Kach Solo Travels in 2019: Turkmenistan - the most “unique” country I’ve visited in Central Asia 😍

I arrived in Türkmenabat after crossing the border from Uzbekistan then an overnight sleeper train to the capital, Ashgabat. I don’t talk about politics on my travel blog so just do your own research 🤭

Definitely the most beautiful city I’ve ever visited in this part of the world..they even called it the white city because of the marble buildings, beautiful parks and a lot of statues! The road here is perfect.. yes, perfect - no holes, no construction just perfect!! Never seen a road like this in Europe or even in USA! Hahaha! Super clean as well and my guide told me that dirty cars are illegal inside the city, locals should wear good clothes and be presentable, no street animals (no dogs or cats!!) and no smoking in any public places (they are only allowed at their home, hotels or some facilities)... driving around the city at night is just wonderful— it looks like Las Vegas as it’s too colorful and bright! Will post more photos during my night tour 😍

The only issue here is that the people in the capital are not that friendly at all, they are very reserved.. even at the bazaars / market where I usually socialize but in the province like where I was, they were all very nice. Not allowed to take photos of people and even some government buildings and my tour guide should be with me most of the time! The visa is quite hard to get and they only had 9,000 visitors last year... some nationalities can get Transit visa but not for Philippines passport holder. You’d expect to spend at least $1,000 for a week trip here because the hotels and tour operators would charge you a foreign rate which is really high.

Money exchange is tricky here, they have an official exchange rate of 1$ = 3.5 manat but the black market exchange rate is 1$ = 16 manat! So, if you only withdraw cash from your ATM machine then you’ll be spending too much money but if you bring dollars and found someone who agree to exchange with you then you’ll be good (it’s illegal and you don’t want to be caught!).. it’s very expensive here if you’ll convert everything to the official exchange rate - one meal could cost you $20 to $30. But a liter of fuel is less than a $1... crazy! Haha

Also, all the social media channels (even whatsapp) and some websites are blocked here and sadly my VPN didn’t work so I wasn’t able to post online but it’s actually relaxing! 😂

Will be posting more in a bit.. but for now, I’m in Iran where some social media and websites are blocked but VPN is working! 😍

P.S. It’s a muslim country but you can wear whatever you want.