Turkmenistan

I'll just stick to the highlights (there are only a few) in my post about Turkmenistan. I crossed the border on the morning of July 2. It took 3 hours total - 15 minutes on the Uzbek side and 2 hours and 45 minutes in Turkmenistan.

I spent 3 days total in the capital city of Ashgabat, a brand new city of white marble, that is supposed to display the greatness of Turkmenbashi (father of Turkmen, founder of Turkmenistan, first president of Turkmenistan, Saparmyat Niyazov) and the golden age of Turkmenistan. There are huge white marble palaces and buildings everywhere almost all built within the last ten years, but there was something missing, the people! You just didn't see people around unless they were watering a garden, cleaning a fountain or sweeping the street. The best monument in Ashgabat was the Arch of Neutrality. It was erected to honor the unanimous decision by all citizens of Turkmenistan to adopt a position of neutrality in matters of foreign affairs. Its topped by a 12m tall gold statue of Turkmenbashi that follows the sun throughout the day.

I thought the personality cult of Turkmenbashi was a little overhyped. There are definitely a bunch of statues of him and buildings and streets bearing his name, but I was expecting it to be over the top with daily parades celebrating his life. However, I did like the amusement park he had built, Turkmenbashi's Land of Fairytales. The new president Gurbanguly Berkimesomething (rumored to be Turkmenbashi's illegitimate son) definitely is following his predescessor's lead. There are pictures of the guy everywhere, but he has yet to put up any statues or anything.

The Gas Crater in the middle of the Karakom Desert is by far the highlight of traveling through Turkmenistan. It's a huge crater in the middle of nowhere that is on fire. The story is that the Soviets were drilling for gas when all of a sudden the earth gave out from under them and this huge crater formed then caught on fire and it still burns today. Only in Turkmenistan is it even fathomable that there is a crater full of fire in the middle of the desert 100 km away from the nearest sign of civilization. That night we went to a truckstop for some food (the worst I've had on this trip) then slept in a yurt in the Karakom Desert. The pictures below do not do the Gas Crater justice.

While I enjoyed my week in Turkmenistan, in my opinion, the only reason to travel through the country is to see the Gas Crater, experience the weirdness of the cult of Turkmenbashi and the city of Ashgabat and just to say you've been to Turkmenistan (which I can).