The Silk Road from Ashgabat to Almaty
In October, 2024, four of us undertook a two week tour of the five Stans of Central Asia, west to east, in an organised group of sixteen from a variety of western countries. Here are some of the highlights, lowlights and observations from the trip. Despite it being over thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, not many Westerners have ventured this way yet. Here's what we found... L as Vegas meets Phnom Penh in Asia Common sense says that arguing with officialdom in a famously repressive country is never a good idea. Common sense also tells us that arguing in English with a bored, tired and probably underpaid official who does not speak it is a waste of both their time and yours. And common sense says that in a strange and unexplored environment, stop, stand back and see what others are doing before joining in. But at three o’clock in the morning after a seemingly endless trek through the huge, lavish and eerily empty corridors and halls of Turkmenistan's Ashgabat a...