1st July 2006 - Ashgabat
I remember the sign I once had on my wall at Harcourt & Co, "Six munce ago I coldnt evin spel salesmin, now I is one." Six months ago I didn't even know where Ashgabat was, now we're here!
I'm not sure what I expected to find. I knew it was a predominantly Muslim country: I knew it was part of the old USSR, and smack in the middle of one of the worlds harshest deserts, so I supose I had imagined a hot dry desert town in the middle of nowhere. Hot and dry and in the middle of nowhere, yes, but small desert town, no. Ashgabat is more like Singapore, without the crowds than the forgotten colonial outpost totally destroyed by an earthquake in 1948 and then 'closed' by Russia' for more than a decade whilst it was rebuilt. Then with independance in 1991 and an influx of investment capital from other oil rich states, white marble clad hotels, appartment blocks and commercial buildings spring up like mushrooms from amid the 1950s Russian colonial architecture. Fountain lined streets and tree filled parks abound and wide boullevards now trickle out from its centre. There is no income tax (only a small superannuation contribution), there is free water and gas piped to each home and thanks to a two year compolsory military service period, full employment to follow tertiary education.
I know all this is just first impression and a very skin deep analysis: and I know that tomorrow we will be back in the Karakam desert and meeting the undeucated nomadic face of Turkmenistan so - watch this space!! Meantime, back to the hotel pool!!!
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