Central Asia Fantasia : Transitional Turikmenistan

I climbed down the steps of the plane and followed the other passengers across the tarmac into one of the buildings in the Ashgabat airport. My first glimmer of Turkmenistan. A long, one story warehouse-like building with a row of bolted down seats running down the center, a few occupied by men wearing typical Western World clothing, and fewer still by women wearing exotic clothing Id never seen before. On a counter, suitcases, overshadowed by rounded packages wrapped in brown fiber-fortified plastic and tied with ropes. But nowhere did I see the familiar Intourist sign., or a soul I knew or could communicate with. I went outside to see if I might find the Intourist office in one of the other building on the premises. I wandered around, getting more and more apprehensive, trying to find some indication of what was going to happen to me. Suddenly a very pretty young woman dressed in European attire approached me. 'Are you Thompson? she asked me, in English.''Yes, I am,' was my surprised answer."Thompson, Sally-Alice is the author of 'Central Asia Fantasia : Transitional Turikmenistan', published 1999 under ISBN 9781882204441 and ISBN 1882204441.