Turkmenistan                                          2015

From Houston to Sydney 2013

We were informed last night that we would have to leave our hotel at 8:45 am to drive to the airport in order to catch our scheduled 10:30 am flight back to Ashgabat.  Unfortunately, this meant that we would not be able to have breakfast at the hotel as the kitchen staff would only be opening the dining room at 9:00 am.

To my ears, this sounded absurd.  We were the only guests in the hotel, and yet the staff would arrive 15 minutes after we had left the hotel???  It sounded as though they were going to have quite a light day’s work!

Several of us suggested that perhaps the staff could consider arriving a little earlier so that the hotel’s only guests could have breakfast before their (not unreasonably early) departure.  It worked.  After some negotiations, it was agreed that we could have breakfast at 8:30 am.  As things turned out, it was a served (rather than buffet) breakfast, and it was without doubt the best breakfast we had in Turkmenistan.

Our flight back to Ashgabat left 10 minutes early, and we were back in the capital at 11:20 am.  We didn’t stay there, though, and after boarding the bus we headed west along a road that ran parallel to the Karakum Canal to the small town of Gökdepe.

Our main stop in Gökdepe was a stud farm where Ahal Tekke horses are bred and raised.  Horses seem to occupy an important place in Turkmen culture and identity, and indeed an Ahal Tekke horse is pictured as the centrepiece of Turkmenistan’s national emblem.  The Ahal Tekke breed is especially esteemed, being lean, with long thin legs, an upright stance and an extremely fine, silky coat.  Ahal Tekke horses were not valued during Soviet times because they were less suitable as farm animals compared with other types, and the breed almost died away.  The re-establishment of Ahal Tekke stock in post-independence Turkmenistan is an achievement that seems to bring pride and identity to the country.

The stud we visited had a history of about 250 years.  We were shown several horses, all of which seemed to be highly spirited, which is a way of saying they were jumping and running rather than standing calmly.  It is little wonder that no-one in the group accepted the offer of riding one of them.

As expected on a stud farm, there were several young foals in the pens.  We were given the opportunity to see the stables, and it was apparent that this was an ordinary working form with none of the glamorous, shiny facilities of a showcase facility.

Our second (and final) stop in Gökdepe lasted just for a few minutes, and it was at a large mosque that had been built to commemorate the site of a battle in 1881 in which Tsarist forces massacred a large force of Turkmen defenders.  Remnants of an old mud brick wall remained from the period, and the mosque had been constructed within the former military compound.  Opened in 1995 and known as the Saparmurat Haji Mosque, it was named to commemorate Niyazov’s Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1992.  We didn’t venture into the mosque, and simply admired its large turquoise dome from the front gateway.

From Gökdepe it was an hour’s drive further west to our next stop, Köw Ata underground lake.  We arrived at about 3 pm, by which time most of felt ready for lunch.  Fortunately, our guide had phoned ahead and within a quarter of an hour of our arrival, some large plates of grilled chicken and lamb shashliks with salads were ready for us.

The attraction of Köw Ata is an underground lake of warm sulphurous water that is reached by entering a cave and descending a series of long, gloomy, irregular concrete steps.  The lake is 55 metres below the surface, and has a pungent smell of sulphur.  A sign at the entrance says the water is good for health, but also warns swimmers not to stay in the water for more than 20 minutes and not to remain in the cave for more than 45 minutes.  I visited the underground lake when I was in Turkmenistan in 2006, and I felt it had what might be politely expressed as ‘an elusive charm’.

We left Köw Ata for our drive back to Ashgabat at about 5 pm, and made one stop of the way.  The small town of Kipchak lies just beyond the western limits of Ashgabat, and was the birthplace of Saparmurat Niyazov.  Also known as Gypjak, Kipchak (not surprisingly perhaps) is the site of the largest mosque in Central Asia, the Turkmenbashy Ruhy Mosque – named after you know who.  Off to one side of the mosque is a smaller building, which is Niyazov’s mausoleum.

When I visited the mausoleum in 2006, there were four graves in the mausoleum – one each for Niyazov’s father (who was killed in World War II), Niyazov’s mother (who died after saving the future President in the 1948 earthquake), and Niyazov’s two brothers (both of whom died in the 1948 earthquake as their mother was trying to save them).  Each of those graves was (and is) empty, as the bodies were never found.  In the middle of the mausoleum in 2006 was a large empty slab where, we were told, the President’s body would lie after he died.

Now, the slab is no longer empty and Niyazov’s body lies there in an over-sized stone coffin.  Like Napoleon’s tomb in Paris, onlookers look down at the five graves as though with heads bowed in mourning.

After looking in the mausoleum, we walked around some large fountain pools and entered the mosque.  The mosque is indeed huge.  The main building is surrounded by four minarets, apparently each 91 metres high, together with a series of tumbling waterfalls.  Unlike every other mosque in the region, the decorative script is not in Arabic but in Turkmen language, both outside and inside.  The writing above the entrance reads (in Turkmen) “Ruhnama is a hold book; the Qu’ran is Allah’s book”.

The interior of the mosque is huge in scale, and in the centre of the floor is the world’s largest eight-star carpet (as recorded in the Guiness Book of Records – which got me wondering where the world’s largest seven-pointed star carpet might be located).  The dome overhead comprised intricately painted pastel colours, mainly pale blues and faint orange colours.  Around the base of the dome were various words in Turkmen language, not from the Qu’ran but from Ruhnama.  Apparently the main hall of the mosque can accommodate 10,000 worshippers.  On the afternoon we visited, there was just one.

It had been a long day.  We returned to the hotel at about 7:15 pm and had some very welcome free time to relax.

Day 6 - Gökdepe, Köw Ata and Kipchak

Thursday

14 May 2015