Day 1 – Saturday September 16th
Group A & B start

• Meet your local and YPT guides at Ashgabat International Airport.
• Driving tour of Ashgabat’s main sites including the Monument to the Constitution, the Arch of
Neutrality, Lenin Park, Ertogrul Ghazi Mosque and the Alem Centre which is the complex that is
home to the Wheel of Enlightenment, the largest indoor ferris wheel. And yes, for just $1 you can
even take a ride!
• If the food court at the Alem Centre’s open we’ll have lunch there, however it is often closed in
which case we’ll go to the Russian Bazaar. Either way, lunch will cost around $1-3.
• Visit the university bookshop where you can find books written by and about the president,
Ashgabat and Turkmenistan in English. They also have postcards and posters, and if you’re lucky
they might even have a copy of the Ruhnama, the book written by Turkmenbashy himself.
• Dinner and drinks at a pub in the city centre which serves shashlicks, kebabs and local draught
beer. Approximately $8 pp + drinks.

Day 2 – Sunday September 17th

• Today is the opening ceremony of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
• A breath-taking Olympic Village has been built in the centre of the city, which in fitting with the
rest of Ashgabat’s architecture is all fitted out with glistening white marble and gold trim. There
are multiple state-of-the-art stadiums and arenas, and there’s even a sparkling monorail to match.
The complex itself has cost more to build than a lot of the Beijing Olympics facilities, not to
mention the brand new airport that’s been built especially for the occasion.
• The Opening Ceremony itself is likely to be one of the most spectacular shows you’ll ever see.
The Turkmens really know how to put on a grand mass concert, just ask anyone’s who’s been to their Independence Day concert with us. It will make other Olympic Opening Ceremonies look
like primary school plays.

Day 3 – Monday September 18th

• Today we’ll begin exploring the Olympic complex and visiting sporting events.
• Some events that we’re most excited about include chess, futsal, bowling, dance sports and
equestrian jumping.
• The Turkmens themselves are especially looking forward to billiards and chess. In Lachyn, the
Turkmenistan Airlines magazine, we’re told that “The kinds of sport which have been in the
background for many years and considered “exotic”, are starting to develop in Turkmenistan at a
rapid rate. Among these sports is billiards – an entertaining game which many people associate
with good time spent with friends. However, this game has become a stable national sport with an
army of followers”.
• In the same magazine, we read that “it is the chess competitions that are sure to get the most
attention from Turkmen fans”. “According to the statistics, every year Turkmen chess players win
dozens of competitions for their country, so much so that other countries are now enlisting
Turkmen tainers to share in their skills and secrets to sporting success in this 64-cell field game.
Thus, our Grand Masters take part in preparing chess players in America, Turkey, Iran and other
countries…” They are especially proud of the Atabayev chess dynasty, of which 20-year-old
Maksat Atabayev holds the title of International Grand Master, amongst many other titles,
championships and records.

Day 4 – Tuesday September 19th

• Today we will attend some sporting events at the newly built Ashgabat Olympic Complex.
• Any spare time can be spent exploring the stadiums and arenas, or we will visit Independence
Park, which is nearby to the Olympic Complex. Not only is Independence Park home to the
impressive Independence Monument, but there is also one of the best remaining statues of
Turkmenbashy and a statue of the Ruhnama. The Ruhnama is the book that Turkmenbashy wrote.
It was revered like the bible or the khuran, and was an integral part of any school or university
curriculum, knowing it was imperative in getting a job, and being able to recite passages was even
part of the driving test.

Day 5 – Wednesday September 20th
Group C starts

• Today we will welcome Group C. You will be collected from the airport according to your flight
times, and brought to the group to join in the activities.
• Visit Nisa, a UNESCO site which was once the capital of the Parthian Empire, a half an hour
drive north west of Ashgabat. Admission included.
• Drive to Kipchak to see the resplendent Turkmenbashy Mosque, where Turkmenbashy is buried
beside his mother, father and two brothers in their white marble mausoleum.
• Continue on to Kow Ata. This natural underground thermal spring is said to have many medical
attributes, but is also used by locals as a swimming hole and makes for a very fun and relaxing
swim. Admission included.
• After a revitalising swim in the cave lake, we’ll enjoy lunch at one of the shashlik restaurants just
outside the entrance to the cave.

Day 6 – Thursday September 21st

• Visit Anau on the eastern outskirts of Ashgabat and see the remains of Anau Fortress and Sheikh

Jemaladdin Mosque which was destroyed in the 1948 earthquake.
• Drive 250km to Darvaza (The Gates of Hell) in 4WD’s.
• Stop in Bakhordok to have lunch in a chaykhana. Approximately $6 pp.
• Stop at Erbent en-route, one of the few nomadic villages still left in Central Asia.
• Pass through the ruins of Darvaza village.
• Visit two other craters – one full of mud, one full of water.
• Traverse the sand dunes of the Karakum Desert to get to Darvaza, the flaming gas crater.
• Watch the sunset over the fiery crater and experience dusk turn to dark at this breathtaking site.
• You can either buy things at the bazaar the day before to cook over a camp fire or we can arrange
a dinner box for you (approximately $7 pp).
• Camp in tents near the Gates of Hell.

Day 7 – Friday September 22nd

• Drive back towards Ashgabat, stopping at Tolkuchka Bazaar where you can have lunch, and
explore one of the most unique bazaars in Central Asia.
• Free time in the afternoon.
• Tonight we’ll visit the British Pub for dinner and a drink. Although it’s right in the centre of town,
it’s impossible to see from the outside. After a week in Turkmenistan, you won’t believe it when
you step inside and find Beatles posters and televisions playing UK soccer.

Day 8 – Saturday September 23rd
Group B ends

• Today we will farewell Group B. Transfers to the airport according to your flight times.
• Will attend some sporting events at the newly built Ashgabat Olympic Complex.
• Any spare time can be spent exploring the stadiums and arenas, or we might visit some other
places in Ashgabat.
• Tonight we will have dinner at a local shashlik restaurant, one of our favourite ways to mix with
local Ashgabatites.

Day 9 – Sunday September 24th

• Hopefully by now you’ll have experienced a lot of the sports that the Asian Indoor and Martial
Arts Games has to offer. One that you might never have heard of before though is kurash.
• Kurash, also called universal sport wrestling, incorporates techniques from Japanese judo,
Russian sambo and Uzbek kurash. It was invented by an Uzbek kurash wrestler in the 90’s who
studied his sport extensively and wanted to bring the rules inline with international standards. The
first tournament was in Tashkent in 1998, and in 1999 the first World Cup was held, also in
Tashkent. It wasn’t until 2003 though that the sport was recognised by the Olympic Council.

Day 10 – Monday September 25th

• Today we will attend some sporting events at the newly built Ashgabat Olympic Complex.
• If you’ve had enough indoor sports though, we’ll go to Independence Park and visit the original
Independence Monument, which is now a pyramid shaped shopping centre with a restaurant on
the 5th
floor where you can get $1 draught beers and spectaculr 360 degree views of the city,
including the Olympic Complex.

Day 11 – Tuesday September 26th

• Enjoy the last day of this incredible event with our last opportunity to attend sporting events.
• Dinner and drinks at a pub in the city centre which serves shashlicks, kebabs and local draught
beer. Approximately $8 pp + drinks.

Day 12 – Wednesday September 27th

• It will be sad to see it all come to an end, but today is the Closing Ceremony of the Games.
• Just like the Opening Ceremony, this will be a spectacular and unique show of mass dancing and
singing, the likes of which you won’t see anywhere else in the world.

Day 13 – Thursday September 28th
Group A & C end

• Transfers to the airport according to your flight times.

For a schedule of the events click here. We’ve outlined some of the events in the itinerary, but there will be plenty of opportunity for you to choose which events you are and aren’t interested in. The itinerary while we’re in Ashgabat isn’t set in concrete and we’ll be encouraging you to explore as you wish.

We have been informed by the Turkmen Ministry of Tourism that they want to promote tourism during
this period and are encouraging us to bring people to Turkmenistan for the Games. Not only will it be a
spectacular and one-off event, but we’ve also been told that rejection rates will be far lower than usual
during this time.

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