- I asked our driver to pull over so I could take a photo of this donkey cart. As they passed us, these women stared at the strange foreigner pointing a camera at them through the car window. We frequently saw such carts in Turkmenistan as well as here in Uzbekistan. We had been dropped off by our Turkmenistan driver at the gate into the border area (at the point I took the photo). My companion and I were the only ones we saw crossing from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan this afternoon, the whole hour and a half or so it took us. Guards and officials checked our passports and visas some four times, and some very bored looking officials went through all of our backpacks and luggage including paging through each of the Turkmenistan photos in our cameras. Finally, one of the guards escorted us while we walked and carried and dragged our luggage the better part of a mile in the summer heat across the no man’s land until we came to the first Uzbekistan guard. (We had expected a shuttle bus based on our guide’s assurances). Then it was more immigration and passport control and security checks and walking and dragging another significant distance. Just beyond the last concrete barrier in the road, we were very happy to be greeted by name by our new Uzbekistan guide and driver hosts, presented with a cold drink, and loaded into an air conditioned car. Without reliable cell phone service in that particular border area, they said they had been waiting for us for more than four hours to make sure they didn’t miss us. How grateful we were. I had considered fears during the lengthy crossing process that we might find ourselves in a strange country, not speaking a word of the language, remote from any significant city, without local currency, and alone.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:28:23 +0000
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