim suit there is a place to change so you can go into the water. There was another party that followed us down that did go swimming. The water is warm because it is fed by a hot sprint from inside the mountain. Certainly worth making the little side trip.

We left Kow-Ata about 2:30 PM. The drive to Balkanabat from there seemed like it took forever but it was only about 4.5 hours. We did make a couple of short stops along the way but generally just drove or I should say Bonnie and I rode. It was raining during the trip or the roads were wet until about an hour south of Balkanabat. The sun was warm and very welcome. We even got a couple of pictures of a nice sunset out the window of the car. We arrived at the hotel shortly after 6 and we were both quite tired.

We stayed at the Hotel Nebitci in Balkanabat. Our travel agent was able to get us 50% off on the room fees but then the cost does not include breakfast. We were actually fine with that. This is the only game in town so good, bad, or indifferent it’s what you get. Room was large by European standards and looked comfortable. The room was generally clean. There was a no smoking sign placed in the room as well. Maybe that’s why the room didn’t smell of smoke. The chairs that were by the writing were nice to sit in and doubled as a coat tree. The easy chair was straight backed and comfortable as well if you didn’t have to sit in it for a long time. The bed was like a rock. Now I like a firm be as much as the next person but this one was really hard. As long as you sleep on your back it was not much of a problem. Lying on your side was not comfortable at least for me. Two of the three nights we stayed the telephone in the room gave a high pitched buzz during the night waking us from sound sleep. It was very annoying.

The bathroom looked like the grout in the tile and floor as not installed properly and the maintenance people tried to plugged everything up with caulk. It was not effective. There was water all over the floor and the bath mat was soaked. The shower worked well however. There was only one bath towel and only one hand towel provided. This may have just been an oversight of course.

We had been relayed a message that we were to meet Maral in the hotel restaurant at 7:30 for dinner. We were quite happy that she arrived just after 7. There were hugs all around and she talked with us non-stop the whole time we were with her. It was a wonderful dinner mainly because of sharing with such great company. Maral is doing very well and is still employed despite the downward spiral of oil prices. Her job is very dependent on the price of oil. She seems happy and not entirely ready for the wedding but with help she will get there. We look forward to spending some time with her and her family tomorrow.

The hotel restaurant was nicely quiet even though there were more than a dozen other people. I liked that. The food was very good. The salads were very tasty and  presented well. We had a chicken soup with dinner that was delicious. The entree was a chicken, tomato, mushroom combination that was served with rice. The dish had very good flavor. For dessert we had a fresh fruit platter that included apple, pear, and orange. The platter was presented well. The fruit tasted fresh and was a nice finish to a good meal.