A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan by TravelPod blogger Ware_daniel titled "No Turkmen-Bashing!!"
Ware_daniel's travel blog entry:
""
Greetings from wonderful
Turkmenistan!"
"Where on earth is Turkmenistan!?!"
"Oh,
It's just next to
Uzbekistan"
"
Thanks, Dan" (sarcastically, eyes rolling).
So, today I made my way to the even more elusive and off-the-beaten-path country of Turkmenistan. Considering the country is 80% covered by the
Kara Kum desert, I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that it is even hotter here than it was in Uzbekistan.
Today, the temperature reached about 55 degrees
Celsius. Our local guide informed us that when we reach
Ashgabat in the south, the daytime temperatures in direct sun can reach 70 degrees Celsius, which converts to 167 degrees
Fahrenheit.
I'll believe it when I see it, or feel it rather. It seems a bit too hot for me to believe, but I'll definitely report from Ashgabat to let you know.
What stands out about Turkmenistan? Their previous leader, who died just 3 years ago, was a 'slightly' maniacal authoritarian guy by the name of Turkmenbashy (which translates as leader of the Turkmen). He spent billions of dollars building the country into a giant monument to himself.
The end product is a strange mixture between the gaudy facades of
Las Vegas and the exaggerated monumental architecture of
North Korea.
Nearly all buildings are white marble and gold. Turkmenbashy was anointed as the leader of the state party of Turkmenistan during the
Soviet era by none other than
Gorbachev, largely because Turkmenbashy's wife and
Gorbachev's wife were close friends. When the
Soviet Union collapsed, Turkmenbashy became the clear, decisive leader, his wife fled back to
Russia, and the era of
Totalitarian 'democracy' began. Turkmenbashy wrote a book titled Ruhnama, which served as a 'spiritual guide' for the people of Turkmenistan. All citizens were required to buy the book, read it, study, and live accordingly. The cost of the book was 50,
000 Manat. Our guide told us a funny story about the book: There was a local satirist who often wrote things that were critical of the government.
Obviously, he died of natural causes shortly afterwords. However, three years after he died, Turkmenbashy himself died of a heart attack. At that
point, the satirist appeared in a dream to his wife asking for her to send him 50,000 manat. She woke from the dream really confused and told one of her friends about it, asking what it could mean. They couldn't figure it out. The next night, he again appeared in her dream, asking for 50,000 manat. This time, she asked "why?" He responded, "Well, Turkmenbashy is here now and he's making everyone buy his book."
Another interesting thing Turkmenbashy did: He wanted people to be healthy and exercise, so he built a stairway/pathway to the top of a local mountain (more of a big hill). The trail was
8 km long. In order to make sure Turkmenbashy was satisfied, the ministers of his government rounded up local people every Sunday and forced them to walk to the top. Turkmenbashy was so happy with the popularity of this trail, he built another on 25 km long. Still, the ministers forced people to hike it every Sunday.
Finally, Turkmenbashy decided he wanted his entire government to hick to the top themselves. He met them at the top via helicopter to thank them. Many people have actually died on these hikes. Several years ago, a university professor of agriculture was informed that he would have to make the hike. He appealed to the government to be excused because he had a weak heart and was afraid it would kill him. The response was that there is no way out, if he died on the mountain then he would die for his leader.
Sure enough, he made the hike, had a heart attack on the way and died as a result. All for the glory of their leader. Though he believed he would be the eternal leader, and that he was infallible, Turmenbashy died of a heart attack three years ago. His health minister was present, and supposedly refused to allow any of his doctors to assist him.
Guess who became leader after his death? The health minister!! He's been in power for 3 years now, and all
..."
Read and see more at:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ware_daniel/1/1278866525/tpod
.html
Photos from this trip:
1. "Kunya-
Urgench, Turkmenistan"
2. "
Minaret, Kunya- Urgench, Turkmenistan"
3. "
Caravanserai, Kunya- Urgench, Turkmenistan"
4. "
Pizza!
Dashoguz, Turkmenistan"
5. "
Dashoguz Airport with president's image."
6. "
City gates of Dashoguz, Turkmenistan"
See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0126-fc88-386b?ytv4=1
- published: 02 Apr 2011
- views: 608