The final of the stans for this trip .After passing through the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistatan is obvious that it is gong to be quite different from the other stans .Its getting hotter very hot and the sites we see are not the well restored mosques and minarets of Uzbekistan but empty spaces which you have to fill with a lot of imagination .
intersting facts about Turkmenistan
Capital Asgabat .this city is weird ........where are the people .The city wass rebuilt after an earthquake destroyed it in 1948 .after 1991 and independence from USSR the new president decided it was going to be a showplace ,so huge marble edifices have sprung up everywhere .Lavish buildings with fountains and surreal lighting in the evening .........but there are no people no one can afford to live there ....
this is a country where a haircut cost more than a air ticket to fly from the north to the south .[haircut was USD3]
A country where statues of the late president preside over every town and hamlet .....some gold leafed some gold painted ...THE statue at the main square in Ashgabat is particularly interesting as it it gold leafand it revolves to follow the sun each day
it has the biggest mosque in the world ........of course it is empty.
It has the largest carpet in the world
it has the most interesting sunday market I have seen on this trip [yes there we saw people]
Historically Turkmenistan is very intersting and we did spend 5 hours crossing a desert to see the ancient city of Merv one of the major old cities on the silk road .Next day we crossed back over the desert wondering why we were not taking advantage of the cheap air fares .
The whole country seems out of balance somhow and considering they are sitting on some of the largest oil reseves in the world I would say in the future watch this space on the world map something has to happen here
