Turkmenistan Day 5 ~ The Russian Bazaar

Our final day in Turkmenistan dawned cloudy and cool. It was appropriate "farewell" weather to ease us back into a late spring at home. Most of the remaining guests would be departing on the same late-night flight from Ashgabat as we were. The atmosphere during breakfast at the Turkmen Atlary that last morning seemed sleepily subdued; each of us contemplatively staring into our tea cups as if the trip was already over. 
And in a sense... it was.

Suddenly our hosts were no longer so worried about us... 
For four and a half days our lives had been dictated; there was a program to be followed... no ifs, ands, ors, or buts. It made sense... there were a lot of us foreigners, we were guests of the government, we all needed to make it through the weekend without incidence, and all the while having a good time. That's not easy! 
Our hosts, however, certainly made traveling in a closed third-world country seem luxuriously easy (hey! no brains required!)... so long as we followed the protocol...

As an American, this was all a bit alien to me... but ironically, I quite enjoyed the entire experience because it allowed me the rare opportunity to shut my mouth and just observe. But it didn't allow for much breathing room (which was probably part of the plan... they didn't exactly want us foreigners to be wandering at will). 


So on the fifth day when all was quiet and not even our chaperones knew what to do with us... Amrita and I skipped school. We had all but given up on a chance to stroll through the streets of Ashgabat, so when we discovered that a fellow guest (an author from France, who also spoke Russian, and had travelled to Turkmenistan before) was making a solo journey by foot to a Russian Bazaar... we quickly followed suit. 

 And what a bazaar it was! Hoards of vendors bedazzled their customers with culinary delights of all kinds. From gallon jars of caviar... to open-topped buckets bursting with brightly-colored pickled vegetables... bricks of honey comb speckled with bee wings... rows of freshly-baked bread, decadent pastries, extravagantly-frosted cakes, and bins overflowing with dried fruits and nuts. The bazaar was overwhelming and wonderful... I could have stayed all day feasting my eyes on its colorful glory. 

Things got even more interesting when we decided to snap a few pictures. Despite being three people in a crowd of other shoppers... apparently we would not have been more obvious had we just beamed in from the Starship Enterprise. 

The moment our cameras were revealed... they were noticed. One click... and we were nervously given a warning by two guys hacking meat at a butcher's stand: NO PHOTOS. We didn't heed it... because it didn't make sense. After all, this was a public market... not a government institution, right? Wrong. 

Two more clicks... and a man-in-black appeared seemingly out of nowhere... speed-walking in our direction like the bouncer at a soviet reunion party. He looked young, but determined. We froze... convinced we were about to have our cameras confiscated, or worse. 

Luckily, our Russian-speaking companion was able to negotiate our way out of the situation by requesting to see the man's credentials... which he couldn't supply. He claimed to be the manager of the bazaar... but our friend seemed to think he was bluffing. He definitely had an air of paranoia; whether he was really the manager or not... our presence at the bazaar did not go unnoticed, and technically it is against the law to take photos in most public places in Turkmenistan.... or at least, frowned upon. Apparently there's an invisible fine line. 

A half-hour walk through Ashgabat and we were back at the Atlary again. We had plenty of time to relax in our room, pack our bags, and prepare for the long journey home. Our flight would leave Turkmenistan just after midnight. 

We were departing with an assortment of gifts, some courtesy of the new International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeders Association. These included FIVE large coffee-table-size hard-cover books between the two of us and two enormous calendars... 

Here is one of the calendars... I put a normal-sized wall calendar next to it for the first photo so you have a reference for how big it is. It's printed on heavy poster-board. I only point this out because I carried both of our calendars rolled into an over-sized shopping bag and got arm cramps hiking through the airports! 

Meanwhile, Amrita's poor suitcase probably needed an elevator lift into cargo... 

But it was terribly fun bringing all this stuff home to show our family and friends. When it comes to Turkmenistan, this calendar says it all! 

~~~

Since returning home I've spent hours staring at my computer screen... studying Amrita's photographs, downloading video footage, and re-writing some of the sentences in these blogs posts a dozen times each. Trying to come up with a way to to put our experience "to paper" wasn't easy. I found myself delving into the recesses of my literary spectrum and stumbling in my vain attempt to maintain neutrality. It was a battle between cold and robotical vs. hot and hysterical. And it was sometimes futile. 

Visiting Turkmenistan was like going backwards and forwards all at the same time. Confusing? Yes! But also insanely incredible.... exponentially educational... and utterly exhausting! A whirl-wind adventure to a far-off land where the culture, creatures, politics, and panoramas hastily warped whatever (fuzzy... and unfortunately American) preconceived ideas that laid dormant in my mind. But the most interesting thing about Turkmenistan is something that's dear to our hearts... 

A land-locked nation in a region rich with the world's most valuable resources... Turkmenistan stands alone. Their greatest achievement... the most dazzling pride of their nation... isn't their oil or gas or white marble palaces. It's their one true Turk whose ethereal beauty and grace has survived the turmoils of time... a creature who has stolen the hearts of kings and still compels people to travel half the earth for its sake: 

The Akhal-Teke. 

Read all about our Trip To Turkmenistan by visiting the following posts:


To Turkmenistan We Go
http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/04/to-turkmenistan-we-go.html


Jet Lag  

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/04/jet-lag.html 

Turkmenistan Day 1 - The International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-1-first-meeting-of.html 

Turkmenistan Day 2 - The President Rides & An Akhal-Teke Beauty Contest 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-2-president-rides.html 

Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 1 - The Races 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-3-part-1-races.html 

Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 2 - A Bigger-Than-God-Himself Hippodrome-In-The-Works 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-3-part-2-bigger-than.html 

Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 1 - The Circus 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-4-part-1-circus.html

Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 2 - The Stud Farms 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/06/turkmenistan-day-4-part-2-stud-farms.html 

Turkmenistan Day 5 - The Russian Bazaar 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/06/turkmenistan-day-5-russian-bazaar.html