Turkmenistan Part 2

The Ride down to Ashgabat

Although it was a relatively short ride to take us from the border crossing down to the city of Ashgabat, I do have to make mention of this particular leg of the journey. During the section that took us from Tehran to the North East of Iran we'd become kind of used to the flattened topography as we progressed along the Southern end of the Caspian. But then the last part on the Iranian side became definitely more interesting. As our route moved us away from the main west to east road towards some distant hills that marked the divide beween Iran and Turkmenisan, the landscape started to change. Dramatically!

The above is a pretty crap picture, and doesn't give any real scale ...

The most noticable difference was that things got more vertical, where the flat of the plains gradually melded into some rather nice hills. Then as we progressed, the hills turned into 'proper' big mountains, with often sweeping valleys connecting the higher peaks. Things were looking up ... literally. Following the entertainment of the Turkmen' side of the border crossing, we rode downwards into a single large valley, to encounter a vista that was somewhere around 7to 8 out of 10 on the scale of grand-views. An enormous wall of rock appeared to swallow the road ahead of us. Once again it felt as though we'd been shrunk into a Giant's landscape. A photo-stop gave us chance to not only record the sight, but also take the specatacle in properly, without worrying where the road went. The weather was warm with bright sun casting sharp oblique light onto the scene, providing drama that not only made for a good picture (though not in my case), but also helped burn the sight into my memory banks. Not long after that, any idea of 'warm' as associated with pleasant sunny weather was forgotten. The thermometer was about to go through the roof.

Winding our way along a good road up and down among this mountainous landscape of stark beauty, found that I was enjoying the feeling of the first steps into a new country. As the road that we found ourselves riding on was in pretty good 'nick', it allowed my mind to stray towards thoughts of what lay ahead. Because pot-holes and rough surfaces demand attention, It was unusual and somewhat refreshing not to have to put my full concentration into keeping myself safe on the road. After half an hour or more, we came to a place where there were no more 'ups', as the road flattened before starting its descent. Down we went and as the numbers of altitude on the GPS dropped, so did the temperture rise. It was quite noticeable, and after a nice comfortable ride in the mid 20's, the rising mercury had me playing a guessing game of how-hot-now? 30 degrees? 32? 33? More perhaps? Something else grabbed my attention, as I continued down the gradient. It was the city of Ashgabat. Even though it was way down below me, it loomed! Something about what I was looking at wasn't right. I was slowly making my way down towards a city, that looked for all the world as if it had sprung up out of the billiard-table flat plains of the surrounding land. There were big buildings spead across the conurbation, and some taller buildings too that likely marked its centre. The contrast of height while all around was flat meant it demanded attention, and was not going to be ignored. Even more it shone! And there came something else that made an even bigger impact. It was after I came to a small rise in the road that blocked the view of the city momentarily. Carrying on over this rise found that I was riding through a huge semi-circular frame of concrete and marble, that put me in mind of ancient Rome. It framed the city perfectly, to show that someone had put a good deal of thought into positioning this rather OTT entrance to mark the city limit. After some of the often pitiful attempts of civil building experienced while journeying through the last few countries, this was positively lavish. To make such a bold statement, somebody had spent a lot of money. This had all the hall-marks of a Triumphal Arch!

The ride continued down, the temperature continued to rise. We rode past the outskirts and were suddenly in the city. Several things happened. My visor was slammed shut to keep out the inferno of desert heat, my mind was reeling at huge wide avenues and lush green grass verges with extensive fountains of cool water, my jaw dropped at the luxury high-rise buildings and my brain wondered where all the people were.