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Monday 2004-06-14 - Mary, Turkmenistan
Weird economy, too
The plan is to leave Aşgabat at ten this morning to go to Mary. But first the registration has to be taken care of: the government wants to know at all times where all foreigners come and go. Our guide, Bava, will take care of it, and is at the office at 7:30 am but it’s so busy, it’s 11 when he finally arrives back at the hotel.
On the way to Mary he tells a little more about how this country works. We’re riding over a very bad two-lane road with no markings: this road is the main connection from Aşgabat to Uzbekistan, all imports from there have to come along this road. In fact, all roads in the country are narrow and in bad repair except those within cities, while many millions are spent building apartment buildings with apartments practically no one can afford to live in at an average monthly income of $100: obviously not the way to kick-start an economy.
Meanwhile, farmers are not allowed to own any ground: all is owned by the government and the farmers have to rent it; a maximum of only 5 hectares is allowed. The government also dictates what can be grown (cotton or wheat) and buys the produce from the farmers who will get $200-300 extra for their families working in the fields. Near Mary however, ground is scarce, so the actual maximum a farmer can rent is only 3 hectares.
When we arrive in Mary, it’s only a few minutes before six, too late to be let into the museum (in spite of Bava’s brave efforts). Carla goes to the hotel to sleep, the rest of us go on to visit the historical site of Merv.
Destroyed by the Mongols
Ancient Merv, an old center on the Silk Road, was located a way from present-day Mary. It was — especially for the time — a huge city of which only ruins are left now, spread over a large area. Obviously, arriving here around seven in the evening, we will have time only for a few highlights before it gets fully dark — and we still have to have dinner as well.
There were several large citadels here, as well as forts. When the Mongols arrived here on their rampage across Asia, they didn’t know how to tackle such a large city: they’d never encountered anything like this. At first they roamed around for six days failing to find a way in. Then they laid siege but after half a year they’d gotten nowhere: the city still thrived. At last a spy overheard two women chatting to each other, saying they’d never have lasted this long with out the tunnel through which water and food was brought into the city… Now the Mongols finally had a way in. The two women were stoned to death for thus betraying the city but that was not all. The Mongols offered to spare everyone if only they would move out of the city; the people took the offer but found they had been fooled: nearly all were killed. One of the survivors, an Arab who lived here, was tasked with counting the dead. He recorded the counting took him 6 days, and he counted 1.2 million bodies.
The city was then abandoned for about two centuries, after which people slowly began to move back, but soon left again. New Mary was built at a distance from the old site but the extensive cemetery at Merv has been in almost constant use — a pity there’s no time to walk around there, I love to look around cemeteries. We have time only to visit a few forts and the mausoleums for the two women who were stoned to death; then we run up the hill of another fort on a hill to watch from there the beautiful sunset over the site. A few more places viewed in the dusk, and then we ride back to the city.
In Mary we have a late dinner in the open air; my chicken kebab tastes very good, but it’s also very cold outside by this time: it’s nearly 11 pm! Our hotel is of the “Russian” type with a key lady and no restaurant. (No choice: it’s the only hotel in town. A new three-star hotel has been built but not opened yet.) Our bathroom looks terrible with a jumble of broken tiles but it has been cleaned and the plumbing actually works. The hot water is turned off at eleven though, so my shower is only lukewarm.
