Uzbekistan > Turkmenistan: sleeping between the borders?

[Pubung]

Hello. I will cross from Khiva to Dashogus in a few days.

I read in another forum that a guy slept between the Uzbek and Turkmen borders. Does anyone know how this works??

Thanks!

[steven]

Just arrive late enough, I guess. I have heard of ppl sleeping at either border, but not in between yet!

[Pubung]

Hi, thanks for the answer!
So, we already crossed it the standard way and I cannot imagine how could someone sleep between the borders.
When you get out from Uzbekistan there are already guards from Turkmenistan exactly on the exit waiting for you. You can't even walk your way to the turkmen border, you must wait for the minibus.
So, maybe its possible when the turkmen border is closed, as you said? But would the uzbek guards let you out if the turkmen border is closed? From my experience I would say its impossible.
How does it work to sleep in the border anyway? I'm curious. Is it after or before having the exit stamp? And where exactly do you sleep??

[steven]

I already found it a very strange question. I don't know how it would work to sleep at the border, but apparently, people who came after the border was closed could put their tent next to the border station and cross early morning the next day.

[judefoon]

I imagine this could be useful for cyclists wanting to minimise their time crossing the border for the Turkmen Transit visa. So instead of having to go through two possibly lengthy border procedures you could just pitch your tent in 'non mans land' (like you can between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and then only have to go through the Turkmen border in the morning. This transit visa is tough on cyclists trying to ride the whole way.

[Myers3000]

We took the Konya Urgench to Nukus border crossing.

I'd recommend it, it's empty. We were the only people crossing the border, it took a few minutes.

However, there is no way you can sleep between the borders. There isn't a place to pitch up a tent, just a road bordered by fences. If you pitched up, you would block cars.

...and I imagine the guards simply wouldn't let you do it.

So to put it simply...please don't plan on doing this.

[eurasiaoverland]

I travel with my own car and frequently sleep between borders. It's a matter of explaining your situation to the border guards (obviously some language skills help). For example, this June I wished to maximise my time in Turkmenistan by being the first at the border to enter in the morning. So I was stamped out of Kazakhstan and then wandered into no-man's land and parked up ready to sleep. The Kazakh border guards then came over and wondered what the hell I was doing. I explained that my Turkmenistan visa started the following day and they advised me to sleep next to the border termnial. They even brought me a plate of shashlik and cold water later that evening - a real blessing for anyone in Karabogaz in the middle of summer!