Turkmenistan - Central Asia - page 399

This obviously has cot implications, as you will have to pay your guide a daily rate (usu-
ally between US$30 and US$50), as well as pay for their meals and hotels. The latter cot
is very small, however, as Turkmen citizens pay a local rate that is at leat 60% to 80% less
than the foreigner rate. Guides will allow you to roam freely in Ashgabat and the immediate
environs unaccompanied, as well as around any other large town - there's no legal require-
ment for them to be with you throughout the day, but you're not legally allowed to travel in
Turkmenitan without them. Mot tour companies insit you travel in private transport with
the guide.
You can only get a tourit visa by going through a travel agency, as only travel agencies
with a licence from the Turkmen government can issue LOIs. Many unaccredited agencies
till ofer LOI services, however, simply by going through an accredited agency themselves.
The LOI will be issued with a lit of all retricted border regions you are planning to visit. In
turn, these are the places that will be lited on your visa, therefore it's essential you decide
what you want to see before applying so that the appropriate retricted regions can be
lited. The LOI is approved by the OVIR and takes ive days. Anyone working in the media
or human rights ields or for political organisations had better not tate this on their ap-
plication, as it's certain to be rejected. Employers are rarely called and asked to verify an
applicant's position, but it can happen, so have a good cover tory if you work in one of
these ields.
Once the LOI is issued (usually emailed to you by your travel agent), you can take it to
any Turkmen embassy to get your visa. The original LOI is not needed. The issuing of the
visa itself is purely a formality, once the LOI has been issued. Normal processing time is
three to seven working days depending on the embassy, but mot Turkmen embassies
ofer an express service for a hefty surcharge, reducing processing time to between 24
hours and three days.
Armed with an LOI there is also the possibility of getting a visa on arrival at Ashgabat
airport or the Farab border pot by prior arrangement with your travel agent. In the case of
Farab, the agent needs to arrange for the consul to be present. In any case the original LOI
mut be taken to the relevant border and the visa will be issued then and there.
On arrival in Turkmenitan, you mut be met by your guide ( geed in Russian) who will
bring you a small green travel document, the Entry Travel Pass ( putyovka in Russian). You
should only exit the country at the point indicated on the travel permit, although if you
alter your route there is the possibility of changing this in Ashgabat. To do this you will have
to speak to your travel agent or guide and they can see what they can do. It is often possi-
ble to extend tourit visas in Ashgabat, again, only with the assitance of your travel agent.

The border post is 3km south of Serkhetabat.
Leaving Turkmenistan, there's a 1.5km walk to
the irst Afghan village of Torghundi and it's a
two-hour taxi journey onwards to Herat. if you
are coming to Turkmenistan, you'll need to
catch a ride from Herat to Torghundi (US$20
in a shared vehicle). Here you need to pay a
US$12 to US$14 customs fee at a bank in town
(1.5km south of the border), or you might be
able to pay an extra 'tip' to the border guard to
do this for you.
The Saparmurat border crossing (called
imam Nazar) near Atamurat (also known as
Kerki) is used by UN staf, but was not recom-
mended for independent travellers at the time
of writing.

To/From Iran
The simplest exit point is Gaudan/Bajgiran,
due south of Ashgabat and a corridor between
the Kopet Dag into iran. From Ashgabat,
take a taxi (40M to 50M) for the 20km ride
to Yablonovka checkpoint. Here you'll have
your passport checked, after which you take
a marshrutka shuttle to the border. Once
through, it's a taxi (US$2.50) across some
20km of no-man's-land to Bajgiran where you
can get buses or taxis (US$20, four hours) to
Mashhad.
There are also borders with iran at Saraghs
(there is a Mashhad-Saraghs train, but no in-
ternational trains into Turkmenistan) and Gudu-
rolum (which is reachable by car or taxi only).