Turkmenistan

After leaving Khiva, Uzbekistan on our travels along the Silk Road, we entered Turkmenistan, a country that dates back to the 6th century BC when it was part of the Persian Empire. Much later in 1881, it became part of the Russian Empire until its independence in 1991. Turkmenistan now days, is a republic of over 6 million mostly Islamic people, and known for its authoritarian government that has turned it into an upper-middle-income country.

Street in the white city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashgabat, known as the ‘white city’. And once we were there, we could see why, as all buildings are white. But first we had to get into the country, and that proved to be time consuming, demanding and expensive. Turkmenistan is one of only two countries in Central Asia where New Zealanders require a visa (the other is Azerbaijan). But to get a tourist visa, we were required to have a Letter of Invitation (LOI) from a registered travel agent in Turkmenistan.

Najm al-Din Kubra Mausoleum, Kunya–Urgench (UNESCO), Turkmenistan

So before leaving home, we found a travel agent which was the excellent Yorga Travel, received our LOI, and secured our visa. Then from Khiva, we arrived at the Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan border where we met a co-traveller Luis, and our guide Eziz from Yorga Travel. Next, we went through the laborious process of queuing, taking a PCR test, signing about ten bits of paper all in triplicate, and paying a rather large sum of US dollars. About 4-hours later, we finally made it through into Turkmenistan.

Timur Qutlugh Minaret and Tekesh Mausoleum, Kunya–Urgench (UNESCO), Turkmenistan

Now with our guide, the first stop was the ancient city ruins of Kunya–Urgench, a UNESCO site in the far north of the country on the old Silk Road. The site was once the ancient fortified capital of the Khorezm empire, and the ruins there have been dated from the 11th to 16th century. We drove around this large site seeing a number of well-preserved monuments, including a mosque, the gates of a caravanserai, fortresses, mausoleums, and a 60-m high minaret which is the highest in Central Asia.

The 70-m wide and 30-m deep Darvaza Crater, Turkmenistan

Leaving there, we had several hours on an atrocious road through the desert to the gates of hell, aka the Darvaza Crater. The crater was created by the Soviets in 1971 when geologists accidently found an underground cave filled with natural gas. They set fire to it expecting it to quickly burn out, but it is still burning decades later. Much of Turkmenistan’s wealth comes from the desert’s reserves of gas, such as in this crater.

Our yurt in the desert at Darvaza Crater, Turkmenistan

That night, we slept near the crater in a yurt. A yurt is a transportable round tent used by nomadic groups in Central and Inner Asia. It has a flexible wood or bamboo frame that acts as the supporting poles and rafters, and is covered with felt or skins. The walls and floor inside ours were decorated with oriental rugs, and we slept on the floor/ground on simple padded mats. We did manage a little sleep, but a hike to the long-drop toilet up the sandy hill of the desert at night was quite an experience!

The white city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

The next day, we drove for hours on another atrocious road through the desert to the capital Ashgabat, which is in the south of the country near the border with Iran. Ashgabat began as a Silk Road village in the 2nd century BC. Much later in 1948 as a Russian city, it was flattened by a devastating earthquake. Since then, Ashgabat has risen from the earthquake ashes, and been extensively re-built in white marble - the most marble city in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The white city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Ashgabat is absolutely dazzling, both visually and conceptually. With a population of over 1 million (2022), Ashgabat now consists of many beautiful parks and monuments, European-style wide boulevards, large underpasses, a modern transport system, decent infrastructure, mostly white cars, and an army of people who keep the city beautifully clean and green.

Our hotel, the Bagt Koshgi Wedding Palace, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

We stayed in an architecturally remarkable hotel called Bagt Koshgi, aka The Wedding Palace. We saw some big wedding parties there and were told about the importance of weddings and why they are so large and expensive in Turkmenistan – it is because family is so important and the wedding reflects the continuation of the family. The Turkmen people, we were told, are very superstitious and there are many rituals surrounding the marriage process. Arranged marriages are not uncommon here.

Top: Independence Monument; Halk Hakydasy Memorial. Below: Ertugrul Gazi Mosque; Ashgabat Circus, Turkmenistan

While in Ashgabat, we visited many sights including the 118-m high Monument of Independence which is surrounded by sculptures of philosophers and poets of Turkmenistan; the Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex built to honour people killed in the Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881, World War II, and the 1948 earthquake; the Ertugrul Gazi Mosque; Ashgabat Circus, a permanent circus seating 1700 people; the Park of Inspiration, and much more.

Monuments: Neutrality and Gold Horse, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

We also saw the Monument of Neutrality, a 75 m high rocket-like tower topped with a statue of Turkmenistan’s past-president Niyazov. He is known to have suppressed many public freedoms and was seen as a dictator – even now, there are limitations on the internet and social media. However, it was during his time as president, that Ashgabat became the stunning marble city that we saw, albeit at a huge public cost. We saw too, a huge monument to Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow the immediate past president, showing him on a horse and covered in 24-carat gold leaf.

Leigh on a Akhal-Teke horse, Geokdepe, Turkmenistan

The horse in the statue is Turkmenistan’s famous Akhal-Teke horse, a breed unique to the country that is known for its speed, endurance, and intelligence. We visited the Geokdepe Equestrian Centre to see some, and after instruction on how to get close to the horse, Marg fed one a carrot and Leigh got up for a ride. These are expensive horses but with three men handling the horse, not much was going to go wrong! After that, we drove to the Chuli Valley west of Ashgabat and had dinner in a bubble – a round see-through dining room in a garden that is lit up at night. Great fun.

Museum guide, Leigh, Marg & Luis at the National Carpet Museum, Turkmenistan

This mostly Islamic country has a lot of fascinating sights and we took several day tours out of Ashgabat into surrounding areas. One of the most interesting was to the National Carpet Museum where we learned about the art of traditional Turkmen carpet making which has received UNESCO recognition for its ‘intangible cultural heritage’. We also visited the Museum of Wheat, the only wheat museum in the world.

Top: Wheat Museum, Seyit Jemaletdin ruins. Below: Ruins of Nisa (UNESCO) and bricks of Abiward, Turkmenistan.

The museum is shaped like a sheaf of wheat, and inside we saw ancient wheat grains, ceramics, tools, tableware and such. Next was a visit to Seyit Jemaletdin where we saw the ruins of an ancient Timurid-era mosque built in 1456. Then we went to Old Nisa, an ancient settlement of the Parthians dating back to the 3rd century BC and which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The next morning, we drove to see the ruins of Abiward, created by the rulers of ancient Iran between the 8th and 12th centuries.

Our cognac in Turkmenistan

By this time, we had lost our Portuguese travelling companion Luis, and gained another, a Belgian woman named Ebru. To celebrate, our guide shouted us a very large and delicious meal of grilled meat and salads, and a bottle of cognac which we really appreciated! We had enjoyed a lot of traditional foods on this tour, such as meat and vegetable soup, plov (rice with mutton, veges and herbs), manty (steamed lamb dumplings), Ichlekli (meat and onion pie), and gutap (meat, potato, spinach and pumpkin pie) – yum.

The library at Mary, Turkmenistan

From the south-centre of Turkmenistan, we headed east to the city of Mary which was once an oasis in the Karakum Desert. These days, it is the fourth-largest city in Turkmenistan, and a centre for the natural gas and cotton industries. We had a night-time city tour of Mary, seeing many buildings lit up, and the next morning visited the amazing Mary Library, including its dome where they had an observatory.

Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum, Merv ruins (UNESCO), Mary, Turkmenistan

After that, we drove to see the ruins of the ancient city of Merv, once one the world’s largest cities and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Merv was destroyed by the son of Genghis Khan in 1221. Although it was re-built in the 15th century, it never re-gained its prosperity, and eventually fell into ruin. We saw some buildings that had been restored, and others that hadn’t. It was very interesting.

Roadside camels, Turkmenistan

The next morning, we drove east through the Repetek Biosphere Reserve, a desert and UNESCO site, to reach the city of Turkmenabad. Driving through the desert we saw many camels, and apparently, they run loose during the day, and find their way home to their owners at night. Then as we neared Turkmenabad, we learned that the government had cancelled all hotel bookings in order to accommodate government people for a meeting. So, we had nowhere to stay. But our guide, with a huge effort, did find us a good hotel eventually, although it cost us another USD50!

Women's clothing examples, Turkmenistan

Throughout our trip in Turkmenistan, we noted the clothing worn by the locals. Although largely Islamic, Turkmenistan seems to be more relaxed about the practice of Islam, and while the women we saw were mostly encased neck to ankle and with colourful head scarves, the men wore western-style pants, shirt, and jacket but with a small round cap. Young women wear green or red to school or university, and the boys wear black pants and a white shirt, with a black tie.

The museum in Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan

Eventually it was time to leave Turkmenabad city and Turkmenistan. We’d had a fabulous tour, met some lovely people, seen some interesting sights, and learned more about this country that is so different to our own. So after a night in Turkmenabad, we were taken to the southern Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan border, made an easy border crossing, then travelled across Uzbekistan to get to Tajikistan. But we’ll write about Tajikistan in the next blog.

This blog is one in a series about our travels along the Silk Road of Central Asia.