"Halk, Watan, Turkmenbashi"
(Slogan of Turkmenbashi, translates to People, Nation, Me. Hmmm, maybe the other way round is a better reflection of how the order goes).

We had arrived at the capital, Ashgabat and we headed off early into town to see what Turkmenbashi's "Disneyland" really looked like. It has to be one of the most spread out cities I have been to. Green parks with fountains and broad streets with flowers running down their centres are everywhere. Lining these streets are numerous tall buildings being constructed and the city has a very modern feel, from the road. You only need to delev behind and the old city exists and while most ofthe streets and buildings are falling apartit has a real charm and a sense of the pre-Turkmenbashi era. The modern city is only a facade. It made me rather cross to learn that large parts of this old town are being knocked down to make way for new constructions of half-empty hotels and apartment blocks. The residents are given little warning and no compensation. Recent demolitions are evident all over the city and cranes and construction lorries are very visible wherever you look.

It is hot as we get lost in one of the old parts of town, behind the main road. A construction vehicle with its huge metal tracks, heads towards us. As it passes over the sticky asphalt it chews up the road, leaving huge ripples of upturned gravel behind. It clearly doesn't matter that this relatively poor, forgotten district is having its roads destroyed. One fears and rather suspects that it might be next inthe demolition programme.

We walk to the park of independence and see the tall, golden monument of Independence before wlaking to what purports to be the largest fountain in the world (Turkmenbashi has an addiction to building fountains everywhere), inside of which exists an empty shopping mall. Turkmenbashi has devoted an entire holiday to "a drop of water is a drop of gold" but seems ignorant at the waste his fountains cause. In a country where water is scarce this seems hardly a sensibble way of using it, even if it does look nice.

Speaking of holidays, today is one of many such days set aside for melons and carpets among others. It is national unity and revival day, whatever that means, and many people are dressed in traditional garb. We continue to walk around the city and visit various monuments including the arch of neutrality. Turkmenistan is proud of its independence and neutrality and is only the second netural country to exist after Switzerland (I am told this is the case though need to check it up).

I am stopped by a policeman for taking a photograph of the great Turkmenbashi as he stands on top of the tower of neutrality waving to the sun in the monring and then turning throughout the day to wave goodbye. There are policeman everywhere and they are incredibly suspicious of foreigners with cameras. At least it does make me feel quite safe, I suppose. Most of the policemen and army who patrol the streets are bored-looking military service recruits who look barely 18.

We return in the evening to our hotel to find a large crowd of traditaionally dressed people milling around by the side of the road. It is mostly school children and univeristy students who say they have been forced to come and watch. What are they watching? The president is coming to open another one of his recent constructions. This seems worth staying for and it mightbe quite fun to cheer on the Great Turkmenbashi himself. Unfortunately the police time their intervention well and just as he is arriving they come over, shake our hands (nothing is said here before one's hand is shaken) and then usher us to where they claim is a better spot to see the president. Of course by the time we arrive there the president has come and gone - a pity not to have been able to pay our respects.