We flew from Ashgabat to Dasoguz which is in far northern Turkmenistan. Dasoguz (formerly Tashauz until 1992) is the capital of the Dasoguz Province and the city is only about six miles from the Uzbekistan border. We had lunch in Dasoguz and drove to the border, so it was a short time. I’m going to include a couple of posts just to wash Ashgabat out of everyone’s mind regarding what Turkmenistan is all about.

Dasoguz was originally a fort and a stop on the silk road, due to being an oasis with water. Dasoguz means “Stone Spring” in Turkmen. It became a town in 1924 but really developed after the construction of the railroad in the 1950s, under Russia. Dasoguz has a cotton gin, food-processing plants, vehicle repair works, and is a center of carpet making. Cotton, alfalfa, grains (sorghum, barley, rice, millet) and melons are produced in this area. Silk production is also practiced. The population is perhaps 250,000 people.

I had very little opportunity to take photos during this drive but I’ll give you some that I have something to say about. Again, these are mostly moving bus photos, so not great.

After being part of the USSR for centuries and even now as Turkmenistan, and while not as glorious as Ashgabat, Dasoguz still has its monuments, as you can see in the first photo.

Dasoguz also had some interesting buildings, so while a long way from Ashgabat, it did not appear to be a “backwater” town. I found some buildings quite interesting such as in the second photo.

We at lunch in the hotel in the third photo. It did remind me a bit of Ashgabat as we were on our way out of Turkmenistan.

I was really excited to get the fourth photo: some real food and fuel processing plants, or real work being done with a real purpose.

The housing on the rest of the way to the border looked like below, except for some out in the fields which I couldn’t tell if it was housing or some agricultural outbuildings.