Ashgabat looks like a land of fantasy, the city is very beautiful and is so white.

The roads are wide and clean. Almost all of the buildings in the city are marble white tower blocks and there are parks, statues, fountains all over the city. People from Turkmenistan has all different kinds of look, Asian, Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Hispanics, Indians, gypsies… Everyone can blend into the Turkmen’s look and all the ladies here wear very colorful traditional dress.

Ashgabat is also a weird city. There are police everywhere, standing at almost every corner and there are many people cleaning the street everywhere.

Most while marble buildings are empty and the street is very quiet. The city looks a little fake and as if the city is built for staging some film productions.

There are no ATMs in Turkmenistan that takes international card. Took a bus to Senagat Bank, south of Ashgabat to get some cash. Even though I was charged 3% on withdrawal, I was glad to be able to get cash advances because I was low on cash and money changers don’t want my old USD bills.
Next to the bank is Yimpas department store. This is the largest mall in Ashgabat.

Took another bus to futher south to Berzengi.

Independence Park

More marble white tower blocks

Independence park.

A big fountain.

Bus station beside Tekke Bazaar

Russian Bazaar

Arch of Neutrality (The previous president’s gold statue will rotate with the sun)

Another square.

Another fountain

Ex President Niyasov statue again

Again

Plov (Rice) with Chicken for dinner

British Pub.

Beer is quite expensive in Turkmenistan, I paid 24 manat ~USD$8 for a beer. Vodka is much cheaper, around USD$2-3 a bottle.
Had to climb over the door to get back to the homestay because I got back late and the door was locked.

In 1948, Ashgabat was hit by a big earthquake. 2/3 of the population died and the city was destroyed. The city was completely rebuilt after that. From what I read before getting to the country, Turkmenistan is pretty isolated and the former president Niyasov is obsessed with himself. He built a giant statue of himself rotating with the sun and wrote a handbook called Ruhnama which is a compulsory reading for everyone. There are many gold statues and portrait of him in the city.
Internet is expensive here so not many people have email address.

Turkmenistan is a net exporter of energy and ranks 4th in the world for natural gas reserves. The country has a huge oil reserves as well. Electricity, natural gas, water and salt are subsidized by the government so it’s free. Oil is pretty cheap and it’s around 15 cents for a liter of petrol. I heard that around 5 years ago, oil is almost free.

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