Although the groom seemed to be celebrating the moment, the bride was stooped over, all covered up in a big veil, head bowed and shuffling forward with the help of the groom and another lady.


The Independence Monument was surrounded by historical Turkmen figures and had a 91 metre (again for the year of independence, 1991) tall tower. My Lonelyplanet guidebook also said that it is commonly refered to as the 'plunger' by foreigners for some mysterious reason.


We then drove though the Berzengi part of Ashgabat, where the plethora of white marble buildings has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records with the most white marble than any other city in the world!. Artem said the apartments (on the right) in the area sell for ~$300,000, quite alot considering the GDP per capita is ~$8,200. On the left is a monument to the Ruhnama, Niyazov's spiritual book. Supposedly each evening the cover opens and a recording of a passage from the book is played. Learning parts of the Ruhnama used to be compulsory for things such as getting a car licence, but Artem said that under the new President, it was now purely voluntary.


After the tour of Ashgabat, we then went to check in into my hotel, the Ak Altyn Hotel. .


Complete with a portrait of the current Turkmenistan President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, in the lobby. A former dentist, he was Health Minister under former President Niyazov, and was tasked with implementing the controversial decision to the close all hospitals outside of Ashgabat. According to US diplomats, he is also "vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative", a "micro-manager" and "a practised liar".