Ashgabat, Turkmenistan: Dust, Doughnuts, and a Whole Lotta Questions
okay, so. ashgabat. where do i even begin? i’m a botanist, right? supposed to be all about plants and ecosystems and… well, this felt like an ecosystem of marble. everywhere. blindingly white marble. it’s… a lot.
I just checked and it’s hovering around twenty-four degrees, feels like twenty-three. the air is… dry. like, aggressively dry. my lips are cracking just thinking about it. i’m pretty sure the humidity is lower than my motivation levels on a monday morning.
I was here for a conference - some weird thing about desert flora adaptation. fascinating stuff, honestly, but the city itself… it’s a trip. it’s like someone decided to build a futuristic, sterile playground for very important people. and then forgot to add any actual plants.
I spent a lot of time wandering around, trying to find something… real. something that wasn’t polished and pristine. and i did, eventually. tucked away in a little side street, i found this bakery. seriously, the best doughnuts i’ve had in ages. fluffy, warm, covered in powdered sugar. a tiny slice of heaven in a city of marble.
“Don’t trust the fountains,” someone mumbled to me at the conference. “They’re always watching.”
Creepy, right? but also… kind of fitting. there’s a weird vibe here. a sense of… surveillance. everyone seems to be looking at everyone else. i felt like i was constantly being observed.
I did manage to find a few patches of greenery, though. a surprisingly vibrant rose garden near the *National Museum - definitely worth a visit if you need a break from the white. and a tiny, struggling patch of wildflowers growing through a crack in the pavement near the Presidential Palace. it was a beautiful, defiant little thing.
Speaking of the Presidential Palace, I heard that it’s absolutely massive. like, ridiculously huge. apparently, it has its own private zoo and a bowling alley. i’m not even kidding.
I tried to get a feel for the local scene. checked out a few cafes. the coffee wasn’t great, honestly. but the people-watching was excellent. everyone was dressed impeccably. very formal. very… serious.
“The taxis are rigged,” a drunk guy told me outside a bar. “They’ll take you in circles until you pay them extra.”
So, yeah. be careful with the taxis. that’s my advice. and maybe bring a humidifier. and a lot of sunscreen.
If you get bored, Mary and Turkmenabat are just a short drive away. I didn't make it out there myself, but I heard they're a bit more… relaxed.
I also stumbled across a really interesting forum about Turkmenistan travel tips* - check it out if you’re planning a trip: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/turkmenistan/ashgabat/travel-tips. And for restaurant reviews (take them with a grain of salt, obviously), Yelp has a few listings, though they're a bit sparse. TripAdvisor (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g298463-Ashgabat_Ahal_Region.html) is slightly better.
Honestly, ashgabat is… complicated. it’s beautiful and bizarre and unsettling all at the same time. it’s not a place you’ll easily forget. i’m still processing it, to be honest. maybe i need another doughnut.
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