November 23 -- Away we go to Avaza

Had breakfast at the hotel restaurant again, ordered some potato cakes with the rest this morning and they were very tasty. The cakes were a good addition to the combination breakfast. The meal again was very good and reasonably priced.

After breakfast we went up to the room to finish packing up for the day’s trip. It didn’t take long and as I was taking the first bag down to reception Rejep met me bearing gifts. He had two gift bags one for Bonnie and one for me. That was very kind of him to do. We thanked him and then continued with the chore at hand. We had discussed the day’s journey at length yesterday and told Rejep we did not think the car we used on Friday would hold us all comfortably and our luggage. He finally agreed. When we talked with him this morning he said he had gotten a larger car.

The car was larger. It fit all of our luggage because we had consolidated two of our bags into one. All loaded up we were off to Avaza. Along the way we stopped to at the silk road monument once again and took a couple of pictures. We drove for probably 45 minutes and Rejep told us he wanted to take us to Mollagara. We had no idea what this was so we said sure let’s go.

Mollagara Lake

 Mollagara Lake looked pretty much like a mud pit to me. Rejep told us that people come here from all over Turkmenistan and other countries to bath in the salt water to aid things like skin disease, leg cramps, and other things. He told us he had actually come and swam in the lake. There were platforms built around the lake for people to sit in and a number of stairways down to the lake where the bank was high. I personally would not swim in this lake but I’m sure there are many that do and more that would given the chance.

Mollagara Sanatorium

 The Mollagara Sanatorium is a brand new facility near Mollagara Lake. People come here to be treated for all kinds of ills. They stay for a week or more and receive a number of treatments that include water massages, hot salt bathes, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, heat and cold therapy, and mud bathes to name some of them. There are others. What was most interesting is that we received an impromptu tour of many of the therapy rooms and my wife actually received an abbreviated water massage. She did like that part of the tour especially. We asked Rejep if he arranged the tour in advance. He told us that he talked with people when we got there and quite possibly would not have been able to get a tour if he had tried to arrange it before hand. This turned out to be a very interesting stop along the way.

While we were at Mollagara, Rejep got a call from Maral’s mother that she had some gifts for us. She had come by the hotel but we had already left. She asked if we could hang out until she arrived with the gifts. Of course we told her we would wait. We received a large bag of gifts and Laurens a smaller bag. The gifts were very generous and we thanked her profusely. We enjoyed the short visit we had with Maral’s mother and brother. And then we were off to the hotel in Avaza.

As we were driving along we encountered some camels that were on the road. We stopped so we could take some pictures. The are just as smelly as I remember from when we rode them in Egypt a number of years ago. This one looked healthy and was very willing to pose for pictures. Driving further down the road there was a large expanse of white ground off to our left. Turns out it is a salt flat from a lake that is drying up. Seems there are many salt lakes in Turkmenistan and one of it’s many export are salts of different types.

On down the road we started descending a steep hill and got our first glimpse of the Caspian Sea. The view from this point was quite spectacular. We were just south of the city Turkmenbashi. Since we had never before seen the Caspian Sea this was a special treat. From here is was about 10-15 minutes to our hotel in Avaza.

First Glimpse of the Caspian Sea

We are staying at the Hasyl Hotel on the Caspian Sea. The sea and the beach are beautiful. There are sixteen hotels along the shore in this area and it looks like right now they are all empty. All of the meals are included in our room rate and when we went to the dining room at appointed meal times we were the only people in the room. The Hasyl is well appointed and very new. It opened just last year. As I said it is new, yet there are wine stains on the carpet and the occasional chair in the room. The hassock  that goes with the chair is missing a button and another is ready to be among the missing. When we turned on the faucets in the room the water was brown. It did clear up. The shower tiles were stained brown and the moulding between the tub and the tile was loose. At a rate of $100/night it is a real bargain. According to our travel agent the hotels along here are really booming in the summer season but it is difficult to believe looking at them now. The area was built up to make it into another Dubai but because of government restrictions on the Internet and entrance into the country this will not happen. The rates are very attractive but there is little to do except sit on the beach. That is certainly not my kind of vacation. It looks like some type of theme park is being built but can’t tell for sure and the only thing I know will be in it is an aquarium.

Hasyl Hotel

We did eat as soon as we arrived and the food was very flavorful and well presented. This was kind of rest afternoon for us. We did go for a walk on the beach with Rejep. He asked many questions about the shells and the tidal pools that I was happy to answer. We didn’t see anything in the tidal pools that was very interesting except for bivalves and a few barnacles. There are probably 6 hotels in easy walking distance from where we are on the beach and there were only a half a dozen others that we could see doing anything on the beach. As we walked back we went through another hotel. Don’t remember the name but it also seemed empty. Walking back to the Hasyl along the road I was struck by the fact there was no traffic. All of the hotels and the other structures being built belong to the government. I think they have wasted their money and time but you never know.

Super was very good as well and very filling. There is always more than enough food to eat. If you go away hungry it is your own fault. We are getting box lunches for tomorrow to take to the canyons. Looking forward to that trip.

We did open the bag of things that Maral’s mom brought us. There were many sweets. Some of which we will be able to carry around with us but some will have to be eaten before we leave here. There was also a large cotton blanket we think. It was certainly too large to be a towel. We also decided we would fly back to Ashgabat instead of driving. It’s less than an hour to fly and 6-8 hours to drive. I am sure it is not much more expensive in the long run either. We will probably have to pay for our bags but don’t know for sure.