Left to our own devices in Ashgabat

We had managed to extend our tour an extra day so that we would get 24 hours to ourselves in Ashgabat after our breakneck tour to explore by ourselves. (Pretty rare since you need to be accompanied by a guide anywhere else in the country). So after a meal and a nap we headed out for a walk and were pleased to discover that normal people do actually live in Turkmenistan, but unsurprisingly don't hang out at the monuments, and not everywhere is made of marble, although it is nearly everywhere.

Lots of relatively normal Soviet style housing, and loads of people on the streets - we went past a wedding, and there was a fair happening in the park with loads of families. Wandered around and ended up finding an English pub, so had a pretty decent pint and a solid meal in oddly familiar surroundings.

Next day we headed out in the morning and tried to go to the National History Museum, but found a tour group standing outside looking confused and it turned out it wasn't opening for Earthquake Memorial Day. So instead we went for a wander and enjoyed more completely empty streets and discovered how taxis work in Turkmenistan (the principle is, "every car is a taxi.") We flagged them down on the street and only ever waited about 30 seconds. All very friendly, and our taxi back to the hotel then refused to let us give him any money - I suppose he probably doesn't get to drive confused English tourists around very often.

We admired the architectural diversity in a long street of marble residential blocks, were pleased to find the gold statue of Niyazov, and celebrated with ice cream at the weirdest shaped and emptiest shopping centre we've ever been to, before heading back to the hotel for our next leg.Read more