Farewell Ashgabad

Hello friends, today is October 18 and the last time that we will communicate from Central Asia. Did I tell you that we had to have our temperatures taken by a physician in a white lab coat, at the border? I had quite a head cold and was worried that I might have a fever or start coughing. It seems that foreigners need to have a temperature check before getting into Turkemenistan. In spite of the dictatorship and all of the strange rules, we will be sort of sad to leave Ashgabad. Ashagabad, with a population of about 650,000, full of grandiose fountains; spectacular monuments; parks filled with roses and flowers of every description; trees, shrubs and lots of weeping willows, sucking up the water and blowing gently in the breeze; and of course really stunning architecture, many with gold domes. While we watch the water running into pools and fountains, it is often hard to remember that only a few kilometers away, the desert encroaches upon the city-the villages are without clean, running water or reliable electricity, and a few kilometers the Murgab delta and of course, in Uzbekistan the Aral Sea shrinks into the desert. At first Stefan didn't much like this pretentious city and he called it a "monument to bureaucracy", but now the city has grown on him and he said that of all of the Central Asian cities, living in Ashgabad would require the least adjustment for North Americans (even though there isn't all that much to do here and the mountains are a bit of a drive). We have found a couple of very good restaurants and had dinner for the second time in a park, under the trees and hey, complete with a live jazz band. It was a nice change from hearing Whitney Houston belting out the over-familiar "I love YOU". (Sadly, nothing more current than Unchained Melody. Lady GAGA has not reached Turkmenistan).

We got up early yesterday so that we could visit the Tolkuchka Bazaar. This bazaar is about a 20 minute drive from the city center, near the airport. The farmers don't have to enter the city so they don't have wash down their trucks or cars. The bazaar site is huge and quite well organized. Like all markets, parking is a problem and cars are helter skelter everywhere, then you notice a real parking lot. The lot is filled with used cars for sale. Each vehicle is polished and clean with hoods and trunks open. A few 4x4's still had the logo of the NGO clearly visible. Many deals were being made. Then further out, is the animal market with chickens, ducks, geese, cows, horses, and of course, goats and sheep of every description. I watched one guy put 4 big sheep into the trunk of a BMW. Then, over in another section are men in big shaggy sheepskin hats bargaining for noisy, braying camels. Honestly, I now know how to load camels into a truck. First, they hobble the animal, make it sit down on all four legs. Then they tie a rope over the back and over the back legs and put a sling under their front and hind quarters. A crane then lifts slings and the animal high over the truck and into the box. I think that they must squish the testicles because, the camel really protests. He opens his mouth, sticks out his 1/2 meter tongue and brays loudly! Each camel costs about $1,000USD and I can only tell you that there must be quite a few very wealthy farmers in the area. They use the camel for transportation, wool, milk, meat and maybe even for exotica. They are pretty amusing animals to watch sailing across the desert. Maybe we've been spoiled by visiting too many markets or maybe we're getting tired. The noise, chaos, mountains of vegetables and fruits piled artfully, the carpets, the jewellery, even the women in colorful, long dresses and the
men in long coats and big hats seemed to pale compared with the markets in Kyrgyzstan. I haven't quite thought this through, but for some reason, we didn't enjoy this bazaar as much.

This morning we visited the Museum of Fine Arts. The multi-columned building with domes and big gold doors was lovely and the exhibits were beautifully desplayed. I am in love with the finds from preBronze age period and spent quite a bit of time looking at the archelogical finds from the Merv and Gonur Depe area. The anthropomorphic figures have captured my imagination and suspended me in that timeframe. The second highlight in the museum was a scupture by S. Artykmannedow from 1937. Picasso might have been inspired by the preBronze age figures and by this artist too.

If anyone has been trying to leave a comment or ask questions on the blog, you will have noticed by now, that we are not able to see the blog, nor are we able to respond to any questions. So, this is one-way  communication and we hope that you are finding it a little interesting. Thanks again to Mark for his help to paste our messages onto the blog. Love to all, Corine and Stefan