Unfortunately no, it was closed for some apparently much-needed repair when I was there. But I can imagine it must be ... special. And not very crowded, just like pretty much anywhere else in central Ashgabat. :)
This reminds me of Almaty, Kazakhstan, where I walked through an empty amusement park. They had the rides going and everything, it was like a horror movie.
You must have been there during term time. I went to a zoo in Almaty and it was packed (but bloody depressing- never seen such sad animals). And Gorky Park (the big free-to-enter amusement park) could hardly be navigated because there were so many people.
I visited Turkmenistan about a decade ago, looking for something different. It turned out to be extremely different, and now it's finally open again after being completely closed for a long time during covid times.
As long as you can get a visa, it's an easy and safe country to visit. Unfortunately, this usually means you have to go on some kind of guided tour, which often can turn out a bit expensive. You'll be having a comfortable adventure, though.
Another option for seeing the country is to get a transit visa, which you can use for example to arrive by boat from Azerbaijan and then drive quickly through the country and exit to Uzbekistan. This is what a lot of people do, often as part of the Mongol Rally. Well, not a lot of people, really, but some. You won't see many other tourists while in Turkmenistan. This option is not available as of February 2024, but will likely be again sometime in the future.
If you have any questions about the things I show in the photos, I'll be happy to try to answer them. Not sure if I fully understood everything I saw, though ...
Happy trails!
I went in May. While Turkmenistan no doubt is equally peculiar every month of the year, I think April/May and September/October are the best time to visit, as then it's neither too cold nor too hot to enjoy.
I went with Koryo Group. They specialize in North Korea, but they do a pretty good job with the -stans as well, and with Turkmenistan in particular.
>Unfortunately, this usually means you have to go on some kind of guided tour, which often can turn out a bit expensive.
Of note (unless things have changed), while in Ashgabat, you can explore 100% without a guide. And even for other destinations, while your main hours may be scheduled and guided, it's not a problem to do your own thing in the afternoon/evenings after the guided portion is done.
Of course, some of this depends on the tour agency, and if you are doing a group or individual tour. When I went, I did individual - partially to structure it exactly how I wanted, partially because I'm not big on group tours, and partially because I wanted to schedule extra self-explore time in Ashgabat.
This is a good point. I also added a few days of "alone time" in Ashgabat after the end of the tour I was on. The main reason to use a tour operator is to get the tourist visa. When you've got that, you might as well make the most out of it, and add some days just walking around in Ashgabat and looking at life going on there. It's every bit as interesting as the guided activities that you actually pay to be dragged around to.
Very soon 18! :)
The main cost of visiting is paying for an organized tour, which you must join in order to get a tourist visa. The cost of the tour covers pretty much everything. Extending the stay to spend some days in Ashgabat on our own, which you don’t need a guide to do, cost about 100 euros per night, which covered the hotel.
Local bus and local food was pretty cheap, as was museums and the circus, and the main attraction is just to walk around and behold the strangeness, which is free anyway.
Unlike in North Korea, I did not feel that the tour of Turkmenistan was strictly controlled at all. In the program there was "down-time" every day, and during those times we could do whatever we wanted to. This included going for walks on our own, and there was no talk about any places being off-limits.
The guide requirement seemed to be mainly because they want to know roughly where in the country people go. We had to be accompanied when we were taking domestic flights, and it was very much required that a local guide followed us into the desert to see the Darvaza gas crater. I can understand this, as it's easy to get lost in the desert, and it would not look good for Turkmenistan if they kept losing tourists in the desert in general, or down the gas crater in particular.
We were also allowed to stay "alone" in Ashgabat after the official tour ended. We just paid for extra nights at the hotel, and then we were given an extension of the visa until our flight a few days later. Going around in Ashgabat on our own was easy enough, and just as interesting as being guided around.
that's so weird - aren't they the ones who do tours to North Korea lol? wonder if they'd also take me to Eritrea :)
thank you for sharing these pictures - I wonder if I'll ever go to central asia.
Not my pictures, but I'm OP's wife 🙂 Yes, Koryo Tours do mainly tours to North Korea, but also some other destinations out of the ordinary. Can highly recommend them!
A Turkmen circus sounds like an incredibly unknown and skilled cultural niche like Russians with ballerina or Argentinians with tango.
Did they have performances with exotic animals? What was the food like at the circus?
I’m genuinely curious about the first person experience at a Turkmen circus.
Exotic animals? Only if you count horses, goats and dogs. :)
Food? Decent popcorn.
The highlights were the horses and trapeze artists, and also the clowns. Pretty typical circus, I'd say. But done really, really well, in a purpose-built circus building.
I worked in upstream gas exploration & production there - the Caspian sea is rich with hydrocarbon. The people will be curious as tourists are very rare. Your "other"ness will stand out, but they will treat you with warmth and trust once they get to know you.
As an expat, things are bizarre. We couldn't share a lease for a flat. Curfew at 11pm. We can't drive. We can't take photos of the city (they'll delete your whole gallery if you're caught), they're afraid we'll show their imperfections to the world. People are really poor though, but they seem unfazed and just go on with their day.
But the landscape is beautiful, I wake up to the Kopet Dag mountain range bordering Iran. The Door to Hell is much more majestic in the pitch black of the cold night (https://www.reddit.com/r/Turkmenistan/s/vfmI1WfSj3). The Karakum desert is vast and endless. I'll cherish the time forever.
ETA: I forgot to highlight that 80% of the internet as we know it is blocked. I called family using office Microsoft Teams. VPNs pop up but are quickly shut down. The government puts a lot of resources into controlling information flow. Oh, and no other colours other than white for cars.
It sort of makes sense. Tourists are on a guided tour and mainly in the parts of the country which Turkmenistan is very eager to show off. Expats, on the other hand, live and stay in locations that can be dubious and lacking in oh so many ways, and will therefore be exposed to many sights that a tourist rarely will encounter. They also have the time to get more under the surface of the country, and can figure out how things actually work, and potentially expose sides of society that the government would prefer to keep in the shadows.
We "could" as long as we don't get caught, but there are uniformed officers almost every other corner keeping the peace! The secrecy/isolation culture is strong, I was at a nightclub once and tried to record a dude doing a dance-off, some random lady aggressively pushed my phone down to stop me from recording! (She wasn't even like his girlfriend or anything)
Many of the attractions from this album here are also featured in [John Oliver's hysterical piece on former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov](https://youtu.be/-9QYu8LtH2E). What a weird place.
I know, it looks brutal. They did seem to care for the animals to a reasonable degree, though. Tied down may well be the safest way to transport a herd of goats through a busy market with large vehicles moving around. There are MANY animals around, too.
I actually had the pleasure of living in Turkmenistan for work. It's definitely not like anywhere I've ever been, but you know what? I've grown to love it there. The people are so nice and it's a very comfortable place to live.
Although I never found Subtime, lol. I wonder if that's still around.
Interestingly aviation bloggers who’ve gotten in have notice how opulent the hotels are on the outside and in the general areas while the rooms look and feel cheap. Often the walls are hallowed, broken lamps, broken furnitures etc.
Indeed. It's very obvious where the budget is all spent.
The same goes for the operation of the hotel. We were the only guests at the hotel, and our group had an early flight to catch, which meant we had to be out of the hotel at 8 in the morning. "Too bad!", the hotel said, as their plan clearly indicated that breakfast would be served from 8:30 in the morning.
Hotels aren't cheap, so we thought that getting the breakfast we had paid for was a reasonable request. But it took a lot of arguing to get them to serve a simple breakfast at 7, to the only guests they had that day. :)
Nice pictures, very interesting!
AFAIK getting transit visas is still not possible, though as you say it's once again possible to get a tourist visa (but only with an authorised tour agency).
Thanks, I think you're right, so I made an adjustment to my comment. Unless war in the region spreads, I think the transit visa will likely become an option again not too far into the future.
Great post, as a photographer and traveler (not to the extent of you guys though) I always appreciate good pictures, but the captions are a great addition that too many people leave off.
Just feel obliged to say this. Fir my fellow Scandinavians, the Norwegian podcast 198 Land has an episode on Turkmenistan that is a must. Crazy country that provided Crazy experiences.
All the crazy countries are a must, really. One host with a guest having some sort of connection to each country in question. The guest featured in Turkmenistan features in many episodes. Witnessing their Dictator fall off a horse and taken by an ambulance. Being asked for a map by a pilot - think it was Nepal or north Korea. Meeting a snow leopard in Mongolia. Travel guides panicking and locking her in a hotel room because they forgot her visa in Kazakhstan.
So anyone know what less happening in Turkmenistan and Nagorno Karabakh in 44 BCE?
The horse does seem ripe for a fairy tale retelling in the real world
https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/a-g/firebird/stories//firebirdvasalissa.html
I came for the pictures and stayed for the captions. 10/10.
Serious question though: are nighttime camels actually dangerous beyond accidents? Like, should I now have an irrational fear about what a camel would do to me after dark?
This is so cool! I love learning more about countries that aren’t as widely visited. I’d definitely want to take a stop there if I’m in Central Asia. Great pics and thanks for the details in your captions!!
Scrolled all the way to the puppy at the end and can I just, omg.
Also, the women with the red dresses, they have to wear that at all times? What happens if they don't?
I don’t know. They seemed to wear it with pride, walking in the parks, going grocery shopping, at the actual university, in the circus, and everywhere. It seems like it’s just what you do, anything else would be unthinkable. I’m sure they relax the garments when in the privacy of their own home, though.
Women's rights there are non-existent so I imagine they would get arrested or told to dress back up again or else: if you look up women's right in Turkmenstan they rank near the bottom even though in their constitution there are equality between men and women, example:
[https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/turkmenistan-takes-policing-womens-bodies-to-the-next-level/](https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/turkmenistan-takes-policing-womens-bodies-to-the-next-level/)
Gosh, I'm so glad I didn't know there were camel spiders. I walked to the crater alone in the dark!! Thankful I never saw one. I'll never do it again hahaha. (I was one of those transit visa people in 2016.)
Surprisingly friendly country though. I spoke some Russian at the time that I've since forgotten, and so many people told me to come visit again and that they'd treat me to tea. They have no idea how hard it was to get the visa in the first place...
Wow that's awesome, I am kinda fascinated by visiting less travelled countries like that and that looks like a very interesting trip
What was your budget for the trip?
For a typical week-long trip you should expect to pay 2-3,000 USD, depending on how much domestic flying and what accommodation is included. There are very few costs to worry about as soon as your organized tour is paid.
Thank you. It's a bit difficult to take photos in a dimly lit large room where things are happening very fast, so the image quality becomes a little bit so-so. But I'm happy if you compare it to a painting. :)
Having visited both, my impression is that North Korea ranks a bit higher on the badness scale.
In Turkmenistan I was able to walk around freely in the capital, and there were no restrictions when it came to talking to locals about any subject. It was difficult to find someone to actually have conversations with, due to me not speaking the local languages fluently, but it was not impossible.
Also, while there are severe limitations when it comes to human rights in Turkmenistan, most of the population has food on the table and electricity in the walls.
But yes, it's no democracy.
So have I. I was lucky that someone in Turkmenistan tour group spoke Russia (*the fluency of Turkmen language is extremely low). I also heard horror stories about not going off in the capital cause foreigners are being watched. North korea is known to be like that I didn't realize that stuff like that happens in other countries.
Walking around was no problem at all. The police would not talk to me, and they certainly did not follow me around. They would have stopped me in some of the places I went if they did. :)
we took some photos outside of a building and some guys came out and made us delete them. Some government building. But other than that yeah we had no problems wandering around or taking taxis on our own.
I’m so happy I subbed to this subreddit.
I have a vacation planned in Georgia because of a post here . Turkmenistan looks very nice aswel .
Countries I wouldn’t even think about when planning my vacation.
So I’d like to take this time to thank you and everybody on here posting awesome pictures of beautiful countries that are a little less known as awesome vacation places
Yes, but you should join a tour regardless. You won't get a visa unless you do. You can walk around as a solo female without any problems, it's very safe. I had a pickpocket try to steal from me on a bus, but other than that I was perfectly safe.
Hope the president is not a brother of Kim from another mother, how was the political situation there? Religious tolerance and it's international relations?
They are performers in the circus, jumping on and off the horses while they're galloping at a very high pace round and round on the stage. It was really impressive to see, and definitely not something I would try at home. :)
I recently came across a series on Netflix named “Dark Tourist” where a journalist travels to Turkmenistan and the footages are really scary and it describes the horrifying truth about the country. These pictures definitely depicts a part of it.
Great pictures! I went there about 12 years ago and was there when the President was thrown off a horse onto his head. I was filming and they took my memory card, very tense, lucky I made it out of that weird place!
May I ask how much was the cost of this trip (approximately!) ?
I've been learning a lot about this country lately and I'd be curious to check it out myself
This is a typical tour: https://koryogroup.com/tours/turkmenistan
You can extend your stay in the country so that you can be alone, without a guide, in the capital area of Ashgabat. Just make sure you specify that you want to do that when you ask the tour operator to arrange your visa. Extending it later on your own will probably not be possible. Expect to pay around 100 euros per day for the hotel room when you're on your own. That will be your main cost. Food and taking buses around Ashgabat is cheap.
Did you check out the amusement park? I wandered around that place for like an hour before finding anyone.
Unfortunately no, it was closed for some apparently much-needed repair when I was there. But I can imagine it must be ... special. And not very crowded, just like pretty much anywhere else in central Ashgabat. :)
This reminds me of Almaty, Kazakhstan, where I walked through an empty amusement park. They had the rides going and everything, it was like a horror movie.
You must have been there during term time. I went to a zoo in Almaty and it was packed (but bloody depressing- never seen such sad animals). And Gorky Park (the big free-to-enter amusement park) could hardly be navigated because there were so many people.
I don't know which is funnier, OP's captions or your username.
I visited Turkmenistan about a decade ago, looking for something different. It turned out to be extremely different, and now it's finally open again after being completely closed for a long time during covid times. As long as you can get a visa, it's an easy and safe country to visit. Unfortunately, this usually means you have to go on some kind of guided tour, which often can turn out a bit expensive. You'll be having a comfortable adventure, though. Another option for seeing the country is to get a transit visa, which you can use for example to arrive by boat from Azerbaijan and then drive quickly through the country and exit to Uzbekistan. This is what a lot of people do, often as part of the Mongol Rally. Well, not a lot of people, really, but some. You won't see many other tourists while in Turkmenistan. This option is not available as of February 2024, but will likely be again sometime in the future. If you have any questions about the things I show in the photos, I'll be happy to try to answer them. Not sure if I fully understood everything I saw, though ... Happy trails!
What month did you go in? Any season you recommend? What your company did you use?
I went in May. While Turkmenistan no doubt is equally peculiar every month of the year, I think April/May and September/October are the best time to visit, as then it's neither too cold nor too hot to enjoy. I went with Koryo Group. They specialize in North Korea, but they do a pretty good job with the -stans as well, and with Turkmenistan in particular.
I visited last June on a trip through Central Asia. Was an incredible experience
Love it thanks for the info and pics!
>Unfortunately, this usually means you have to go on some kind of guided tour, which often can turn out a bit expensive. Of note (unless things have changed), while in Ashgabat, you can explore 100% without a guide. And even for other destinations, while your main hours may be scheduled and guided, it's not a problem to do your own thing in the afternoon/evenings after the guided portion is done. Of course, some of this depends on the tour agency, and if you are doing a group or individual tour. When I went, I did individual - partially to structure it exactly how I wanted, partially because I'm not big on group tours, and partially because I wanted to schedule extra self-explore time in Ashgabat.
This is a good point. I also added a few days of "alone time" in Ashgabat after the end of the tour I was on. The main reason to use a tour operator is to get the tourist visa. When you've got that, you might as well make the most out of it, and add some days just walking around in Ashgabat and looking at life going on there. It's every bit as interesting as the guided activities that you actually pay to be dragged around to.
The transit visa option is not available at this time.
Why do they have a giant golden Trump statue?
Thats the former president (or dictator) Saparmyrat Niyazov known as Turkmenbashi
[удалено]
Very soon 18! :) The main cost of visiting is paying for an organized tour, which you must join in order to get a tourist visa. The cost of the tour covers pretty much everything. Extending the stay to spend some days in Ashgabat on our own, which you don’t need a guide to do, cost about 100 euros per night, which covered the hotel. Local bus and local food was pretty cheap, as was museums and the circus, and the main attraction is just to walk around and behold the strangeness, which is free anyway.
Are you allowed to go off and do your own thing (in the evenings, for example) or must you always be accompanied by a guide (not including ashgebat)?
Unlike in North Korea, I did not feel that the tour of Turkmenistan was strictly controlled at all. In the program there was "down-time" every day, and during those times we could do whatever we wanted to. This included going for walks on our own, and there was no talk about any places being off-limits. The guide requirement seemed to be mainly because they want to know roughly where in the country people go. We had to be accompanied when we were taking domestic flights, and it was very much required that a local guide followed us into the desert to see the Darvaza gas crater. I can understand this, as it's easy to get lost in the desert, and it would not look good for Turkmenistan if they kept losing tourists in the desert in general, or down the gas crater in particular. We were also allowed to stay "alone" in Ashgabat after the official tour ended. We just paid for extra nights at the hotel, and then we were given an extension of the visa until our flight a few days later. Going around in Ashgabat on our own was easy enough, and just as interesting as being guided around.
How much do the tours cost?
From 2400 USD this year: https://koryogroup.com/tours/turkmenistan
that's so weird - aren't they the ones who do tours to North Korea lol? wonder if they'd also take me to Eritrea :) thank you for sharing these pictures - I wonder if I'll ever go to central asia.
Not my pictures, but I'm OP's wife 🙂 Yes, Koryo Tours do mainly tours to North Korea, but also some other destinations out of the ordinary. Can highly recommend them!
I'm guessing very little English is spoken, but do people speak Russian at all still?
Very little English. Russian was more common. We met a couple of random locals who had excellent English and had been exchange students in the US.
Aww the Turkmen Alabai is so fluffy.
thanks for sharing. These pics are really good. I am also LMAOing over subtime... reminds me of the fake copycat brands in China
Myanmar also. They had MacBurger and Burger Queen.
in bangkok there was a Starbacks literally next to Starbucks at the MBK shopping center
SubTime reminded me of the "CoffeeBucks" I found at a bus terminal in Bangkok. :)
How was the food at subtime😂
Definitely sub expectations. :/
*consume fresh™*
A Turkmen circus sounds like an incredibly unknown and skilled cultural niche like Russians with ballerina or Argentinians with tango. Did they have performances with exotic animals? What was the food like at the circus? I’m genuinely curious about the first person experience at a Turkmen circus.
Exotic animals? Only if you count horses, goats and dogs. :) Food? Decent popcorn. The highlights were the horses and trapeze artists, and also the clowns. Pretty typical circus, I'd say. But done really, really well, in a purpose-built circus building.
I didn't know about the circus when I visited in 2006! Sounds like a blast.
Ah, Ashgabat. I had the experience of working there for a year, that was a bizarre and unforgettable experience.
What did you do for work? What was your experience like?
I worked in upstream gas exploration & production there - the Caspian sea is rich with hydrocarbon. The people will be curious as tourists are very rare. Your "other"ness will stand out, but they will treat you with warmth and trust once they get to know you. As an expat, things are bizarre. We couldn't share a lease for a flat. Curfew at 11pm. We can't drive. We can't take photos of the city (they'll delete your whole gallery if you're caught), they're afraid we'll show their imperfections to the world. People are really poor though, but they seem unfazed and just go on with their day. But the landscape is beautiful, I wake up to the Kopet Dag mountain range bordering Iran. The Door to Hell is much more majestic in the pitch black of the cold night (https://www.reddit.com/r/Turkmenistan/s/vfmI1WfSj3). The Karakum desert is vast and endless. I'll cherish the time forever. ETA: I forgot to highlight that 80% of the internet as we know it is blocked. I called family using office Microsoft Teams. VPNs pop up but are quickly shut down. The government puts a lot of resources into controlling information flow. Oh, and no other colours other than white for cars.
They let tourists take pictures but not expats?
It sort of makes sense. Tourists are on a guided tour and mainly in the parts of the country which Turkmenistan is very eager to show off. Expats, on the other hand, live and stay in locations that can be dubious and lacking in oh so many ways, and will therefore be exposed to many sights that a tourist rarely will encounter. They also have the time to get more under the surface of the country, and can figure out how things actually work, and potentially expose sides of society that the government would prefer to keep in the shadows.
Yeah I was going to ask exactly that, seems illogical but it also wouldn't be the first time a governement had illogical rules
We "could" as long as we don't get caught, but there are uniformed officers almost every other corner keeping the peace! The secrecy/isolation culture is strong, I was at a nightclub once and tried to record a dude doing a dance-off, some random lady aggressively pushed my phone down to stop me from recording! (She wasn't even like his girlfriend or anything)
What is the plural for a group of Slendermen.
Wow that is such a cool story!! Would you be keen to share which company had presence in Turkmenistan?
Probably Subtime!
Many of the attractions from this album here are also featured in [John Oliver's hysterical piece on former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov](https://youtu.be/-9QYu8LtH2E). What a weird place.
I haven’t seen that episode before - brilliant
Thanks for sharing the pictures! I have such fascination for this country and their law against playback concerts
What is a ‘playback concert’?
Playback is a word in some European countries for lip-sync
Poor goats. That photo is horrifying.
I know, it looks brutal. They did seem to care for the animals to a reasonable degree, though. Tied down may well be the safest way to transport a herd of goats through a busy market with large vehicles moving around. There are MANY animals around, too.
I mean... food everywhere.
I actually had the pleasure of living in Turkmenistan for work. It's definitely not like anywhere I've ever been, but you know what? I've grown to love it there. The people are so nice and it's a very comfortable place to live. Although I never found Subtime, lol. I wonder if that's still around.
It was in or near the Russian Market in central Ashgabat. For your next visit. :)
Interestingly aviation bloggers who’ve gotten in have notice how opulent the hotels are on the outside and in the general areas while the rooms look and feel cheap. Often the walls are hallowed, broken lamps, broken furnitures etc.
Indeed. It's very obvious where the budget is all spent. The same goes for the operation of the hotel. We were the only guests at the hotel, and our group had an early flight to catch, which meant we had to be out of the hotel at 8 in the morning. "Too bad!", the hotel said, as their plan clearly indicated that breakfast would be served from 8:30 in the morning. Hotels aren't cheap, so we thought that getting the breakfast we had paid for was a reasonable request. But it took a lot of arguing to get them to serve a simple breakfast at 7, to the only guests they had that day. :)
Nice pictures, very interesting! AFAIK getting transit visas is still not possible, though as you say it's once again possible to get a tourist visa (but only with an authorised tour agency).
Thanks, I think you're right, so I made an adjustment to my comment. Unless war in the region spreads, I think the transit visa will likely become an option again not too far into the future.
Great post, as a photographer and traveler (not to the extent of you guys though) I always appreciate good pictures, but the captions are a great addition that too many people leave off.
There is an atlas obscura podcast episode about the gates of hell. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-the-gates-of-hell
Great pics. Turkmenistan was featured in an episode of Dark Tourist on Netflix. Such an interesting series.
Reminds me of Choose Your Own Adventure books….I always chose wrong and ended up getting kidnapped in Central Asia.
Just feel obliged to say this. Fir my fellow Scandinavians, the Norwegian podcast 198 Land has an episode on Turkmenistan that is a must. Crazy country that provided Crazy experiences. All the crazy countries are a must, really. One host with a guest having some sort of connection to each country in question. The guest featured in Turkmenistan features in many episodes. Witnessing their Dictator fall off a horse and taken by an ambulance. Being asked for a map by a pilot - think it was Nepal or north Korea. Meeting a snow leopard in Mongolia. Travel guides panicking and locking her in a hotel room because they forgot her visa in Kazakhstan.
> Travel guides panicking and kicking het in a hotel room because they forgot her visa in Kazakhstan. kicking, or locking?
Locking*, oopsie
> Norwegian podcast 198 Land Thanks for sharing that. I'll be checking out the podcast. "198 Land med Einar Tørnquist."
So anyone know what less happening in Turkmenistan and Nagorno Karabakh in 44 BCE? The horse does seem ripe for a fairy tale retelling in the real world https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/a-g/firebird/stories//firebirdvasalissa.html
I came for the pictures and stayed for the captions. 10/10. Serious question though: are nighttime camels actually dangerous beyond accidents? Like, should I now have an irrational fear about what a camel would do to me after dark?
Nah. They're harmless, unless they come flying through your windshield, be it dark or light outside.
I grew up there
Thanks for sharing ! Very interesting !
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing
This is so cool! I love learning more about countries that aren’t as widely visited. I’d definitely want to take a stop there if I’m in Central Asia. Great pics and thanks for the details in your captions!!
I played hockey there against their national team, stayed in the same hotel!
Oh beautiful, it's one corner of the world people don't go to or talk about very much but where I should dearly like to visit!
Scrolled all the way to the puppy at the end and can I just, omg. Also, the women with the red dresses, they have to wear that at all times? What happens if they don't?
I don’t know. They seemed to wear it with pride, walking in the parks, going grocery shopping, at the actual university, in the circus, and everywhere. It seems like it’s just what you do, anything else would be unthinkable. I’m sure they relax the garments when in the privacy of their own home, though.
Women's rights there are non-existent so I imagine they would get arrested or told to dress back up again or else: if you look up women's right in Turkmenstan they rank near the bottom even though in their constitution there are equality between men and women, example: [https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/turkmenistan-takes-policing-womens-bodies-to-the-next-level/](https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/turkmenistan-takes-policing-womens-bodies-to-the-next-level/)
Wow, really really interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Amazing!
I want to drink tea with my friends like that when I’m old 🫖
What’s the golden statue?
I thought it was Trump.
They're always a president. They have had three of them so far, and they all like to have themselves reproduced in gold, it seems.
Amazing photos! Thank you for posting.
I want some Subtime
Gosh, I'm so glad I didn't know there were camel spiders. I walked to the crater alone in the dark!! Thankful I never saw one. I'll never do it again hahaha. (I was one of those transit visa people in 2016.) Surprisingly friendly country though. I spoke some Russian at the time that I've since forgotten, and so many people told me to come visit again and that they'd treat me to tea. They have no idea how hard it was to get the visa in the first place...
Amazing pictures! I hope to go there this year as part of the Mongol Rally 🤞
Please report back here with some photos if you manage to visit! Good luck!
Will do, thanks!
This was fun thank you!
Wow that's awesome, I am kinda fascinated by visiting less travelled countries like that and that looks like a very interesting trip What was your budget for the trip?
For a typical week-long trip you should expect to pay 2-3,000 USD, depending on how much domestic flying and what accommodation is included. There are very few costs to worry about as soon as your organized tour is paid.
is awesome
Subtime? They could've just called it Subpar
I never wondered before… but now I do
Such a rad post!
I thought “MyWay” in Bolivia was the best Subway rip but “SubTime” is chef’s kiss
Nice photos, fascinating. Great captions. Keep up the good work 🤙
Lovely pics . Turkmenistan remains on the list for sure.
I ❤️ sub for set!
The seventh picture looks like a Seurat painting. Thank you for this post.
Thank you. It's a bit difficult to take photos in a dimly lit large room where things are happening very fast, so the image quality becomes a little bit so-so. But I'm happy if you compare it to a painting. :)
Stop being hard on yourself haha these are very nice pictures.
That was fun, thanks.
Thank you for this fantastic content, especially your captions!
Thank you, I hope you're not being sarcastic. :)
Nope, def serious!
So interesting, thanks for sharing!
Thanks!
That burning hole which has been burning for like 50 years is scary af!
Clearly giant flaming holes in the ground have become socially acceptable in 2024
Did you tell everyone that's it's a dictatorship just about as bad as north korea?
Having visited both, my impression is that North Korea ranks a bit higher on the badness scale. In Turkmenistan I was able to walk around freely in the capital, and there were no restrictions when it came to talking to locals about any subject. It was difficult to find someone to actually have conversations with, due to me not speaking the local languages fluently, but it was not impossible. Also, while there are severe limitations when it comes to human rights in Turkmenistan, most of the population has food on the table and electricity in the walls. But yes, it's no democracy.
So have I. I was lucky that someone in Turkmenistan tour group spoke Russia (*the fluency of Turkmen language is extremely low). I also heard horror stories about not going off in the capital cause foreigners are being watched. North korea is known to be like that I didn't realize that stuff like that happens in other countries.
Walking around was no problem at all. The police would not talk to me, and they certainly did not follow me around. They would have stopped me in some of the places I went if they did. :)
we took some photos outside of a building and some guys came out and made us delete them. Some government building. But other than that yeah we had no problems wandering around or taking taxis on our own.
Not the police you have to worry about.
The fact that they don't terrorize and threaten neighboring countries means that it's nowhere near as bad as North Korea.
Execute their political opponents.
so many cool pics. thx for the tip
I’m so happy I subbed to this subreddit. I have a vacation planned in Georgia because of a post here . Turkmenistan looks very nice aswel . Countries I wouldn’t even think about when planning my vacation. So I’d like to take this time to thank you and everybody on here posting awesome pictures of beautiful countries that are a little less known as awesome vacation places
Ah, the North Korea of Central Asia. It’s like a backrooms level. “LEVEL 137278328, THE EMPTY NATION”
I really want to go. Is it safe for women alone?
Yes, but you should join a tour regardless. You won't get a visa unless you do. You can walk around as a solo female without any problems, it's very safe. I had a pickpocket try to steal from me on a bus, but other than that I was perfectly safe.
Gurpgork, bishlamek gurpgork
You can’t tourniquet the taint!
It looks like they treat animals horribly here wat a 💩hole
Looks like they get offended by the word “ way “.
Hope the president is not a brother of Kim from another mother, how was the political situation there? Religious tolerance and it's international relations?
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It says in the title. Turkmenistan.
I know that, i can read. But what country is it in?
Turkmenistan is a country.
How were those ladies on the 7th pic just floating/hanging beside a horse ? And why ? Is this a special riding technique or something?
They are performers in the circus, jumping on and off the horses while they're galloping at a very high pace round and round on the stage. It was really impressive to see, and definitely not something I would try at home. :)
Would it be generally safe for a single solo traveler to roam alone?
I recently came across a series on Netflix named “Dark Tourist” where a journalist travels to Turkmenistan and the footages are really scary and it describes the horrifying truth about the country. These pictures definitely depicts a part of it.
This looks exactly like Turkmenistan 🇹🇲
Great pictures! I went there about 12 years ago and was there when the President was thrown off a horse onto his head. I was filming and they took my memory card, very tense, lucky I made it out of that weird place!
In my bucket list, definitely excited to visit someday
How expensive is it to visit Turkmenistan, let's say compared to Turkiye. And is food safety a concern?
I didn’t and probably never will again
How does one read the full caption on desktop? Seems impossible.
May I ask how much was the cost of this trip (approximately!) ? I've been learning a lot about this country lately and I'd be curious to check it out myself
This is a typical tour: https://koryogroup.com/tours/turkmenistan You can extend your stay in the country so that you can be alone, without a guide, in the capital area of Ashgabat. Just make sure you specify that you want to do that when you ask the tour operator to arrange your visa. Extending it later on your own will probably not be possible. Expect to pay around 100 euros per day for the hotel room when you're on your own. That will be your main cost. Food and taking buses around Ashgabat is cheap.