Day 10

The sounds did not seem to bother Timor much; the car did it's job as we went full speed towards the light. Along the way we just past a large gas tap that just stood here in the middle of the desert, no fence or something. And then when we went up and over a sandy hill: Wow! as if we were plunging into an abyss filled with coal, hundreds of flames and a large blazing flame, say 10 meters high in the middle. Very impressive. Certainly when you get closer, it turns out to be the only one and the wind gives you a "living oven" feel. After a walk all the way around the crater completely in awe and without any breathe we got back on Timor's roller coaster back to the LED light house. We were offered food and tea while we saw all the Russian / Uzbek / Turkmen TV stations passing by - the main man of the house was zapping through all channels. All dubbed of course. We saw bits of a grand slam judo tournament and The Transporter with Jason Statham. Then it was almost 4 o'clock and time for bed. Just one short stop to the outdoor toilets, two holes in the ground where we pooped next to each other #relationshipgoals with not too many insects or animals. Then it was finally time for bed in Pablo after an extremely long day full of adventures... However, the keys were on the driver's seat ... and you guessed it with all doors locked. Just the thing you are waiting for just before bed... A piece of wood and an iron prong, a kind of hand drill, brought a solution. Timor first wanted to force the window. NEO did not like that. Luckily, Berry had taught us how to break into Pablo before we left - just in case.. Muchos Gracias!! A few pulls, pushes and tugs and Pablo was open fairly quickly. And we could finally go to sleep. Timor and his brothers and friends were also sleeping outside on huge wooden beds so we felt extremely safe, next to the motorway, and decided to sleep with the boot open to let in the cool morning air #heaven.

We woke up next morning among more people who slept around our car. Straight away we tidy up the bed and patch Pablo up again. The sump guard had come loose again. Important lesson: you cannot take enough tie-wraps with you. Then it was time to go on to Ashgabat, nicknamed the City of Love. Along the way we spotted many camels and did a photoshoot with Pablo in the desert. Also on a real desert path. Bas thought it would be cool to drive off road and onto a desert path. However, after 2 meters we were completely stuck. It took us long enough that we tried everything to get out of the sand that did NOT work. Fortunately, a couple of minutes later a truck passed us which stopped and we were towed. Made possible by karma point, obviously! Time to get some petrol and there was one station coming up. The clerk filled our tank, fine, only we did not have enough local cash. Not enough for our tank. They did not accept debit or credit cards nor foreign currency such as Dollars. Fortunately a handful of Turkmen do! And when they heard the magical word "Dollar" cars came out of nowhere, and in seconds a handfull of helpful Turkmen were talking to Bas, someone who translated, someone who negotiated, someone who counted the money, someone who arranges the money, everyone has his job. Busy, shaking hands, greating, using phones to make sure the exchange rate was real. And according to Rob's exchange App we did a good deal! Everyone happy, and we could pay for the tank!

The closer to Ashgabat we are the road gets better and better also cleaner. The idea was to find the road and the map of downtown Ashgabat on the basis of the train track that ran next to us. We only had a compass and a lonely planet which was very high over.. Added difficulty was when some roads were closed; read policemen who summon you to drive instead of taking the turn. On the way though town we could not believer our eyes. The huge (empty?) residential areas and office buildings, American style with landscaped gardens glide past. Copy-paste houses, mansions and sky rise blocks of marble offices. Also marble white tunnels with mosaic, golden lampposts, huge LED screens portraying the president in various scenes: hunting, reading and of course flawless every picture. Flags of Turkmenistan are everywhere, huge fountains that glisten in the desert air and hot sun, round dome-shaped buildings with golden letters, virgin white gates, all clean. On every corner a woman with a headscarf positioned on her head more like a accessory than anything religious with a witch's broom sweeping the motorway. Also we see a couple of veiled power-ranger boys (wearing ski goggles and are masked in cloth) who paints the lines of the road white - without any road being blocked off or signposts warning for people on roads. Ashgabat is a mix of Disneyland, Las Vegas and Roller coaster Tycoon. Stadiums, parks, LED lighting, monorail, nothing is too crazy for this City of Love. Pretty soon and after asking only twice we arrived at The Grand Turkman Hotel in central Ashgabat. Very large and overly luxurious! A bit out of proportion with our demeanor and how we looked at the time covered in sand and dust but a good nights sleep was just what we needed. We checked in and could finally have our shower there! Shaved and on the balcony we enjoy the view, the warmth and a beer. The received melon was cut and eaten. And the laundry was done, but we first needed to haggle over the price with the washroom lady in our room to settle the deal. We made a plan for the day - all the (fake) splendor could be done within walking distance. So we thought it would be great to visit the cable car, which cost the government a small $ 20 million to build and could not be bothered to promote or advertise anywhere. We dressed and thought it would be easy to order a taxi and give Pablo some rest. It turns out the cable car was so badly promoted that nobody in the hotel had heard of it and knew about it's existence. Neither anyone at the reception nor the taxi driver or the taxi station. But hey, we knew vaguely where it was located so decided to navigate the taxi driver. A very comfortable air conditioning ride through the center and on to the cable car. The taxi driver did not know exactly where it was so instead of asking us the whole drive he was calling friends for the right way. Our Turkmen was that good that we could understand what was going on #proud. After about 30 minutes we arrived at the cable car which was a real experience. And of course, you guessed it though the cable car was closed! There were however clerks at the gate who could tell us it was closed. So we turned around and the taxi drove us back to town. We went into shopping malls all of which were virtually empty. Just like the cash machines, by the way.

Now what could we possibly need in shopping malls? Well, Saskia wanted to acquire a traditional Turkmen dress. In one store the sales lady was extremely helpful. After much back and forth with non-verbal communication we had some fabric and the saleswoman would arrange at a late night sweatshop that it would be made and ready for tomorrow .. but we didn't have enough cash and we couldn't use their cash machine as it was not working. Along we went to the bank, which did not have any money, the hotel, which did not have a machine and four other ATMs that were empty or out of use. Sadly and with that message we went back to the store which had stayed open for us. Too bad. Then we looked on the market where we had a great chat and acquired some souvenirs and stuff. Then it was about 20:00 o clock and we really had to sit and eat. Saskia remembered a beer garden closeby where she had sat in 2016. She found it from memory and we started playing our card game Jean Pierre. A cool Russian DJ was dejaying who himself sang all the vocals live. There was dancing by some expat people and a couple of people who looked like they belonged to the Russian mafia. Cables and ziplines where in the air from which water mist came every once in a while to keep the guests cool in the hot desert air. Although there was green everywhere and fountains you could almost forget that we were in the middle of the desert. Except the heat reminded you constantly. After our dinner we walked straight back to our hotel. It had to be done quickly as it was almost time that the evening curfew went in. The streets are empty, everyone flees inside, crazy to experience that streets are literally closed off, there is really no traffic and the city really looks deserted apart from the LED lights everywhere. Once at the hotel we went to the top floor to enjoy the view, the many lights, etc. and then it was time to go to sleep after again a very very long and interesting day.

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En natuurlijk voor onze Nederlandse lezers:

Timor leek het weinig te doen, die deed z'n werk wij gingen in volle vaart op het licht af. Onderweg nog even langs een grote gaskraan die midden in de woestijn daar stond, geen hekje ofzo. Pats! alsof we een afgrond indoken gevuld met kolen, honderden vlammetjes en een grote steekvlam van zeg 10m hoog in het midden. Erg indrukwekkend. Zeker als je dichterbij komt, de enige blijkt te zijn en de wind je een ‘levende oven’ gevoel geeft. Na een rondje om de krater weer in de achtbaan terug en kregen we eten en thee terwijl we alle Russische/Oezbeekse/Turkmeense tv stations voorbij zagen komen. Allemaal nagesynchroniseerd. Nog even een grand slam judo meegepikt en the transporter met Jason Statham. Toen het ongeveer 4uur was en we naast elkaar hebben gepoept (#relationshipgoals) en eindelijk wilde gaan slapen in Pablo... lagen daar de sleutels op de bestuurdersstoel... je raad het al met alle deuren op slot. Een stuk hout en een ijzeren staaf, een soort handboor brachten uitkomst, Timor wilde eerst de ruit forceren. NEO zag dat niet zitten. Via de deur wat Berry ons heeft geleerd, dank!! Was Pablo vrij snel open. En konden we eindelijk gaan slapen. Tussen wat gasten, die buiten sliepen, besloten wij ook met de klep open te slapen.

Volgende ochtend wakker geworden tussen nog meer mensen die om onze auto hebben geslapen. Bed opgeruimd, Pablo weer opgelapt aan de sumpguard. Je kan niet genoeg tyrips meenemen. Daarna op naar Ashgabat. De stad van de liefde. Onderweg wat kamelen gespot, wat shots van Pablo gemaakt. Ook op een écht woestijn pad, na 2meter zaten we vast. Duurde lang genoeg dat we alles hebben geprobeerd om uit het zand weg te komen wat NIET lukte. Gelukkig, de eerste de beste vrachtwagen die langskwam konden we eruit worden gesleept, de karma punten hebben dit mogelijk gemaakt. Op tijd een benzine station gezien. Deze gooide onze tank vol, fijn, alleen hadden we 20lokale math. Niet genoeg voor onze tank. Pinpassen en buitenlandse valuta daar deed deze man niet aan. Gelukkig een handvol turkmenen wel! Uit het niets kwamen er auto’s aangerreden, iemand die vertaalde, iemand die onderhandelde, iemand die het geld telde, iemand die het geld regelt, ieder z’n taak. Druk doen, handen schudden, telefoons erbij, volgens de App van Rob ben ik niet opgelicht! Iedereen blij, ik kon de tank betalen! Door naar Ashgabat.

De weg wordt beter en beter, schoner ook. Idee was om aan de hand van het spoor, dat naast ons liep, het kompas en plattegrond van downtown Ashgabat de weg te vinden. Lastig als er wat wegen zijn afgesloten, lees politiemanntjes die je sommeren door te rijden in plaats van de afslag te pakken. Onderweg kijk je je ogen uit. De enorme (lege?) Woonwijken, Amerikaanse stijl mét aangelegde tuinen zoeven voorbij. Copy-paste huizen. Marmeren witte tunnels met mozaïek, gouden lantaarnpalen, dikke LED schermen met daarop een jagende president, overal vlaggen van Turkmenistan, enorme fonteinen, ronde koepelvormige gebouwen met gouden letters, maagdelijk witte hekken, alles schoon. Op elke hoek een gesluierde vrouw met heksenbezem die de straat veegt of een soort gesluierde powerranger jongen (skibril op) die de belijning van de weg wit verft. Een mix van Disneyland, Las Vegas en Roller coaster Tycoon. Stadions, parken, LED verlichting, monorail, niks is te gek on deze stad. Vrij snel en na twee keer vragen kwamen we aan bij het Grand Turkman hotel. Enorm groot en luxe! Een beetje uit verhouding met hoe wij eruit zagen maar goed. Daar ingecheckt en gedoucht! Geschoren en op het balkon ons verbaast over het uitzicht, de warmte en genoten van een biertje. Ook de gekregen meloen is aangebroken. En de was gedaan, die toen bij het wasvroutje zelf bij ons op de kamer de deal kwam beklinken. Plan gemaakt voor de dag. Al het (fake) pracht en praal kon op loopafstand gedaan worden. Dus het leek ons tof om de kabelbaan, die toch $20 miljoen heeft gekost te bezoeken. Dus wij aangekleed, een taxi besteld, niemand had van de Kabelbaan gehoord, ook de receptie en de taxichauffeur niet. Een zeer comfortabele airco rit door het centrum gehad naar de kabelbaan. De taxichauffeur wist niet exact waar het was dus heeft de hele rit zitten bellen met vrienden voor de juiste weg. Na ongeveer 30minuten bij de kabelbaan aangekomen, ook de weg er naar toe was een grote ervaring. Je raad het al de kabelbaan was dicht! Rechtsomkeert met de taxi. Al bellend maar afgezet bij het hotel. Zijn we maar shoppig malls ingedoken. Die allemaal zo goed als leeg waren. Net als de pin automaten trouwens. Saskia wilde een traditionele jurk.

Na veel heen en weer hadden we stof en zou de verkoopster bij een atelier regelen dat die voor morgen klaar zou zijn.. maar we hadden niet genoeg contant en pinnen kon niet. Langs de bank, die geen geld had, het hotel, die geen automaat had en vier andere pinautomaten die leeg waren of buiten gebruik. Maar met die boodschap terug naar de winkel. Helaas pindakaas. Toen wat op de markt gesnuffeld en toen moesten we echt zitten en eten. Saskia herinnerde zich nog een biergarten en daarin zijn we gaan Jean pierren. Er draaide een toffe Russische DJ die zelf alle vocals live zong. Er werd gedanst door wat expat volk en Russische maffia. Kabels in de lucht waar watermist uit komt. Toen rondje gelopen, wel snel want de avondklok ging in. De straten zijn leeg, iedereen vlucht naar binnen, gek om mee te maken, dat straten letterlijk zijn afgezet, er echt geen verkeer is en de stad echt verlaten aandoet. Eenmaal in het hotel naar de bovenste verdieping gegaan om te genieten van de het uitzicht, de vele lichtjes, etc. Om daarna te gaan slapen.