(posted from Baku)
I got Turkmenistan transit visa in Tashkent. Valid for 5 days only. You must declare in advance the dates of entry and exit… It cost me 31 USD in cash. From the embasy I went to the Tashkent train station and jump on the night train to Bukhara (sleeper cost 10000). We arrived to Bukhara at 8 am.
From Bolshoy Rynok I took share taxi with Turkmen ladies to the border point – it cost only 3000 sum per seat…
Desert. From lonely Uzbekistan Check point dirty bus will take you to the terminal for the clearance (2km – 250 sum). They will search your luggage and pockets… Then you can walk to Turkmenistan… Just 1 km. At the road barrier the soldiers stopped me It was like 12.05 pm… Strong sun. Dust and wind. “The officials are out for lunch. They will be back around 2pm” – they say in poor Russian. I was waiting 2 hours. Then they ask to pay 10 USD for entry card and 1000 manat commission. -But I have not your money! They changed my dollars without any receipt… 22000 manats per USD. Free market rate is 24-25000 (I recognized that later). They have good profit! So do not change much… Don’t take a taxi (they can charge 10 times more then from locals) – just walk… A car will stop soon and take you to the first village: Farab for 10000 or less. You are in very strange country: for the equivalent of 1 USD you can buy 80 l of petrol !!!
