We had a long driving day to make up for the delays with the ferry as we were going 600km (usually split by a bush camp) to Ashgabat. We made it to Ashgabat for tea time and everyone was very thankful to get to the very nice 5 star Grand Turkmen hotel. With a view over the city from the balcony I knew Ashgabat was something very different. The whole city was flattened by an earthquake in the 1940's so the old president very sensibly decided to rebuild the entire city centre in white marble government buildings. It was like a ghost town. The only people on the streets were soldiers telling you not to take photos and instructing you on which side of the road to walk on. It felt like there was someone watching you at all times.
We had a full day to explore and it started with a trip to the Sunday market which was huge and placed in the middle of the desert. There were camels everywhere and a large section selling clothes and assorted rubbish that you would never need. Myself and Alice had a hard time trying to find an affordable shawl and in the end gave up due to communication problems and all prices being too high. It was only later that we realised that they were giving us prices in old manat which was 5 times the price of new manat which was the currency they were trading in!
In the afternoon I wandered the city and got the lift up the arch of Neutrality. This is the only place in the city where you can take photos of the government buildings and not be stopped. There is a tacky statue on the top on the old president which rotates to always face the sun. At night the arch is lit up like some thing from Blackpool! There is an 11pm curfew in the city, after which there is a high chance of you getting arrested so we had dinner and a few drinks in a British pub. I was trying to be adventurous and order “sausages with fire” not really knowing if it was just a bad menu translation. It wasn't the sausages really were on fire. Very exciting!
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