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| Old Nissa |
When we were on a walk the other day in Ashgabat we came up on a fruit tree that I had never seen before. The fruit is green, hard, and bumpy. Looking on the Internet today I found it is osage orange. The tree, bush, is native to Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. I had never seen it before but according to Wikipedia it has been “naturalized” throughout much of the lower 48 and southern Canada. It seems strange that I had to come all the way to Turkmenistan to have my first sighting of this U.S. plant.
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| Old Nissa |
walk in and among the walls that have been restored as well as some to the corridors and doorways. It is difficult to describe but it was in its heyday about the 3rd century BC. According to a gentleman in the hotel it was first conquered by Alexander the Great and later became the capital city of some of the Parthian Kings. We took a taxi there and the driver waited for us to finish our “tour”. If it had not been that the taxi was waiting for us we could have spent many hours there but most would be in and out in less than 45 minutes. A yellow cab from the Hotel Nusay round trip plus the wait time was 50 manat, $14.50. It cost almost that much to go from the Anchorage airport to our house and that is only a 10 minute drive. There was a 41 manat ($11.75) entrance fee for the three of us plus a fee for taking pictures. Certainly was very reasonable. We did enjoy our short time there.
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| Old Nissa |
When we got back from the hotel Laurens got a call from Natavan and off we went to the Russian bazaar. Natavan thought I wanted to buy a Turkmen hat but I really wasn’t interested. However, we had a wonderful time watching Laurens try them on and eventually he bought one. Bonnie picked up a couple of souvenirs and we were off to the silver market. Here we purchased a small silver cross the an onyx stone in it. Then is was back to hotel after saying goodbye to Natavan. We had just a few minutes to get ready to go to the airport and then Maral called and we talked with her for a short time. We told her she was welcome in our home any time and we finally said goodbye. We will certainly keep in touch with her through email and the occasional phone call. We did not have much time with he but we did enjoy the time we had with her.
The taxi ride to the airport was a little bit of an adventure with closed streets and limited access to the terminal. We did get there.
Buy your souvenirs in the bazaars or at shopping centers outside the airport. The prices are at least twice as high in the airport. As you go into the boarding area at Ashgabat there is a cafe a the left end of the boarding area. The prices should be quite reasonable by U.S. standards but much more than outside the terminal. They will let you into the boarding area about 2.5 hours before you flight departs. That is when you get your visa stamped for exit. Be sure they stamp it. If you ever go back there improper processing on your way out could prevent you from getting back in.
When you use a taxi in Turkmenistan be sure you have small bills, 5s and 10s. Agree on a price before you get in the taxi and only pay the agreed price when you get out. They will try to take advantage of the tourists at every turn. They thing because we don’t know the language we are easy marks. In many instances that is true but there are people that will help you if you let them.
Turkmenistan is a difficult country to be a tourist. If you are outside of Ashgabat you must be accompanied by a travel agent. Rejep, our agent was very resourceful and tried to save us money at every turn. Be sure to let your agent know if he is being too frugal. It is cheaper by about 75% for a country resident to fly or ride on a train than a tourist. So don’t go on the cheap if you would rather fly for an hour than ride in a car for 6. Let your agent know if you want to spend more on a good hotel instead of going cheap on a second rate outfit. Your first duty is to yourself and your comfort.
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