Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Have you ever played SimCity? Then you can imagine how downtown Asghabat looks like! Everything is brand new, clean and empty (built with petrol dollars according to Turkmenbashi's plans - mostly by French companies). But there are some features which SimCity doesn't have. For example the dozens of golden (real gold) Statues of Turkembashi (the former president) or the Walk of health (35 km of concrete stairs built into the mountains south of the city...). Once you leave downtown you come to "normal" Turkmenistan where everything looks quite different. One thing every location has in common is that it's incredibly hot - it's a desert! We had a great time with Daniel & Greg, two Polish guys we met while applying for the Turkment visa (that's the good thing about waiting for visas...).

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan