Ashgabat, Part 1- The not-so-wonderful

After the end of our vacation in Istanbul, on Friday 27 Nov 09, 6.30 am, my husband, kids & I headed to the Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, to take the onward flight to Ashgabat, the capital city of Turkmenistan. This was the main objective of the whole trip actually, which was to visit my husband who works in Turkmenistan. For my parents, brother, aunt and her family, another exciting tour day in Istanbul awaited them, yet I was not sure what their plans were for the day. They would only return to Malaysia on 28 Nov 09, 3 pm flight.

This day was actually Eid-ul-Adha in Istanbul, but we did not manage to celebrate it as such, rushing to catch a flight…

We were due to travel via Turkmenistan Airlines, an unfamiliar airline to me. During check-in, there were many Turkmen nationals in line and I was informed by my husband that they overtake queues without guilt. And I witnessed this. A lady dressed in nice Turkmen long dress jumped the queue in front of us and then asked another person to queue behind her i,e, also in front of us, even though we were already queuing. After some time, she called some other people to stand in front of us (what nerve!) I quickly stood in the proper line, blocking any other people who intended to jump our queue.

During security check, another 2 ladies (this time some other foreign nationals) made some fuss and without guilt, jumped the line just in front of us. So if you think in Malaysia some people are not civic minded enough, some places are worst! The irony was that, we were with small children, and you’d think people would show courtesy for those traveling with kids. Well, not the case here… Or maybe these were remote examples, I don’t know… Oh ya, just to share as well, since I’m on this subject, the way people drive in Istanbul and the traffic congestion there also makes you feel that Malaysia is not that bad… Just feel blessed wherever you are, alhamdulillah :). (I suddenly recalled all the TV ads at home on “Budi Bahasa Budaya Kita”, “Jangan Memotong Barisan” etc etc)

Then the flight was delayed for 2 hours, again typical of this airline as my husband informed. After a long wait, it was finally time to board the plane. The airline was a Boeing 757 with 3-seaters on each side. The flight took 3 hours and the food was not bad, alhamdulillah. After arrival, we had to go through all sorts of immigration procedures. Here’s where I produced my Letter of Invitation with some payment. I found it an interesting experience all along this trip, as language was a barrier. The officers were talking in Turk language and I could not understand a single word. At the end, I can only understand numbers written on paper as the sum to pay. After that, finding our way to baggage pick-up and other counters, all in this language which made me totally lost here. Not many here speak English at all…

Another problem we faced was our baggage. There was a severe baggage delay and I could see heaps of bags at the pick-up counter and no one taking them! When I checked the dates on these bags, they were 24 Nov, 3 days before! We waited and waited for our bags and no sign whatsoever. My kids were already fidgety and running around the unoccupied conveyor belts and making lots of noise. We finally decided to leave the Airport and come back later for our bags. Little did we know it would only arrive 3 days later!

So before going to the staff transit house where we would stay whilst on transit to Turkmenbashy scheduled the next 2 days, we had to go to a shopping mall (yeay for me!) to buy some basic necessities e.g. milk, diapers, clothing, toothpaste & toothbrush since we have no luggage.

Well that’s the not-so-wonderful experience, being stuck in a foreign non-English-speaking country with no personal luggage! But alhamdulillah, I found it as an unforgettable experience and a memory to cherish. We just have to make the best of our circumstances. On the following day we plan to do more shopping if our baggage still did not arrive and take chance to see the Ashgabat city. It was a long day for us and alhamdulillah the transit house was a beautiful comfortable one, to take a rest after the long tiring day. This was a place for any Petronas staff stopping by Ashgabat on their way to either Turkmenbashy (work site) or Malaysia (home). Here are the photos.