While on the bus, I was having some thoughts about Muslim women’s dress. In the Stans women do dress modestly. Not all wear headscarf but most do. Their clothing is absolutely beautiful. They are very stunning. I don’t see where dressing modestly is a negative thing for them. So actually, I was thinking that the men also dress modestly. You don’t see any men in shorts. All wear long pants and at least short sleeve shirts, no tank tops. So actually, the rules are both for men and women. There are still areas where women don’t have the same rights as men. For example, in the mosque, women are separated from men. It is the same in Orthodox Judaism. I do not condone it. I also understand that treatment of women in other Muslim countries is a far cry from what it is in these countries. They do have arrange marriages here, but both the bride and groom have to agree. They have a low divorce rate. People are more conservative in the rural areas.

The area that I have been in Uzbekistan recently is high desert. They irrigate and provide water to towns via canals. Some of the original canals were actually dug by slaves.

Crossing into Turkmenistan is going to be interesting. We have to pay for visas and even a Covid test, $106. We’ve been told that they do the swab, then throw it in the trash and without actually testing tell you that you don’t have Covid . There is also a lot of restrictions about photography in Turkmenistan. Somebody at breakfast this morning said that Turkmenistan is called the Disneyland for dictators. Don’t know quite what that means but I am really interested in finding out more about Turkmenistan.

So each of these four countries have a constitution, legislative bodies, and a judiciary. But they all have a president who is as close to an autocratic leader as you can get with Turkmenistan being the worst. It’s hard to tell for sure what the people think about that but I’m getting the impression that they’re not having much trouble with the idea of having an autocratic government. So why is that? I think you need to look at the history of these countries versus the history of European countries or the United States. First of all during what is considered the middle ages and the enlightenment in the western world, these countries were ruled by Sultans and Khans. People lived in tribes or smaller sultanates. There were always strong men rulers. In the 19 century, this area came under the influence of Russia. In fact, the four countries, as we know them today, were not defined until the start of Soviet rule in the 20th century. Now consider the history of Western civilization. Think about when European countries were formed. Consider the Magna Carta which started to strip the power of the British monarchy. The enlightenment that lead to the French revolution. Western countries have been developing democratic ideas for many centuries. Even so we are far from perfect. So I think we have to look at the governments of these countries not with western eyes but Eastern eyes and stop being so critical. These countries have lower poverty rates, lower divorce rates, and less crime.

Bus just stopped for us to get off and look at a market area. We were immediately besieged by almost a dozen children. They actually try to speak a little English. Everybody studies English in elementary school in central Asia. As we walked the few blocks to the bizarre, the kids went along with us. They did not at any point call their parents or go to their parents to tell them where they were going. I grew up this way and I tried to raise my children this way, but my grandchildren don’t go off and explore things on their own. They have play dates. I think being free to do things builds a certain resiliency and self-reliance in children.

Once in Turkmenistan, we encounter three weddings. It’s amazing. They are happy to see us. They welcome us taking pictures of them. Can you imagine somebody in the states having a wedding and strangers turn up at that wedding. They would not be happy.

 The town that we first stopped in Turkmenistan is Daşoguz. It’s where we saw the children and the brides. Here are some more street scenes. 

We took a night flight from Daşoguz to Ashgabat, the capital. It was immediately obvious that we have entered into an alternative universe. They were all of these tall, perfectly white apartment buildings. All the cars were white Toyotas. Again, I will talk about this in the next blog. Here is the picture of the airport in Ashgabat.

Our hotel is this unbelievable 16 story building, totally white with gold decoration. Here are some pictures taken from my balcony on the fifth floor.

As you can see, I was able to blog in Turkmenistan. There is a function of those slow Internet available in the bar area of the hotel. I hope to use it again tomorrow.