Day 53. Ashgabat. Turkmenistan

We have had a lovely morning sightseeing with our guide. We began with quick spin around the immediate area looking at the government buildings which along with virtually every  building in Ashgabat finished in white marble from Italy. I have never seen anything quite like this place, it is worth coming to just for the novelty of it.

Ministry of Education building, shaped like a book!

On top of the Ministry of peace building 

Ministry of Foreign affairs 

The above picture is an enclosed ferris wheel

 Our appointment at the museum was at 9, it is not open today but they arranged a special tour just for us!  A lovely young lady escorted us around and explained many of the artifacts and local history. One thing I liked was on the wall were photographs of many archaeologists from around the world who have come here to work and to contribute to this amazing collection, nice to see the acknowledgement of many years of commitment. 

Looking at the diversity of the collections emphasizes the importance of the silk road not only for trade but for bringing together people of different cultures and religions. 

Our next stop was high on a hill to visit the site of an ancient fort where many of the exhibits in the museum came from. Very interesting as we were accompanied by a man who has seen much of the excavation work first hand and has documented much of it. Slowly there is restoration work going on and it was interesting to see how they combine the original components with the new. The heat already is close to 40 and we are wilting.

Fortunately the next two stops were mosques and very impressive too. The first was very large said to accommodate 10,000 people! The carpet was certainly impressive.

The second visit was to a smaller one only 3500 people in this one, but the style was distinctly different as it was a gift to Turkmenistan from Turkey and the materials used largely came from there.

We visited a local market where we bought some snacks for our journey tomorrow. Then to a mall for lunch. Although there are few tourists here the interest in us from locals is not the same as in Iran.

Finally we visited a park full of statues and fountains. They are really big on these things here. Once again the places were deserted except for the armed ceremonial soldiers who guard every site, from who I do not know.
 It is not tourist season here, it is just too hot. Only stupid Kiwis on a motorbike.

This place is very interesting, once again 95% of the cars are white but apparently this is by choice.
The president seems to be very well liked and respected.
Ordinary people pay little or no tax, they pay little for gas and electricity and have subsidised housing.
So what is the price for this?

I’m not sure but it seems to my eyes to be clinically ordered, the university students are dressed in uniforms for example. The internet is tightly controlled and censored. Political dissension is not tolerated. There are policemen everywhere hauling in cars for various infringements. You certainly cannot park in the wrong place here!
We were not allowed to take photos anywhere near the presidential palace ( which is huge).

But for all that it is a peaceful country and has declared itself neutral, which has been ratified by UN.
People on the surface at least seem happy and private enterprise is evident everywhere, albeit only to a certain level as the government controls most of the big infrastructure and the business associated with it.
There are many examples of cooperation with businesses from other countries, numerous building projects have been and are being built by French companies. Petrochemical projects are happening by partnering with the Japanese.

Mark making up for a week without alcohol 

I think we are both a little apprehensive about being on the bike tomorrow in this heat, we have to travel 360km. The predicted temperature is 42 degrees. We have decided to begin at 6 to try to mitigate some of it. Also this is the last of the internet until we get to Uzbekistan.