Turkmenistan, a journey within journeys

Holding my cup of zaatar (thyme) with my both hands, at my grandmother’s funeral while sitting outdoor on a warm March evening of 2017 and avoiding the silly talk of the crowds and cousins, especially when one of them was making fun of my plan touring the silk road saying I would never make it alive.it was the Second day after my Grandmother passed away, and my mind was pretty busy worrying about my Silk Road trip. Suddenly dad calls me to greet his friend whose son is my friend too. Had a bit of a chat about work and travels, some of my cousins were just standing outside showing their faces just for the sake of “being there” so the elder ones don’t get upset. Normally when we say “Funeral” we remember sadness, but in Qatar it is different, it is about gossiping, eating lots of rice and meat, tea after tea after tea after coffee, and everybody is just talking and joking around! It was just a gathering of the family, no one is sad, and I am pretty sure its way more in the women section! During that chat which I found boring, I grabbed my phone to check my emails, and I got this urgent email from “Julia Sanders”! Julia is the co-Founder of Globebusters motorcycle expeditions, which I am going with them to “London to Beijing”. The urgent email was a rejection of my Visa to enter Turkmenistan!

4 rejections

It was shocking to know that my entry to a country I never thought of visiting was rejected! The reason was even worse, I was told that the reason of the rejection was the photo I have provided with beard!!! They have instructed to shave and take another photo, and then do the whole process again, which I did, and again it was rejected! I have contacted the Embassy of Qatar in Ashgabat to know the reason of the rejection and they mentioned because I wrote my father’s name “Mohamed”! I had to apply for the 3^rd time through the Embassy and it was rejected by default, claiming it was rejected twice before so the system rejects the 3^rd attempt! Mr. Ambassador got frustrated and requested to grant me a visa being his personal guest, guess what! I was rejected for the 4^th time. At the point I started to get worried as we are getting closer to the start of the adventure, I had my passport sent back to Qatar from the visa machine company, which was applying all the needed visas on my behalf, except china which was pending too! The Ambassador took it somehow personal and spoke to the ministry in Ashgabat that I am supposed to promote their country through my daily coverage on Aljazeera channel. Somehow, they got smoother and promised to look into it, they asked many questions, including the exact time I would be arriving to Turkmenbashi, places I will stay, restaurants I will be eating at, routes I will take etc. I finally got 5 days transit visa under one condition, to appear on their national TV speaking about the president, not the country but the president and what achievements he made for the country! I had no reason but to accept. That’s not about it, I am supposed to visit the consulate of Turkmenistan In Istanbul to claim my 5 days visa! But I got it approved finally!

Arriving in Istanbul

Getting the approved visa on my passport wasn’t easy either, I was planning 2 different routes since the start of the trip in London having in mind in case of rejected, I would have to ride through Russia to meet with the rest in Uzbekistan! Honestly, I wasn’t quite confident about this option but it would be the only option in case if I did not get my visa from Istanbul! Thanks for Julia who was suggesting the alternative route. I have reached Istanbul and first task was not to see the blue mosque, nor the belly dancer, but to run to the Turkmen Consulate! Spent the whole morning there with Julia & Angelica who had an issue with her visa too! Getting into a taxi in Istanbul is another adventure, out of 100 taxi driver you get one good and honest one, and luckily the one we got was an honest one. We were dropped off and walked around the blocks to get some cash, photocopy and ran back. Great thing that I got a support from the Qatari Consulate and found one there helping us to get the visa proceeded. Supported my application and Angels too. And finally got my 5 days transit visa! That was a miracle to me! all my visas were granted to continue!

journeys to reach the journey

After spending 3 days in Azerbaijan, it is time to ride through the port to sail through the Caspian sea to Turkmenbashi, the first stop in Turkmenistan, I was told by Kevin that we could spend up to 12 hours at the port in Baku until we are allowed in, to wait for another 12 hours until we start sailing, let us see! We did start riding light early morning, all gear was put into the Van, and as Kevin said, waited and waited and waited, no one did anything but made us wait. It is always great to have Pete around as he started serving us all coffee and cookies! Took us around 6 hours until we started the queue and preparing our documents to get stamped out, another hour to be allowed into the ferry! And another hour to sort the bikes on the first stop before the exit, on the ferry, we have noticed number of German riders on KTMs who were trying to squeeze in with our bikes or even before us, but Dom managed to get us in, on the spot we were targeting before them, after getting the blessing from the captain to do so! We started chasing our cabins then, making sure not to get into rooms with people we didn’t want to share with, so we got into a cabin that had 6 beds, Kevin, Antoine, Hubert, Dom, Jaris and me which was the best for all of us. It was around 6 pm when we got in, did nothing but wait, we didn’t really know what time the captain would start sailing to the other side of the Caspian Sea. by that time, everybody started drinking and getting wasted, we got so loud in out cabin that the crew warned us not to! You don’t want to mess around with the authorities in any of the “stan” countries! By midnight it started raining, and the same guy who warned us earlier knocks on our door again, but to move the bikes! Move them to the other side of the ferry! Around 19 strapped tied bikes to be moved on a rainy slick surface by 3 guys, Dom was really wasted and insisted not to move them, which created a bit of tension, the captain walks down in his black leather jacket shouting in weak English “my friend my friend, move bike my friend, no move out I am captain” then he shouted at his staff to wake everybody up to move the bikes! We insisted to keep them there, but we were threatened to be kicked out of the boat if we don’t do so, so Dom, Hubert and myself started moving the bikes to the other side, while a huge container was being lifted to take our spot! 20 minutes later a tiny guy walks out of a small door and found his way blocked by the bikes then started shouting that this blocks his way and he can’t walk through in case of emergency he needs to run! Which means we have to move the bikes again to another spot! Which was done by Dom only! By 1 am, the old ferry decided to penetrate the Caspian Sea and move!

 

the 3 days on ferry

I didn’t really know how long this “journey to Turkmenistan” would take as it seems to be more difficult than obtaining the visa! Woke up at 9 to have breakfast, which was looked worse than prison food, then found myself a space between truck drivers who don’t speak a word in English, one asked: what country? When I told him Qatar, he turned to Arabic telling his uncle works for Qatar Embassy in Ankara! Wow he wasn’t Arab but speaks fluent Arabic because of his job. After breakfast went back to bed to have another 2 hours nap. I was told this trip could take up to 3 days! It was impossible to me, I got out my Satnav to check the speed of the boat and it was 18 km! so 3 days could be reasonable for such a speed! Gone back to the catering section for lunch to find a German lady not happy that she got served chicken! She was vegan! Then she had to accept having plain pasta only! I have avoided sitting next to her eating my chicken. I chose a corner which had some parts of newspaper on the wall next to me, reading about the boat! Wow this ferry has been operating since the 60s by the Soviet Union and still running! This got me shocked and scared a bit! But had no choice! The worst part of this ferry that we will have to survive without shower until we arrive! And sharing the cabin with 5 without shower wasn’t pleasant at all for all of us!

 

 

 

 

 

the Immigration adventure!

Arriving at 3 am to Turkmenbashi finally, but without waiting for hours it wouldn’t be the perfect journey! So the wait time was until 9 am! I see men in military uniform around us, the whole scenery reminds me of metal gear solid game on PlayStation, armed officers looking from every angle at us, we weren’t allowed to take a photo, video or even show our phones in front of them! We had to wait and wait! By 9 we started moving the bikes out of the ferry to park them on a spot we were told to so later on we were ordered to move somewhere else, until we reached the immigration building and met the local fixer “Kazim”. Had to wait for another hour, until I heard Hubert shouting: where is the Arab guy? They were expecting me, so had to run inside and guided into the officer’s room to start another journey!

The officer had another one translating for him and me, asking me many questions for couple of hours, repeating the same questions over and over, like: do you speak Russian? How is your Russian language? Since when you speak Russian! I didn’t know why back then until I left the room. On the wall of that desk there was a board of many bearded wanted men! He kept starting at my face and trying to find the match on that board! Then he asked if I pray? I thought if I say yes, he would appreciate it, so my answer was sharply yes!

Officer: you pray 5 times a day?

Khalid: yes sir,

Officer: do you fast Ramadan?

Khalid: yes sir I do, I am Muslim you know!?

Officer: so you like jihad huh? You want to have 70 ladies up there?

Khalid: no no no wait, I don’t pray! I am not even a believer, I never thought of such horrible thing, and so against it!?

Officer: ok I would like to serve you some good Uzbek wine then?

Khalid: I would drink but remember I have to ride soon?

Officer: yes, you are right, do you speak Russian?

He asked the same question over 25 times, then he realized I had 2 phones, back then I was given an iPhone by Aljazeera for the daily broadcast, the question was: why 2 phones? It took me 15 seconds to give a sharp answer when said:

My friend, you are a man and I am a man, one phone for wife one for girlfriend! I don’t want troubles at home!

This has cracked them all up, which I thought now we are best friends, he then asked for the code to unlock the phone, and gone through all my 4700 photos and videos! Which took around 70 minutes, then asked if I have a belly dance videos or some porn stuff then he showed me his phone and opened a video of an old porn video! Finally, this was my ticket to leave his room, walking to another office to do the customs, to another for permits, and other for more formality! We have reached Turkmenbashi finally at around 5 pm!

What happened in Turkmenbashi stayed in Turkmenbashi

At 7 pm we took 3 taxis to a restaurant for a group dinner with Kevin and all, didn’t happen much except the meat feast we had, then back to the hotel. When arrived, Hubert and Antoine wanted to hang around the bar for some whiskey and gin so I joined them and we started playing pool. The pool table next to us were 2 girls playing, I would say they were 18-20 years old, staring at us all the time and giggling about our silly jokes, seemed like they were expecting us to start the first move! Suddenly the bartender came to us telling us to leave before 10 pm! It was too early to end the night but he was telling us there will be a curfew starting at 10 and everything should be closed until 6 am in the morning! They are preparing to sweep the whole city prior the visit of their President next morning! So, he offered to sell us the whole bottle but we leave! Then one of the girls asked me if we want to spend more time somewhere? I didn’t know what to say but Antoine said yes, we do! She said then ok I will leave towards the swimming pool with my sister and in 5 minutes you follow us and head to the engine room and we will take you from there! We waited for 5 minutes, Hubert and Antoine carried their bottles with them and Jaris joined us, we walked like we were walking through sleeping people! This reminded me of my childhood when my grandfather used to nap and no one ever should make any noise, this was how we used to walk so we wouldn’t wake up! We met by the engines room; the girls were there with an older man who introduced himself as their uncle! They took us into another room which had a white plastic table, with lots of fresh grilled food, salads and more fried stuff! We were already stuffed from dinner, but we had to eat again, the whole conversation was just whispering, so whatever you could hear was the sound of the forks and knives and 7 humans whispering! Around an hour later I got sleepy I knew if I have stayed longer it would have been gone crazy! So, I used my “mind” skills and ended the night there! Speaking of the “mind” I was called like that by Jaris who described us “Hubert, Antoine and me” as “The three musketeers” referring at Hubert as the soul, Antoine the body and me as the mind! It was around 1 am when I crashed.

The ride to Ashgabat

Next morning was supposed to be a very long ride towards Ashgabat, a long sunny through the desert from west to south. At 7 am we were supposed to be rolling, but I was told that the guys got back to their rooms at 6 am! Great! My decision to leave before it is too late was wise! We had to wait until all ready, we were not supposed to ride in group, but at least leaving the city in group was an order by the authorities! I have started the day riding with Hubert and Antoine as usual then rest of the day I have lost them and spent most of it riding solo. Riding through deserts always reminds me of home, which doesn’t impress me much, however at some time during the day I have noticed Hubert suddenly had some kind of an emergency stop which worried me, so I’ve stopped too to check on him. He was pointing at a camel and was so excited to take a photo of it. Stopping for a camel to me is like stopping for a dog to Hubert maybe! I was so disappointed as I have expected to see something more exciting than an animal I would bump into at least one a week in Qatar! Later on, we rode through a sand storm and I have noticed both Antoine and Hubert got out of their comfort zone and went slower! This is when I rolled faster through the sand feeling like home! We were supposed to meet at a local restaurant but I have lost my way thinking I would be late, but we all have arrived around the same time but from different directions! The waitress was a young girl who spoken a bit of English and was telling us how much she loved to speak languages. The restaurant serves only a pie with meat drowned in oil, baked and served by her. I had to walk to the kitchen to take a photo of her doing that job. All what I could understand “soora, soora” which means photo. She didn’t mind at all. After that heavy oily pie, we started rolling again and I chose to do solo, arriving to the heart of Ashgabat, the only block that was full of marble, white building and lots of towers, where the hotel is located! Here I have arrived and parked my bike!

The white marble block of Ashgabat

I called it a block because it’s a 5 square Kilometers of wide, clean and well-organized roads, with lots of trimmed trees, bus stops, huge building with all lights on, the whole time, which reminded me of Jumeirah towers in Dubai when they first started back in 2000. Buses dropping off people and picking up others, everything was perfect, just because the president’s palace is on that “block”! the hotel looked like a palace too, and it has a palace view, but we weren’t allowed to look into the windows at the palace! When arrived at the hotel, I saw a guy with a Qatari local dress, a white huge beard and a huge smile, holding some candy in his hand and goffering anyone he sees some! This guy was Mr. Nasser Taher, the second guy at the Embassy of Qatar in Ashgabat, he was there to welcome me, with a huge Camera and a skinny female TV presenter with her Microphone! Ok, this is the interview I was supposed to make in return to get my 5 days transit visa! Which has 18 hours left until it expires. She insisted to do the interview before I check in or even take my stuff off my bike. I asked if Kevin joins on this interview which he didn’t mind at all, I was dripping in my sweat when they were fixing their camera then the director didn’t like the idea of filming near the palace! They have drove us in their pick up to the end of the heart of the city, the “white marble block” was on my back, and the TV presenter in front of me, they said: Talk! Ok talk say what? I asked. He said everything good about Mr. President! And in Arabic, we will take care of the rest! Which I did, I said every beautiful thing about him that almost sounded like God! Then Kevin started talking about his trips and Globebusters, totally ignored saying a word about the president! Which I really hoped he doesn’t.

The evening walks

It was the only evening for me to discover Ashgabat, next morning at 3 am I have to wake up and start rolling alone through the northern desert of Turkmenistan towards Khiva, Uzbekistan, wait there for the rest to join in 3 days! We have heard about a restaurant/bar somewhere around the town so we took a walk through the Marble Block looking for that restaurant. We see the buses still dropping locals and picking others, none of them was talking, they were quiet like robots, I didn’t see any of them having a conversation of looking at us even. I was told later on that they were paid to be pedestrians and all of that bus drops and pickups were acting to please the ego of the president! We were surrounded by huge shiny buildings, all lights were on, but those buildings were completely empty! We were told not to take any photos of anything, not even a selfie, but we didn’t expect to that extreme! So, Antoine wanted to take a quick photo of one of the buildings, the moment he snapped it, we got approached by an army guy with a rifle, took our phones, and started deleted all Turkmenistan related photos! I had no idea where he was as he appeared suddenly in the middle of nowhere! After dinner we met with a group of swiss riders who rode through Iran and did that desert road that I would be doing next day. The way he described it sounded like road to hell, or an abandoned road! Full of potholes, around 730 km of nothing but straight road with no fuel station nor services, but the biggest threat to a rider is the potholes which worried me the most. I had to leave Antoine and Hubert and run back to the hotel prepare for bed as I have a long riding day next morning at 3! Before bed I tried to login to their WIFI and realized everything didn’t open with me! right! I am in Turkmenistan that’s why! The biggest “big brother” show you would ever be in!

The Long potholed ride!

Woke up in a hurry packed my stuff and pulled my gear up, ran to my bike and was amazed of that city how all lights were on like it was having a wedding, it was still dark and I was starving to eat anything, never mind, I am sure there will be stations on the way. I turned my Gopro on to capture the moment of the city of lights before leaving it. I have lost my way out of the city trying to avoid riding through the palace. I didn’t know when would that desert straight road would start yet as I see nothing but desert! Until about sunrise when I started to ride through some serious potholes as big as the length of the bikes, some of them as deep as a 4×4 could get stuck in! I reduced my speed to the minimum and felt myself in a PlayStation game avoiding being eaten by the monsters! Then I remembered what the swiss guy told me the day before, which was riding on the side road which had less potholes, and he was right, I got a bit of more speed and I was avoiding crashing there! Crashing on that road means I would be forgotten! No car passes ever, no phone signal, no support, no fuel station, no support van! I would ride on 20 km speed but not crash! The road was as calm as a photo, no wind no cars! The only moving thing I have noticed was a turtle crossing the road and some scorpions! I continued riding as the more north I go the better the road condition became! It was getting hot, even hotter than Qatar’s summer but I was getting there, I had a hope when I spotted an old Land Rover parked on the side and a European guy smoking his cigarette! I couldn’t stop to greet him, I just wanted to reach the border before it is lunch time, they close for 3 hours to have lunch! But I managed to stop at the last station before Uzbekistan, had some fuel and bought myself a big Turkmen bread and a dry sucuk. It was huge but I was craving it! I got my little knife out and had to cut some pieces and threw the rest! While I was eating I noticed many locals were starting at me, some were giggling, others were pointing at the bike, those 4 guys came towards me, were looking for the chain of the bike, but amazing how the BMW had shaft, they discussed this over my bike like I didn’t exist! Then one asked: how much how much dollar? And asked if I am from Germany? I said no Qatar! then the usual then when I had to explain where Qatar is. “Aah Arabstan” salam alikum! He said while he was leaving to his pickup!

Tuekmen – Uzbek Borders

Reaching the big city before Uzbekistan, Dashoguz, lots of people waving at me like I am a national hero to them! A mini van followed me all the way until few KMs before the borders when he suddenly blocked my way which forced me to stop! I felt for a second he was a policeman! But he was shorty and chubby, his face was full of excitement to see the bike shouting “my dream!” he got his phone out of his pocket and wanted to sit on the bike, he was short that he couldn’t get on the bike without my support. Took couple of pictures of him while 3 other cars stopped with their phones out asking to take photos! As I was telling them I can’t because it was getting late, the short dude got off the bike from the other side and it was dropping! Luckily, I managed to pull it before it was dropped and shouted at him in Arabic! Then apologized to all and had to run to the border before they close. When I reached the border, it was too late as they were already closing, but I was given a piece of bread and a glass of water! Then the European couple in the Land Rover showed up! They were from Netherlands, doing a road trip from Amsterdam to Mongolia, and another couple would take the car back from Mongolia to Amsterdam! Interesting trip they were making, they joined me and offered some apricot, and I offered them some of my bread. We talked about travels and how beautiful the world is, if we just avoid the news and propaganda about violence, which I have witnessed in Turkey when the world was threatening about ISIS attacks there! Took us 3 hours until the officers called us, gave us forms to fill, they were written in Russian, but got some help from one of the locals to fill out the forms, then 2 more forms were given to us and then were taken to the customs, I got searched again twice before the officer takes me inside to ask if I speak Russian! But this time he asked me 3 times only! Offered me a glass of water before telling me to leave, I didn’t want to drink it but he said drink it or I won’t let you leave! Rushed to have a sip and leave Turkmenistan after 4 hours!

Reaching Uzbekistan wasn’t easier than leaving Turkmenistan, I was the only traveler in the whole place, I was told to ride through a small pond of water to clean the bike from the Germs of Turkmenistan, then was taken to a Doctor to check my temperature! The doctor wasn’t there! He was paining the Curb of the main road! He ran to me with his brush, checked my temperature and walked back! the officer told me to turn back my bike so their reader can see my number plate, this process took 3 hours, their system couldn’t identify my plate! He got a piece of paper with my plate number and fixed it on the bike, still it wouldn’t read it! Then he shouted at the doctor to help work on the system while he took the job of painting the curb! I waited for hours just to capture my plate, meanwhile I started feeling grumpy stomach, and felt like a dragon dancing in my stomach! I hope it is not what I think it is! Felt a bit exhausted and body ache, so I laid down on the ground until they sort this thing out! Finally, the officer gave up and entered it manually, searched my bike and told me to leave! I felt I was getting weaker and really badly sick, I felt the fever and wanted to throw up! It could be the sucuk I had or I’m just dehydrated! I was riding to Khiva half dead, through all potholes aiming for the walled city of Khiva, when reached I rode through all pedestrians as I was dying and parked just in front of the entrance walked in half dead heavily breathing saying: I cant move the bike I am very sick please let me move it tomorrow I need a doctor now! The hotel manager told his staff to watch my bike and took me himself to my room. I got off all my clothes and checked my phone to find 4 missed calls from Kevin! He almost thought I was dead, I told him I am ok and arrived surviving all the potholes and border delays! I tried to call the reception but the line was really poor, I couldn’t hear anything so had to shout: come to my room now I need help please! 2 of the hotel staff came knocking on my door, and I have asked for a doctor to come it is emergency I am dying! Within 5 minutes I hear a siren approaching the hotel, and a doctor with a nurse walk into my room, I was completely naked, but I didn’t care much. They have given me 2 injections and some pills telling me I would be ok in an hour! I wanted to pay them so asked the hotel manager who said to me it was a free service by the government, I could tip him with 15000 Som! Which is 5 dollars! I really felt better after an hour and slept like a dead man ending the journey within journeys of Turkmenistan!