The Niyazorland of Turkmenistan

The numbers of police in Ashgabat are only second to the numbers of its bus stop; the numbers of stationed army are only second to the numbers of its lamp pole; the numbers of CCTV and camera are only second to its street sign; the numbers of golden statue of Saparmurat Niyazor, Turkmenistan’s former(if not forever) president, are only second to the numbers of his ostentatious ‘plunger-like’ monuments, fountain and marble-white post-Soviet buildings erected in his self-congratulatory city of Ashgabat. 

The golden statue of Niyazor is everywhere

Plunger, plunger and plunger!

Lavish Park + Monument

Marble-white post-Soviet buildings

While white-beard Turkmen men in their big traditional brown or black hat were not difficult to spot, Turkmen women are easily seen walking on the street in their ankle-length very colorful dresses and headscarves, both taking the lavish and swanky buildings as their backdrops, yet seemingly not assorted with those.