Ashgabat: City of White and (Solid) Gold

We are in the capital city of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat. Yesterday we spent 3 hours crossing the border: showing our passport (a total of 11 times at different checkpoints); waiting for a bus across no-man’s land along with several locals(?) with about 10 boxes each; getting a very cursory COVID test; waiting for visas to be issued onsite; sending our luggage through x-ray machines; and eventually walking to a bus that took us to the airport for a short evening flight (50 minutes) from the north to the capital city of Ashgabat. By the time we arrived at our hotel they had our dinner waiting—at 10 pm.

Turkmenistan is a wealthy country, with rich oil and natural gas reserves, along with other natural resources like lithium. We were told the country is the 4th largest natural gas producer in the world. Currently, it costs about $9.25 USD to fill the average car’s gas tank.

The country’s first president served for 15 years before he died. The second president stepped down after 15 years. His son was elected president, but his father, the former president, is now prime minister and leader of the country.

Some time after independence in 1991, the country’s leaders began transforming the look of the capital city using Italian marble. It is in the Guinness book of World Records (2013) as the city with the highest density of white marble-clad buildings in the world. Four years ago, the current president declared that all vehicles driving in Ashgabat must be white or light-colored(!). The president drives his own car past our hotel to work every day. But since he drives around 4 or 5 am, we missed seeing his entourage.

Today’s sights included:

The ruins of a former mosque and royal residence, built at end of 14th century. It was destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 1948–9 on the Richter scale—that killed 2/3 of the population.

A horse breeding farm, with award-winning horses—for “beauty,” as well as for dressage.

A market—the Russian Bazaar, named because historically the Russian army would trade with the locals here.

The National Museum of History and Ethnography, with the country’s history dating from the Stone Age. There they also have a giant silk carpet woven by 38 women for the 5-year anniversary of independence. Incredibly , it took only six months to complete, and it is 42 ft high by 67 ft wide. It weighs 1 ton.

Siesta time included a swim in the hotel’s pool for some, and nap-time for others. We brought cards and dice Catan, but all over Central Asia, playing cards and dice are banned as gambling. We were scolded by a hotel security officer on one of our first days when we tried to play a game at a table in the lobby.

Dinner was at a family-run hotel, where they had a number of our group (not us) dress up as members of a wedding party (including bride and groom), and learn about arranged marriage traditions. It was both educational and hilariously fun!

We wrapped up the day with a driving tour of Ashgabat by night—they love neon, especially color-changing lights, on their buildings, fountains and monuments.Læs mere