We stayed at the Grand Turkmen Hotel in Ashgabat. It was quite a nice hotel and we were well cared for during our stay. You can see Vicky in the first photo after we checked into our hotel.

The next two photos were taken from the balcony at the end of our floor in the hotel. I think that the second photo is the Presidential Palace and compound. The third photo is just to the right of the second photo. My understanding is that these are all government buildings but none had any names or indications of such on them. All the people that you can see in the photos were workers of some sort.

The fourth photo is right behind our hotel. It is a monument with ten Akhal-Teke horses marking ten years of independence for Turkmenistan. There was also a golden statue of their president. I took this photo on a walkabout on our own.

The fifth photo is between the fourth photo and our hotel. There was plenty of intensive landscaping in Ashgabat and quite a few gardeners working to keep everything perfect. I found a lot to like with their landscaping.

I’m confident that I was not supposed to take any of the middle three photos, at least. There were not, however, any signs designating them as government buildings. I just thought they were good photos. You can also see more of central Ashgabat in the background of the second and third photos. All were white-marble buildings.