May 19, 2025: Ashgabat Chicken
After a day exploring Ashgabat, today was the start of a two-night road trip to the western part of Turkmenistan.
We started the day by visiting a couple sites near Ashgabat. First, we did a drive-by of the under-construction Smart City” of Arkadag. Named after the second president, it looks just like Ashgabat with gleaming white marble buildings and white cars. Arkadag himself founded the city in 2023 and apparently visits the city once a week to check on its development. Once completed, Arkadag will be the capital of Ahal province – the region surrounding Ashgabat.
A bit further out from Ashgabat we reached the Turkmenbashi Mausoleum. After walking past the ceremonial armed guard, we entered the gold domed mausoleum. Inside is the body of Turkmenbashi, the first president and founder of Turkmenistan. Surrounding him are tomb markers of his parents and siblings who died in the 1948 earthquake, but their bodies are not actually there.
Next door to the mausoleum is the Turkmenbashi Ruhy Mosque, the largest mosque in Turkmenistan and a real stunning structure. The mosque is controversial because it contains inscriptions from both the Quran and Turkmenbashi’s book the Ruhnama. Many Muslims around the world consider it blasphemous to even consider the Ruhnama as an equal of the Quran in any way. But Turkmenistan does not care.
Regarding religion, on paper about 90% of Turkmenistan is Sunni. 7-ish percent of the country is Orthodox Christian and 3% others. All the presidents of Turkmenistan have performed the hadj and Islam is considered part of Turkmen culture. In reality, Turkmenistan continues the Soviet secular tradition. All religious figures are government employees. Growing a beard is generally forbidden. Praying in public is also not allowed. If you are seen going to the mosque, the government will be watching you. Every city has a mosque, but they are almost always empty including the Turkmenbashi Mosque which does not have regular prayers. My guess is that the government sees religion as a threat to its authority.
20 minutes away, we reached the ancient town of Nisa, one of Turkmenistan’s three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Nisa was the first capital of the Parthian Empire which lasted from 300 BC – 300 AD and ruled an area from Pakistan to Syria. Nisa itself was split into Old and New Nisa. Old Nisa, where we were, contained only the residence of the King. All the normal people lived in New Nisa down the hill.
The sites is in okay shape. The walls are mostly in ruins, but the government is restoring them in mudbrick. There are no decorations in the rooms, but artifacts have been found and are stored in the national museum in Ashgabat. It is not a very impressive by global ruins score, but I understand why it is on the UNESCO list.
We then drove an hour west until we reached a cave. After entering the cave and walking down 400 steps, we reached a warm. The water was somewhere between pool and hot tub temperature and smelled of sulfur. We bathed in the lake at the bottom of this massive cave for about a half hour. It was delightful.
Upon our return to the surface, we ate kebabs for lunch the flies were so terrible it was not a pleasant experience.
Back in the van we drove 45 minutes to reach the town of Nukhur. Nokhur is home to an ethnic minority group, the Nokhuri, who trace their ancestry to Alexander the Great. They speak a different language, actually practice Islam and are polygamous. Nokhuris are considered good businessmen and perhaps for this reason, they were generally left to their own devices by both the Soviets and the Turkmen governments. Nokhur is the only area I saw in Turkmenistan where the buildings are not white and it looked more similar to other mountainous regions of Central Asia.
Our first stop in Nokhur was a market underneath a very large tree that reportedly is magical. Vendors sold spices including many products to improve sexual health including special vodkas and honey.
The main attraction in Nokhur is the cemetery. The graves are decorated with ram horns! This apparently stems from their supposed connection to Alexander the Great.
We then drove for four hours to reach Balkanabat- largest city in western region of country. Our hotel was called “Nebitchi” and was inspired by a giant yurt. It was circular and every room looked into the center.
Outside of Ashgabat, tourists are not permitted to freely wander independently so we all ate dinner inside the hotel. I ordered a dish called Chicken Ashgabat which for some reason took 30 minutes longer than all the other dishes. After a lot of hype, Chicken Ashgabat turned out to be pieces of chicken (like in Chinese food) covered in a vegetable ragout. It was fine.
May 20, 2025: Yangykala Canyon
We started the day walking around Balkanabat. We visited a market to buy lunch and then to a Soviet-era monument dedicated to the brave explorers who discovered oil and natural gas in the region. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the Soviets are the best monument builders in the world.
We also visited a gigantic yurt which serves as the backdrop for the celebration of national holidays and other major events. Apparently, every regional capital outside of Ashgabat has a giant yurt. Nobody is allowed to go inside the yurts – our tour guide has never seen the inside of one. I’m sure the inside is just boring government offices, but the setup feels very Hunger Games.
Our group then loaded into jeeps to drive into the desert. Maisie and I had a jeep to ourselves. Our driver was a late 30’s Russian man who had the energy of someone who has spent a lot of time in combat. For this situation, he had very trusting vibes. Also interestingly he had a BLACK car! Apparently, you can have a non-white car outside of Ashgabat. Most people don’t since you likely have to import the car or paint it yourself which is a huge pain.
The trip out took three hours – long but made considerably easier by the 90’s Eurodance soundtrack our driver provided on a USB thumb drive. We started on well-paved roads passing camels.
The road then got covered by sand.
Then it turned to dirt.
And then finally a 4×4 jeep trail. The scenery looked much like the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern US.
Our destination was a red rock mesa top where we stopped for lunch. Besides Antarctica, this might have been the most remote place I have ever visited as measured by likelihood of surviving if dropped here alone. There were no people as far as the eye could see in any direction. And all this in one of the world’s emptiest and most restrictive countries.
Then, it was another three hour drive to Turkmenbashi. Turkmenbashi is the name of the country’s founder but it is also the name of the city containing the country’s Caspian seaport. The city had lots of cute Soviet block apartments.
We took a quick trip to the central bazaar where I ate pumpkin fried dumplings. Our original plan was to visit the seaside resort area of Awaza. However, for unspecified reasons, Awaza was closed to foreigners so instead we stayed at a hotel near the port. The lobby had a huge memorial to Turkmenbashi.
Like in Balkanabat, we were not allowed to leave the hotel premises unaccompanied with the one exception of going to see the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest lake, containing about 45% of all lake water in the world. But for a Western tourist today, it is surprisingly hard to visit. Five countries have part of the lakeshore: Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan’s capital is on the Caspian Sea the other countries’ seashores do not contain any major cities.
To reach the shore, I had to job for 15 minutes from the hotel. The water level of the sea has been shrinking rapidly over the past few decades so it was a longer walk than I expected. Still, I was able to touch the cold, slightly saline water.
We ate dinner in the hotel’s grand dining room. Like in Nebitchi, we were the only guests.
Dinner at hotel.
May 21, 2025: The World’s Newest Airport
When booking the tour, I was told that this day would be spent hanging out at Awaza on the beach and we would fly back to Ashgabat tomorrow. Because Awaza was closed, it made no sense to stay here in Turkmenbashi. Instead, it was decided that we would fly back today.
The original plan was to fly from Turkmenbashi. However, the government decided to open a new airport in Balkanabat and closed the (perfectly nice) Turkmenbashi airport. During the week, they alternated which airport would be open but, in the end, Balkanabat was opened in time for our flight. The problem was that we now had to drive 90 minutes west. So, we met in the lobby at 4:50 am and were on the road by 5. At 6:30, we reached the airport 2 hours before our 8:30 flight.
The Bankanabat Airport is the shiniest place I have ever seen. The only airline that currently flies here is Turkmenistan Airlines to Ashgabat – twice a day – but they have the capabilities to receive international flights. As this was the second day of operations for the airport (yesterday was reserved for VIPs). We were likely the first foreigner tourists to fly from this airport.
After thorough check-in which included two security checks, we hung out in the sleek waiting area before boarding Turkmenistan Airlines flight to Ashgabat. The flight itself was uneventful but I enjoyed reading magazine which among other things, explained the day to day activities of both the current president and the second president (father of current president). Love the accountability! Apparently when the President is flying, all other national aircraft must be grounded.
Soon enough we were back in Ashgabat.
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