Sunday, October 02, 2011

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Silk Road Oasis city of Merv

Posted by Hippobean at 10:09 PM
This morning we flew to Mary. We landed at the tailwind of a sand storm which completely covered the city in a haze. It was windy and sandy when we visited the Silk Road oasis city of Merv. Here the great Kiz Kala palace architecture was so unique and different with its vertical corrugated columns, I havent seen anything like it before. Everyone agreed this was the best archaeological site in Turkmenistan.

Later we drove to our soviet style hotel just outside of the city of Mary. Everything inside the room looked new and the room was enormous, with a full sitting area with sofas. However, the bed was still hard as a rock although the pillows this time were a little thicker. The bathroom too was enormous but the sink was small and the toilet literally sat on top of a throne. I had to climb up to this thing to shit. I saw a rechargeable flashlight on the desk and wonder if the electricity was unreliable here. I was lucky that everything worked in my room. Others the the group werent so lucky. Greg's room had electricity on one side of the room only, while others didnt have any at all. There's a sign in the room that said "Do not to use a white towel for the shoes we have a special sponge if you clean the white towel you must to pay for shit."

We chose to dine in the yurts at the back of the hotel, only there for tourists of course. The food wasnt any good nor enough and it was rather uncomfortable to sit with our legs crossed. But it was an experience.

the registan

Merv photos

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