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The is a continuation of Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 1:
http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-3-part-1-races.html
After lunch at the Ashgabat Equestrian Complex, we took a two-hour bus ride outside the city and into the mountains to visit an expansive new hippodrome still under construction. Apparently this complex was commissioned under the President's strict orders and was unlike anything we'd ever seen. In fact... like so many things in Turkmenistan, there may be nothing else quite like it in the entire world.
The lavish gardens, fountains, white marble courtyards, and larger-than-life statues of Akhal-Tekes were no big surprise. The fact that they were intensely more elaborate, insanely more enormous.... to the point of risking ridiculousness.... seemed an obvious and appropriate continuation of the same theme. But rationalize it as it were... it didn't take away from the overwhelming impression of a wealth that is backwards and oppressive and mystifying and awesome... all at the same time.
ME & Amrita!
Here is the back of the grandstands at the race track.
There was a kids' area with a playground and super-fun-looking pool complete with slides & fountains.
Some of the only trash cans I saw in Turkmenistan were these frog-flavoured ones...
Ironically.... despite the national absence of trash cans... I never saw any national garbage either.
Here's one way to train a horse... it's hard to see but the leaves were just starting to pop open on it...
The track...
The second floor of the main building was a hotel with ballrooms for parties and viewing rooms for watching the races in luxury. Everywhere were symbols of Akhal-Tekes...
Oddly... this building kind of reminded me of the Spacedome.
Don't you think it would fit in nicely at Seattle Center?
Amrita took this picture of Linda Welsch taking my picture!
Courtesy of Linda Welsch Photography.
After the tour... we were surprised with more food!! It was only a few hours after lunch and we were still stuffed. But of course the spread of snacks and beverages looked delicious. There were pastries, dried fruit, espresso & tea... and of course, vodka! We were joking that Turkmens must think foreigners eat like pigs!
Since this was the last day of the "official program," and many people would be departing for home later that night... our Turkmen guides finally seemed to relax and enjoy themselves. It was the first time all weekend that they ate and drank and joked with us as if we were all good friends. They must have been terribly relieved to have gotten through the weekend with all the foreigners still intact!
And here we all are!
Photo courtesy of Zhanibek Irgebayev.
Soon it was time to go back to Ashgabat. It took three buses to cart us around the countryside. Sometimes we would arrive on one bus, and depart in another.... it didn't matter because they all went to the same place.
Here is a silly bus-to-bus shot of our friend Cynthia:
Courtesy of Linda Welsch Photography.
Traffic control... on our way home.
Courtesy of Linda Welsch Photography.
After arriving back at the hotel, we were permitted two hours of leisure before debarking for dinner. So Amrita, Linda, and I decided to spend it with an escape to the park across the street from our hotel. (We had been gazing longingly at the green grass and peacefully swaying willow fronds for three days...)
We could see this statue & fountain from our hotel room.
The statues were magnificent and incredible works of art... but on closer inspection of the park's infrastructure... we noticed a lot of deteriorating tile and stone work, particularly within the fountains... as if they had been hastily-built and without expertise.
Interestingly.... depsite the fact that there were women cleaning drain gutters on their hands-and-knees, and you'd be hard-pressed to find so much as a gum-wrapper littering the sidewalks... the parks themselves were edging towards a state of neglect. Either that or the grass and trees are so heavily-watered that there aren't enough lawn mowers in all of Turkmenistan to keep up with it. We saw a contrast of meticulously-manicured rose bushes intermixed with overgrown lawns full of weeds and dandelions gone to seed:
However... the three of us agreed that dandelions don't really deserve their pesky reputations anyways. And perhaps these plants were not so much neglected as they were admired. When you're surrounded by one of the harshest desert climates on planet earth... anything that grows, is beautiful.
That evening at dinner would find us all having a good time... with music, dancing, laughing... of course more vodka... and bidding farewell to our friends who were departing that night for their far-away homes. It was sad to say goodbye to Linda... but Amrita would be meeting up with her again in no time at all! She left on May 12th for 2 weeks in Europe, where she and Linda would fly together to visit two Akhal-Teke stud farms in Czech Republic. No doubt she will have lots of stories and photos of her trip, soon to be posted on this blog... after I have finished with Turkmenistan!
Up next is Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 1 ~ The Circus!
Read all about our Trip To Turkmenistan by visiting the following posts:
To Turkmenistan We Go
Jet Lag
Turkmenistan Day 1 - The International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association
Turkmenistan Day 2 - The President Rides & An Akhal-Teke Beauty Contest
Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 1 - The Races
Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 2 - A Bigger-Than-God-Himself Hippodrome-In-The-Works
Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 1 - The Circus
Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 2 - The Stud Farms
Turkmenistan Day 5 - The Russian Bazaar
1 COMMENTS:
Those statues must be thrilling to stand under. They capture the structure and spirit of the breed with moving detail.
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