November 22 -- Wedding Day

Slept the best last night that I have since our arrival. Might be because we were up ’til well after 10 PM. I guess we are starting to get adjusted to the time difference. We went down for breakfast at about 9 this morning. We both had something a little different than yesterday but the food was still really good. Went back up to the room to get ready for the early afternoon festivities.

We (Bonnie, I, and Laurens) were picked up by one of Maral’s cousins. He drove us to her house. The ladies were in one tent eating and the men were in another so Laurens and I joined the men and Bonnie joined the ladies. We ate and drank and at the completion of the meal a prayer was said thanking Allah for the meal and that he would bless the bride and groom. All then got ready for Maral’s entrance in here traditional Turkmen garb for the bride. This outfit can weigh as much as 40 kilograms. For those of you metrically challenged that’s more than 85 pounds. Before that could happen though we all ran up to apartment to observe her getting her bridal garb put on, at least the finishing touches. She was ten escorted down the stairs by her husband to be and a couple of hand maidens. A procession of things she was given were the taken down the stairs and gifts for the bride were laid before her. In the large tent outside they ate some cake and shared a little food and a symbol of their joining. We then proceeded to load into cars to process to the groom’s house where they again shared cake a little to eat.

From there we had an automobile parade through the city to the Wedding Center. There they were married by what we would call a justice of the peace or simply a judge, someone authorized by the state to perform marriages. A short celebration took place and then everyone dispersed to their homes to get ready for the evening party.

I should mention that there was a clarinet, concertina, and two different types of drums playing during the whole process. They also went to the groom’s house to play and to the marriage center. All of the locations were very close together and people moved from place to place very quickly. This whole process took about one and a half hours. Much of it I didn’t understand and probably never will.

At the break, Bonnie, I, Laurens, and Rejep went back to the hotel to change into more comfortable clothes and then went to the library to see if we could us the internet. We indeed were able to do that so we quickly caught up on our email and sent a message to Mel and Meg. It took a little time to figure out how to make things work since everything was in Russian and the people there to help us spoke no English. But we did get passed the challenges and soon became friends with the librarian that was assisting us even though we did not speak each others languages. Rejep tried to act as interpreter but had difficulty with some of the technical words and phrases. But it all worked out.

Our new Turkmen library friend then took us to the roof of the building to show us the view. I was truly amazed. You could see the whole city in all directions. The library is probably the second tallest building in town. Using Rejep as our translator we shared information about our families and had an enjoyable chat. We thanked her for her help and the tour and paid for our time on the internet. That price was 4 manat, about $1.20. The fun we had with the librarian and the children that were working around us was really priceless.

We also found out that there was an observatory on the roof but we had to have an observatory specialist in order to go into that room. So we went down to the first floor and were preparing to leave when lo and behold an observatory specialist showed up. So back up to the roof we went. The observation room was astounding. There were 8 Lenovo computers set up with 28” monitors. There were 8, 60” TVs set up that could see what the telescope was observing. The telescope is an 800mm reflector. A beautiful piece of equipment. But the observatory is not used because they do not have a qualified person to run it. So it sits idle. What a waste. But it is impressive. I did get to play with an astronomy program on one of the Lenovo computers for a bid and had a wonderful time.

From the library we went to another bazaar. Here we actually bought a few things. Picked up a couple of drinks and some nuts for a snack. 200 grams of cashews were less than $3. Picked up 100 grams of peanuts that were sugared and coated with sesame seeds for about 30 cents. Nuts here a excellent, fresh, and inexpensive. After the bazaar we hiked back to the hotel to get ready for the evening party.

At 6:20 we met in the lobby and then strolled across the road to the reception. Maral and Kuvat arrived about 7:15. We had already began to eat by then and the food was on the table from the time we arrived. All of the food was wonderful. We ate our fill and had drinks for all. There was also Cognac and vodka. I had some cognac and a toast with Maral’s father. We danced, took pictures, and danced some more. In between we ate and drank. I was able to “dance” with Maral twice. Dancing is different in Turkmenistan than the U.S. The men usually dance with women but here as often as not the men dance with men. It’s not a problem just different. The bride and groom were a lovely couple. I pray they will have a long and wonderful marriage. May they have all the happiness the Lord can offer them.

At just a few minutes to 11 we left and wandered over to the hotel. It was a lovely evening. We pretty much packed for the trip in the morning to Avaza. We will meet Laurens at 8 for breakfast and the be off by 10. We are looking forward to the new experience but not the car ride.

A little side note, we found out today that all businesses much close at 11 PM. It’s kind of a curfew. People don’t have to be off the streets by 11 but businesses are not open. It does make for quiet nights. This curfew includes all restaurants, stores, and drinking establishments.
 

November 21 -- Balkanabat

Breakfast at the hotel this morning was simple and good. As I said before it was not included in the room charge. The cost was about 42 manat or $14 for both of us. Pretty inexpensive I would say as hotel restaurants go. We even got to watch Russian music videos while we ate. That was a special bonus. Maral’s brother picked us up about 9:30 this morning and took us to a local bazaar. You could buy just about anything you had a desire for there. We bought nothing. Maral’s brother bought us a gift to hang over our door at home to keep the evil eye away from our home. Bazaars seem to be the malls and supermarkets of the U.S.

Balkanabat Library

After the bazaar we drove around the city looking at different building landmarks. The place they perform weddings, a theatre, a library, police headquarters. There was one monument that was a sculpture of six people and a camel struggling to get through a sandstorm. Will have to find out what the monument was for because I don’t remember. We then went to a new museum in the city. It was very new and not all of the exhibit halls were yet filled. There was one hall on natural history of the Balkan Province that was very nice and informative. Another on the history of the people of the area, also enlightening. The last we went through was an exhibit on the oil and gas industry in the Balkan Province. This was something I actually knew something about having been in the business and having done a little research when Maral came to live with us. We were in the museum for just a little over an hour and did not see anyone else except the people that worked there. We were told generally only tourists visited the museum and at this time of the year there are not many tourists.

Silk Road Monument

From the museum we went back to the hotel to pick up the gifts for Maral and then off to her home for the afternoon festivities. Maral’s family and friends were at her house having a party and the grooms family and friends were at his house having a party. There were two groups at the party the men and the women. I stayed with the women because that is better and because at least some of them spoke English. We ate many wonderful foods. Maral received the gifts from her family and at about 2 PM the ladies from the groom’s house arrived to give their gifts. There was much singing as the day moved forward. Later all of the gifts were gathered and another showing was done on all the things the bride will take with her to the groom’s home after the wedding. All of this made little sense to me but everyone, including me, seemed to have a wonderful time. Of course between each gift event there was more food.

Came back to the hotel to rest for a bit and then went out for a walk. We walked down to the library we had seen earlier in the day. We went inside and communicated to the librarian that we would like to look at the facility. She showed us around on the first floor. Unlocking doors as she went. The facility was beautiful but it looked very unused. My idea of a library is stacks and stacks of books but we saw no stacks at all. Some books were on display on stands and standing but no stacks. There were many computers on the first floor that I would assume had access to the internet but all of them were without operators. The second floor was just as fantastic. Here there were half a dozen children using the computers. Two that I noticed were playing games. One was playing chess and the other was playing something I didn’t recognize. A couple of young ladies were working on some kind of a project. Except for one room we went into they were all very hot, probably 80 +F. For a facility of such great size I was astonished there were only two people working. But at least they have a library.

We stopped at a couple of monuments along the way but could not determine for sure why they were there. Two of them were the first president of Turkmenistan. I think we are done roaming for the day and will probably go down to dinner soon and then hit the sack. Maybe we can get a good night’s sleep tonight. I certainly hope we will.

When we got back to the hotel Maral called and said that her friend, Laurens,  from the Netherlands wanted to go out for dinner to a place he had been before for dinner. She wanted to know if we could join him and we did. We met in the lobby and were introduced around by Rejep and then departed for the restaurant. Rejep was going to drive us but we decided to walk to the place.

Soon we were at a restaurant called Burawcy. The food was excellent though the service was a bit slow by U.S. standards though it turns out the service was very reasonable by Turkmen standards. At 9 PM they turned the music up and the laser lights on and the “disco” was in full swing. We left shortly after that. Asked for the check just before it started and then couldn’t hear one another to break it down so I paid the whole and when we got outside we squared things up. The food was great. The music was even louder than in the U.S. I think it’s time to put some money in hearing aid manufacturing and sales.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped to pick up water at a convenience store. A 1.5 liter bottle was twenty cents. Yup, that’s correct, just 20 cents for 1.5 liter bottle of water. Went back to the hotel and now it’s time for a good night’s sleep.
 

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. 

November 19 -- Off to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Woke up about 5 AM and did all of the morning things. We went over to the City Center Mall to find a place to have breakfast. Most of the stores were not yet open so the mall was very quiet. We decided to eat at Paul.

Paul, is kind of upscale for a mall. Since we were there before most of the stores opened so it was quiet and not very crowded. The menu was limited for breakfast but my wife and I ordered different breakfasts and both were tasty and served promptly. A basket of bread was served with the breakfast which was kind of unexpected. We had no idea this was a “chain” until we saw one at terminal two in the Dubai airport. I would recommend this place for breakfast.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel, check-out, and took a taxi to the airport. We were already checked in so we just had to go through security and on to the gate. the flight to Ashgabat was just under two hours.

 Flying from Dubai to Ashgabat we were on a “discount” airline called Fly Dubai. The seats were comfortable the legroom was pretty average and on this flight you paid for everything from drink to the entertainment system. Fortunately this flight was less than 2 hours and we used my laptop as our entertainment system. We only got to watch part of a movie before the flight was completed. Turns out you can get manat, the Turkmen currency, at any of the hotels. The exchange rate is pretty much the same all over and agrees with what I found on the web at 3.5 manat for each U.S. dollar.

We got our visas at the airport. All we had to do was present our letter of invitation, pay for the visa, and get it stamped. We then went through passport control, back claim, customs, and then we were greeted by Rejep when we went through the doors.

Rejep drove us to the hotel and got us situated. He brought us some manat, local currency, and was off for the night.

The Ak Altyn Hotel is showing age. The door lock is still with a key and it does not lock automatically when you close it. If you leave the room you much take your key to lock the door or have someone that is still inside lock the door. We were given a room with twin beds. Oh well it’s only one night. The room smelled strongly of smoke but then there are no non-smoking rooms. The furniture is worn from much use. The rooms were clean except the bath has black mildew on the tile grout. The rooms was very dark even with the lights on and the drapes open in the morning. Not what I would call cheery. The hotel could certainly use an upgrade. Didn’t seem to have any English channels on cable but then I’m sure they don’t have too many English speaking people (as their first language) staying here. Wifi cost is $1 per day and is only supposed to be used in the lobby though you can see the network in your room. I did us it in my room in the morning until 7 AM when my time ran out. If you can afford it, stay somewhere else.

From the sixth floor you can see much of the city in one direction. The windows were quite dirty on the outside so the view was some what restricted. That is pretty much that way most windows are in hotels in the desert that I have stayed in so this in nothing out of the ordinary.

Had dinner in the Continental Restaurant in the hotel. The salads we had were excellent. The menu has pictures of everything and the salads looked exactly like the picture and were very tasty. We ordered “roasted vegetables” to go with our entree. These looked like they came from a can and were only warm when they arrived. Carrot, potatoes, peas, a few mushrooms, and something else I wasn’t sure what it was were in the mix. The entrees we ordered came in huge portions. Wife said her fish was good and I ordered the mixed grill. There were five different preparations including, white fish, ground meat patty, beef steak, chicken, and a lamb chop. The lamb, fish, and meat patty were tasty. The steak and chicken were over cooked. Didn’t have dessert. The meal was 150 manat or about $43.

We did have wi-fi here but I was not prepared to post any information. We mostly checked out email. Social media is blocked in Turkmenistan so I couldn’t look at Facebook. Not sure I will be able to post anything to the blog while we are here either but am writing things up as I go along so they can be posted when we get back to Dubai or Seattle.

We will have wi-fi in Awaza so will try to post from there or at least send emails. Plan to post some reviews to Trip Advisor as well but will probably wait to do that until we get to Seattle.
 

November 18 -- Overnight in Dubai

Landed in Dubai about 7 PM. Moved quickly through the airport and didn’t have any baggage to pick up so just went right to the taxi and off to the hotel, the City Season Suites.

This is the second time I have stayed at this property and once again it met or exceeded all of my expectations. The room was very clean. The bed was comfortable. The staff was attentive and helpful. Check-in and check-out were very quick. In a one bedroom suite there was one and a half bathes. Meaning that two people could take care of business at the same time which is often convenient. I personally did not like the shower head in this room but that is a personal preference. The steam was not strong enough to suit my tastes and the spray was too close to the wall. The head would be removed which is fine for rinsing off but I don’t think it helps me when I wash my hair. I’m quite sure my wife thought it was just fine. Once again I would stay here again in a heartbeat.

We didn’t bother with an evening meal since we just had breakfast on the airplane before we landed. Turned in and got a good night’s sleep.

November 17 -- Off to Dubai

Got up this morning around 8:00. Bonnie did her exercises. That’s generally her morning routine. While she was doing that I go myself ready to go so she would have the facilities when she was ready. We watched the news until about 10:30 then went on a historical tour of the Camlin.

The hotel has really and interesting history since is opening in 1926. Turns out the original owner “borrowed” the money from the bank he was president of and the tail gets more sordid as the story goes. The tail was interesting and a tour of the older parts of the building was fun. It was originally constructed as an all suite hotel with monthly rates available. At some point all of the kitchens were walled up and it became a regular hotel with a dinner room and bar on the top floor. The kitchens were uncovered again when Worldmark bought the property in 1996. The renovation cost quite a lot more than was initially anticipated. However, the Camlin has turned out to be one of the favorite properties of the owners.

After the tour we checked out an had them store our luggage while we went to eat and made another trip to the drug store. We picked up our luggage at about 1:30 and off to the airport we went. Got checked in at Emirates. They checked our bag right through to Ashgabat so we didn’t have to mess with it in Dubai, that was very nice. Boarded our flight at 4 and were off to Dubai and another adventure.

Flying from Seattle to Dubai was a really long trip, 15 hours. The flight was very nice. The food was very good. The entertainment system on Emirates is really amazing and helps the time go by quickly. Even so 15 hours on the same airplane is a long time. Entry into Dubai is easy and quick. There is no visa required for U.S. residents and you just have to go through passport control for entry.
 

November 16 -- Off to Seattle

The flight from Anchorage to Seattle was uneventful. We had a window and aisle seat in the same row hoping the middle seat would be empty. We scored. There was no one in the middle seat. We tried to sleep on the way down but it was difficult at best. Bonnie tried to “stretch” out in  the window and middle seat but certainly isn’t long enough to do that. I stayed sitting up and dosed occasionally but did not really sleep. We had a good tail wind so got into Seattle half hour early. We collected out bags and trudged off to the light rail to get downtown.

The light rail is the way to get to downtown Seattle from the airport. A taxi ride can cost upward to $50. The rail ride is $3 from Sea-Tac to Westlake Station and is probably faster depending on the time of day. We will use it again at the end of the trip when we return to downtown Seattle.

Once downtown we walked the four blocks to the Camlin. We are owners in a time share that allows you to stay many different places in the world an this is one of the properties. Normal check-in time is 4 PM. We arrive at check-in at 7 AM and asked if it would be possible to check-in early. Behold, someone did not show up the night before and they had a room available for us right away. We went up to the room settled in and promptly slept until 11 AM. A much needed rest.

We prepared ourselves to go out and went to the desk to ask for suggestions on a place to eat. The Dragonfish was suggested and since we had eaten there a couple of times in past years we went there for lunch. The lunch was excellent and only two blocks from the Camlin. After lunch we walked around downtown for a bit, stopped at a drugstore and then went back to our digs.

During the time at the hotel we checked out movies and decided to see Bridge of Spys. On our way to the movie we stopped at Pike Place Chowder in the Pacific Center Mall. We both had New England clam chowder that was excellent. The movie turned out to be excellent as well. After the movie we returned to the Camlin and a good night’s sleep.