Turkmenistan here I come, or rather here I went.

Turkmenistan, a difficult country to get into, a stand alone visit, as when I did the other 4 Stans, this was not an option, politics and all that. Getting a visa was a bugger, and worked out quite expensive if you factor in a 450 mile round trip to visit the consulate in London to get my visa sorted. But Fuck yeah it was worth it.

I hope you travel with me over the next few weeks as I bring you my snaps, my thoughts and my impressions of what was a fantastic journey.

But I gotta get there first so the best start to an early flight, be honest airplane food when it is good it is shite! I was loaded up with me stickers, which didn't get used; littering and stuff lands you in jail, and I didn't fancy getting buggered in a strange country, well to be honest I don't fancy getting buggered in ANY country.

If you can call it a perk, but I will accept it, and to be honest play the deafness card as often as I can, first onboard even before business class. I mean who enjoys queuing with the great unwashed to board, especially flying with Turkish Airlines, their clientele just do not know how to behave.

A very pleasant and generous trolly dolly, I secured plenty of beer on the flight over to Istanbul, sometimes it pays to smile!

Oh and with a couple of hours to kill in Istanbul what better than to top up! Mind you at £18 a pint I restricted myself to just a couple.

Touch down, if you fail to prepare you prepare to fail, that trip to the embassy paid off, as others on the flight were doing VOA and the queue was massive. It was said that on arrival there was a mandatory covey test, and there they were half a dozen of them all in white, face nappies on, kitted up as if people were arriving with the bubonic plague not just a bad cold. When faced with shit like that, just shoulders back chin up stare straight ahead and walk with purpose; it is called nonchalant confidence. No problem. No fucking stick up my nose.

Stopped at border control, questioned if I was carrying cigarettes; it is forbidden to bring more than a single packet of 20 into the country. I have many vices I told them, but smoking is not one of them.

So here we are the capital Ashgabat and what a place, as you will see it is like Las Vegas meets Pyongyang.

Transfer to Hotel a free day before I meet my travelling companions. The adventure begins.