Turkmenistan
Trip Start
Oct 02, 2004
1
Trip End
Oct 11, 2004
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Interesting facts about the country:
-There are no taxis. You catch "rides" with people and pay them what you deem to be appropriate
-it costs about $1 to fill a car with gasoline
-$4 for a roundtrip plane ticket between cities, that's how plentiful the oil is here
-Don't whistle in homes...it's a bad omen. I found out the hard way!
-watch out for the camels! When driving between cities, you must watch out for the camels on the road, they're a real hazard!
Comments
There are taxis in Ashgabat, actually. I was born and raised there, moved away a the age of 22. They are imported yellow renaults and peugeots. There is not an official taxi fare set, but people rather feel how much is right for that certain distance, or you can agree beforehand on the price. It is a high context culture, thus a lot of things are meant but not necesserily spoken out loud.
$4 for a plane ticket between cities? I was also born and raised there, and since I last visited in 08, I paid $20 for a scarf. I am pretty sure Turkmenistan has a lot of natural gas, not oil.