Turkmenistan

Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan. This is the Darvaza Gas Crater, aka the "Gates of Hell". This large flaming crater is probably Turkmenistan's best-known tourist attraction but there's so much more to this country. Known as a kind of 'benevolent North Korea' to some, the present day ex-Soviet government can be heavy-handed and a little rough on human rights, but there are positives here too. A solid economy thanks to natural gas reserves (see above photo), good health care, education, and sports programs (for most), and one of the most stunning capital cities on earth make Turkmenistan an interesting place to visit and not such a hellish place to live. As long as you don't stray too far out of line. Back to the flaming crater: this is the lingering result of a Soviet mining accident back in 1971, when a large section of earth collapsed and released natural gas out of the resulting hole. The gas was killing everything within miles of this crater so Soviet engineers went up to the top of a distant hill, set a few tires on fire, and rolled them down the hill toward the crater. Bah-whammm!! Instant flaming gas crater. The idea was that the gas would burn off quickly and that would be that. 50 years later it's still burning (quite hot, too), and Turkmenistan has a tourist attraction.

Above: This is a view down one of the main boulevards through Ashgabat. Looks like just a row of painted white buildings, right? Nope - every one of these structures, and all buildings downtown, are covered 100% in imported white Italian marble, and trimmed out in gold (in some cases real gold). Unbelievably expensive, it is very impressive close-up. Why go to all this trouble? We were told "the President likes the look of white Italian marble". Case closed!

Note the lack of traffic; this is about as crowded as it gets. And most of those brand new buildings are very empty.

Right : To showcase all that wealth you need some whimsical projects. Behold the world's largest indoor ferris wheel. And of course it's finished in Italian marble.

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. This country is seriously rich. No wonder: it has the 4th largest reserves of natural gas in the world and a population of only a few million. Unfortunately, not much of the $$$ seems to make it past the top government officials. But all that wealth makes for some interesting and impressive public works projects.

The capital city of Ashgabat would be a great study for students of architecture and engineering. Most cities start small and grow bit by bit, in a haphazard way. When you can design your city all at once from the ground up as with Ashgabat, you can get the infrastructure laid out correctly the first time, put buildings in their optimal locations, and even make sure everything matches architecturally.

I thought one of the more imaginative architectural touches was in designing each of the government ministry buildings to represent what their purpose was. Top to bottom we have the Ministry of Oil (shaped like a drilling rig), the Treasury building (a stack of coins), the National Library (an open book), and the Ministry of Health (supposedly a needle going into skin. Ug).

We got to spend a lot of time mingling with the locals as they went about their daily lives. Some spoke a little English; all spoke Russian and a tribal language or two, but communication never seemed to be much of a problem. They're a good-looking people with a fine sense of style.

Turkmenistan is well known to horse aficionados for their famous Akhal-Teke breed. They're so famous that I'd never heard of the breed before this trip, but I came to really like these animals for their speed, feistiness, and good looks. Their coats are so shiny they're sometimes described as "metallic".

Above: A fine example of "feisty".

Left: Why the long face? An Akhal-Teke and his young trainer.

Right: Senior trainer with a fine head of hair. Actually, it's a traditional "telpek" hat, made of sheepskin. And they really do wear them; it's not just a show for the few tourists!

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Despite being from Kentucky, horse racing was never my thing. But it's a huge part of the local culture here and they take their racing seriously. So much so that the President even comes out and gives it a go every once in a while. And he always wins. Or else. We were told of an episode a few years back when the prez was racing (and winning of course) and he fell off his horse in the home stretch. The other racers didn't know what to do! No one was going to pass him. Eventually they had to, and that was the first and only race the president ever lost.

There's some great people-watching potential at the horse races.

Above: Tribal elders get their own front row VIP seating. A few spoke some English and seemed to enjoy testing it out on us, much to our delight and occasional confusion.

Right: Wrapped up in patriotism. The five graphics on the flag represent each of the main tribal groups in Turkmenistan.

Bottom: At the races, college-age women all dress in red robes; men dress in black suits.

Most of the locals were as interested in us as we were in them. They don't get a whole lot of western tourists around here!

Despite the positives, Turkmenistan is still considered to be a highly repressive country by most international watchdog agencies. It's often compared to North Korea in certain ways. Here are two of them: the "cult of personality" built around the president, whose smiling face is seen on billboards like this all over the country, on portraits in every building and on statues in most cities. The other is the sense of noble history and divine destiny (real or imagined), conveyed by grand monuments like this one in Ashgabat.

Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan. If you're looking for an uncrowded vacation destination this may be the place for you. Turkmenbashi is being built from scratch along a deserted stretch of the Caspian Sea coastline. Just like the city of Ashgabat it's being built in high style out of imported Italian marble. And also like Ashgabat, construction is going on everywhere but it's mostly empty. The strategy seems to be "If you build it they will come". They hope.

Did I mention the Caspian Sea is freezing cold and full of sea snakes?

Our brand-new beachfront hotel. Very nice but completely empty except for us.

The main access road. Look both ways before crossing!

We had no idea what this place was about but we didn't stick around to find out.