Going to Turkmenistan soon as part of a group tour (I'm 99% sure you need to legally go with a group) with some downtime. We're obviously going to pic related and some of the Nomad groups in the countryside as well as all the weird buildings in Ashgabat.
Anyone been there and can give tips about things to watch out for, easiness of the girls etc?
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> (I'm 99% sure you need to legally go with a group)
You're 100% wrong. Transit visas are easy to get and allow you to explore the country without a boomer tour.
>Transit visas are easy to get and allow you to explore the country without a boomer tour.
This hasn't been the case for a while now. Check the caravanistan forum, all embassies are not issuing transit visas and only issuing guided tourist visas.
Pretty amazing how you can be so confident you are right whilst being completely wrong
Kys for being so low iq
They must be doing something right in Turkmenistan. Every country on the border has had their shit fricked up royally in the past 20 years. I've never heard a word about them. It's not real high on my to do list though. Take some pics.
What's wrong with Uzbekistan?
I was there in 2018 on a transit visa from Iran to Uzbekistan.
No1 tip for you is like Iran Turkmenistan has a black market currency exchange and an official exchange for their failed money. You can't get money out of ATMs either. Carry lots of USD and exchange it with locals whenever you can.
It's also very difficult to get internet anywhere besides high class hotels. You won't be able to get a sim card for your phone.
Ashgabat is a disturbing empty town. Feels like those fake towns they build for cruises with many empty white buildings. Most hotels are ex soviet shitholes and overpriced as you pay the same amount in dollars that the locals do in manat. Might as well book a luxury 5 star hotel. I heard those are bugged btw so don't peak ill of the government or they might north Korea you. There are like 3 bars in the whole capital and one of them is a "brittish pub" where I went to. It's a fun experience and locals might actually talk to you which they are actively discouraged to from the government.
trains don't really run at least when I was there. There is like one bus a day going from Ashgabat to Dasoguz. Your best bet to get to Derweze is stand on the road and hail any car and give someone money to drive you into the desert to the crater. There is nothing there, so you need to bring a tent or something if you want to stay over night The craters flames will keep you warm. We told the driver to pick us up the next day when we camped there but he never came so we had to sit in the middle of the turkmeni desert waiting for someone. Luckily the one liner bus drove by and picked us up.
Thanks - when I went to Syria a few months ago a lot of people came up to me to start conversation with a foreigner given how rare they were (even got a date out of it), from what you're telling me outside the British pub (which we're going to anyway) the locals will generally be cagey about approaching and avoid you more like North Korea?
yes exactly very north korea . on the streets of Ashgabat at least. They won't even look at you, but will actively gawk at you once you turn your back, because foreigners are so alien to them. I think rules are enforced harder in the city. There are armed police everywhere and there is dress code it seems where men have to wear black suits and men have to wear traditional dresses and hats. When they are sure that there is no one watching they will try to talk and are very friendly and welcoming.
How's dating in Syria?
>difficult to get internet
My friend from Ashgabat just emailed me to say the government have blocked IMO for citizens. It was the last messaging service they had access to. They've also blocked access to all foreign TV stations online
Sounds like they're going full North Korea over there
sounds absolutely miserable. whyd you go? curiosity?
>Central Asia
>easiness of the girls
Forget about it.
My impression was that urban Central Asia would be relatively loose given that drinking is common there despite being a nominally Muslim area. Does the openness with drinking not extend to sex?
openness to alcohol doesn't mean they are open for sex. Alcohol has a very long tradition in many parts of the world whereas casual sex is a relatively new phenomenon. In many places the concept doesn't even exist really.
I went back in May when they first opened. The tour company should tell you everything you need to know. Quick recap:
Never use your card for anything, even to withdraw. Bring USD instead and change it at a money changer. I'm sure your tour guide will set you up with one. The official rate is 1 USD = 3.5 TMT but on the black market you can get 1 USD = 20 TMT. Obviously with such a huge difference you don't want to use anything but cash.
Literally everything on the Internet is blocked. No messaging services, no nothing. Email is one of the few things that worked. SMS as well. Also google search worked but all the sites of the results were then blocked. But you could still use google as a proxy to read news. Which is funny because many places still display their Instagram. Everyone uses VPNs anyway. Try to load some to your phone before going, but I didn't have any success with getting any VPN to work. Maybe try setting up one for your home connection and hope it won't be blocked.
There's a few places you can check out for eating when you're not with the group, like a "British Pub", or food courts at shopping malls.
Girls: no chance with locals. However some hotels have Ukrainian/Russian working girls.
Thanks - I'll order one Ukrainian and Russian girl to have the most insane threesome of my life.
It was in Damascus (only place a Syrian girl would consider dating a foreigner) and we both had to leave next evening. We met on the street, met up later that night at a cafe, had a fun chat and she paid for my drink which was really nice since she considered it her duty to treat guests well.
I had no idea about escalation etiquette in Syria so I played it relatively safe - when I suggested she could arrange the taxi at her hotel after I come with her she shot it down so I considered that as far as I could go. She was playing with her hair and smiling a lot so she was definitely enjoying it - far as I got was a farewell kiss on the cheek.
>Turkmenistan
When I was there, they seemed like a country that simply didn't tolerate any monkey business. It's a very clean, conservative, stiff upper lip country, probably the most in Central Asia. If you're that kind of guy, or even if you're just on your best behavior, you'll have a trip without issues. Don't bring any degeneracy. Being a gentleman goes far there.
Oh btw I forgot to say but, I hope you like pilaf, because they eat it a lot.
I really enjoyed Turkmenistan, though this was back in 2015. I went with my dad, we had a guide and a driver. If you can, check out the mountain area that borders Iran, its very beautiful, we stayed on a farm there. The camel milk they gave us there was the nicest milk I have ever tasted. The crater is very cool too, though probably the most “touristy” place as everyone else there was various foreigners camping. If you do camp, wake up just before dawn because birds fly over the crater to warm themselves up. Bring a UV torch too and you can find scorpions. The ruins of Merv are great to see too, and this thermal cave pool that you can swim in. If your interested in wildlife there’s quite a lot around, we saw tons of different birds, reptiles, and even pikas.
I found the locals to be normal levels of friendly, some may come up and talk but most will not bother you, and they don’t stare unlike pajeets. I doubt foreigners can get with local women but they are pretty attractive, it is an ass country. The internet was extremely slow, and there was no internet outside of hotels. They didn’t wrap up your phone unlike in NK, I don’t remember anyone ever searching through the photos either. It was overall way more chill than NK, but definitely has that weird vibe, especially in ashgabat with all the strange monuments and stuff. There were lots of police blockades, but they would just make everyone go down different routes rather than demand to see documentation.
they burn meth.