Yeah, that means Commercially Important Person. Ahem… aka Ms. Lauren Marie Basler. Exited the plane (in which I sat economy plus… not that great, but better than regular! And into a small bus I went. Climbed up this big, long staircase (with the help of a fellow passenger) and into an interesting room with 70’s style carpet and olive green leather furniture. Men with uniforms, some with small green ones, and some with big tall ones loomed and worked on our passport. Passport control, check; pay money (roughly 100 USD) check; go into other lounge with more gaudy furniture where food was served, check; get called up and pay more money (30 USD) check. I put my bags in the scanner and was then home-free, according to our Chevron contact. Antoneli was waiting for me just on the other side. He was a cheerful chap, (or fellow; these words fit him well) who seemed happy to be meeting me. He smiles often! That’s real nice to see. He has broken English so we made small-talk. Meanwhile, I observed our surroundings. Bright green, perfectly manicured grass and trees which lined the roadway. Large, gaudy, modern looking buildings rose up and screamed different colors, and nothing separated these buildings. Just the odd buildings themselves. I felt like I had flown into a George Jetson era. I wanted to take a picture but Antoneli told me no, that was the 2nd presidential palace. Tomorrow I can take pictures, he said.
My hotel is gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. I have heated bathroom floors. That’s all I need to say. This might be my first stay in a Sofitel, and it’s one of the nicer hotels I have ever stayed in. Furthermore, it smells like my parents’ house in Maine, that new construction smell. Despite that my parents’ house isn’t brand new… I wonder if this hotel is bugged? I don’t really ever want to leave this beautiful hotel. Without the Chevron discount, the price is over $400.
I slept for only a few hours my first night. I got into Ashgabat late and still had a couple things to finish. Chevron would be waiting for me to leave at 8:30 am. I got up at 755 and rushed myself into the shower. At 830 I ran downstairs; no one. Ran outside. The cars were just about to drive away and I just caught them, oops! I’m so bad at this time game. I was in a car almost totally full of Americans and off to Chevron we went. Though, we couldn’t go anywhere until everyone put on their seat belt…. Also, they need to pull over to talk on the phone.
I met with Doug; the president of Chevron in Turkmenistan and he was super nice. He wanted me to go around to the markets with his wife Maris, so I did. We went to the food bazaar where there was fresh fruit, veggies and meat. I watched her talk in broken Russian and negotiate with the shopkeepers. Everyone kept trying to call out to her and get her to buy their products, but she had certain shopkeepers that she normally would go to. She wanted some carrots from a particular shopkeeper but this was right across from the one she normally went to see, so she sent me. On the way back, I wanted to take a picture of the free hanging raw meat everywhere, so I started taking a picture and got called over. When he realized all I wanted was a picture, he laughed, but smiled for it anyways. And asked to see it.
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