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Turkmenistan: It's Not Kazakhstan

Knife Tricks blogger Paul Karl Lukacs is back from a whirlwind tour of Turkmenistan, and alive or at least in enough pieces to tell about it. He describes Turkmenistan Airlines as being "not as bad as advertisted," which is just the sort of compliment everyone loves to hear. Except Turkmenbashi, that is...he will crush you no matter what. Lukacs flew from Beijing to Ashgabat; TA's other international destinations include Bangkok, London and Dubai.

For those of you with a Tupolev phobia, a bit of comfort might come from knowing that Turkmenistan flies 757s, and 717s on its dirt-cheap domestic flights. But you might want to buy one of those USB fans, because there's this problem:

The planes weren't bad. The seats were maintained, and the cabins were clean. The same cannot be said of all Turkmen travellers, and avoiding an aromatic seatmate is key to a pleasant flight.

Yum. Lukacs goes on to describe highlights of the TA experience, including "standard" food, "unenthusiastic" flight attendants, "nonexistent" baggage limits, and of course, pictures of Turkmenbashi everywhere. Click through to Knife Tricks for the rest of his funny-yet-informative wrap-up.

[Photo: prutter79]

Related Stories:
· Five Segments on Turkmenistan Airlines! [Knife Tricks]
· Silent But USB-Ready [Jaunted]
· Türkmenbaşy [Wikipedia]