Something we didn’t expect on this journey was to visit one of the most secretive countries in the world & one which also holds a Guinness World record.
Ashgabat is the capital of Turkmenistan & it holds the Guinness World Record for the highest density of white marble buildings in the world. The entire city is built in white marble & every roof is green.
The description given by Guinness World records is as follows;
In an impressive architectural re-styling effort led by the government of Turkmenistan, an area measuring 22 km² (8.49 mi²) in the capital Ashgabat boasts 543 new buildings clad with 4,513,584 m² (48,583,619 ft²) of white marble. If the marble was laid out flat, there would be one square metre of marble for every 4.87 m² of land. The main avenue, Bitarap Türkmenistan Sayolu, is 12.6 km (7.83 miles) long and lined with 170 buildings clad with a total of 1,156,818 m² (12,451,835 ft²) of white marble.
It is certainly something to see but we are not sure if it makes it unexciting. The large white buildings encompass the streets. Around every corner you are faced with more white marble surrounded by fountains, gold statues & immaculate parks. It is a far contrast to the rest of the country.
We were still traveling with Team Karma Kar & decided that for our one night in Ashgabat we would stay at the Grand Turkmen Hotel. It was an opportunity to escape the 50 degree heat, have a shower & wash some clothes. First though we had to find the hotel. Using the ever dependable navigation app Maps.me we tried to navigate our way around the city. After a few wrong turns & being directed to roads that were closed we eventually found the hotel & parked on the road outside.
Having heard stories from other teams we were aware cars parked illegally we likely to be towed away so not really knowing if we were illegally parked on the road or not myself & Mark from Karma Kar ventured into the hotel to find out if they had any rooms whilst everyone else stayed with the cars. The hotel was fairly busy but we managed to book a room. Hooray, air-con & a bed for the night.
We were given our room key & headed to the cars to move them into the crammed hotel car park before we were towed away & grab the first collection of bags. It was midday by this time & the heat was getting to us all. Just unloading Minty was hard work & the sweat was running off us. As Minty was in a car park alongside a road we had to make sure all our kit was secure & anything of value was taken into the hotel. This meant repacking the whole car once we had taken everything out that we were taking with us. It was quickly clear we weren’t going to be able to carry everything in one go so half of it ended back in the car for a second trip. I’ve no idea what the hotel staff or other guests must have thought watching 5 filthy ralliers dragging countless bags across the immaculate lobby but we were past caring at this point. After a night of staying in the desert at the crater, the shower was calling our names….
We were led to believe the hotel was 5 stars of luxury. Sure, the lobby & public areas were very opulent but that is where it stopped. Our room had 2 beds which were like lying on a plank of wood – our camping maps were more comfortable. Never mind, the room had an en-suite so at least we had a shower. Wrong!! The shower was operated by pulling a lever on the bath tap & it was broken. Okay, we will have a bath instead. Unfortunately there wasn’t a plug. This wasn’t going well.
Thankfully we had the sense to pack a universal bath plug which you can buy at any outdoor shop. In this instance it was our saviour, we could have a bath at last. As John had been doing all the driving he jumped into the bath first whilst I headed back down to collect the last of the bags.
Maybe it was a good thing the hotel didn’t give us a room which was 5 star. It was like John had brought half the Karakum desert with him & it was now in the bath. After cleaning the bath it was my turn. I didn’t hold out much hope for the bath after seeing it after John & I was right. The white bath was full of sand & the towels were not much better. I think it was going to take a few more baths to clean us.
Before we headed out to explore our surroundings we quickly washed some clothes in the bath ignoring the sign about clothes washing. The hotel offered a washing service but even in Ashgabat they charged $3 per t-shirt. Hand washing in the bath & drying on the balcony it was.
When we eventually left the hotel we headed off to find a bank. We had run out of Turkmen Manat & our options of exchanging dollars within the country were small. The capital was our best chance. After asking the reception staff where the bank was we headed out but quickly found they were all shut. So without any manat we headed off to find somewhere we could get something to drink & eat using our USD. We could always find the bank later….
A couple of hours later after utilising our dollars in a British bar we headed out to explore. The temperature was still high but cooler than earlier in the day. We wandered around the streets looking at the large marble buildings, trying to comprehend why someone would decide to build an entire city clad in white marble. We soon gave up trying to understand & just absorbed it.
In Turkmenistan it is illegal to take photographs of government buildings & some statues. To avoid being arrested for photographing the wrong building we left our camera’s behind. We did manage a couple with our phones though.
