Typical single house
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Typical single house
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Monorail at the sports complex
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One of the venues for the Asian Olympic Games |
Secondary school student
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We walked through an area of Soviet block apartments. They were not well maintained or decorated to camouflage their original structure. (Remember how cheap the rent is!)
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Mascot |
Close-up of the marble horse
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The last stop of the day was at the Halk Hakydasy (People's memory) Memorial Complex that contains memorials to victory in the Great Patriotic War (WWII) and the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake. It is built on another hill overlooking the city.
There are bronze panels of the 20th century wars/struggles of Turkmen and a five-pillar monument and an arch to grieving women of the 80,000 men killed in WWII.
This seems to be about the only memorial in Ashgabat that is not white marble! |
Monument to Eternal Glory (WWII)
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Built in commemoration of the heroes of other battles for the Motherland |
The monument to the victims of the 1948 earthquake is a bull holding the world between his horns and back. The old Nomad explanation is that the earth rumbles every time the bull shifts the earth from one horn to the other. That was fine but then Turkmenbashi’s mother sits on top of the world holding the gold, 8-year-old boy, Turkmenbashi, in her arms. He survived the earthquake and his mother and brothers did not.
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Monument of Ruhy Tagzym dedicated to the victims of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake
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Bronze panels of the 20th century wars/struggles of Turkmen
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Shift change |
At 6:45 we met to go to Alem Entertainment Center (Palace of Happiness - a white marble building used for weddings, etc.) for dinner and views of the city all lit up at night. The neon changing colors reminds one of the Las Vega Strip. We also drove around the traffic circle with a gold statue of the current president on a horse up on a white marble wave. Obvious symbolism!
We were entertained between courses by local dancers performing traditional dances. After dinner we acted out a traditional wedding ceremony. We were dressed as Turkmen women and men and danced through the ritual. Marge was lucky enough to escape to take pictures (which came out poorly due to having the wrong camera and very little light).
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Statue of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on a white marble wave
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Alem Entertainment Center - the "Palace of Happiness"
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Alem Entertainment Center - the "Palace of Happiness" |
Alem Entertainment Center
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The bride
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Groom and bride with attendants
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Alem Entertainment Center - lit at night |
The blur of night lights
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