Through searching, I see some of you peeps have been to Turkmenistan. I’m headed to Turkmenabat this weekend and was wondering if anyone had advice or suggestions on travel there. I’ll actually be *sequestered *on-site for most of the week, but hope to experience some of Ashgabat on the way home.
What should I look out for (both good and bad)? I’ve read a lot of stuff on the interwebs, but The Dopers tell it straight.
Even though I’ve thousands of miles of international travel experience, I’d welcome any general travel tips, too. Thanks in advance!
I was in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan last year, and abdolutely fell in love with the area, so I feel very envious of you.
What kind of visa do you have? Last I heard, it is virtually impossible to get a tourist visas. Transit visas are issued for the length of time they reckon it will take you to get through the country (3 days max), and business visas can be obtained with only the most laborious of red tape.
Brush up on your Russian, nobody will speak any other western language.
Thanks jtur88. Yea, I’m both excited and apprehensive about this one.
I’ve (supposedly) a business visa that we applied for in February. I’m told to present the Letter of Invitation (that I have in my possession), along with my domestic e-ticket, at Ashgabat airport and they’ll give me the visa at that point.
This has been the strangest visa procedure I’ve experienced. They wanted to know all of my family members’ birthdays and even needed a scanned copy of my college diploma.
That’s a good tip to refresh with some Russian. I found a Turkmen-English app to use, too. I should have an interpreter for the classes… otherwise it’ll be a long week, ha!