at the turn off from Turkmenbasy to Awaza, a giant monument, once again with seagulls
Just outside Turkmenbasy is Awaza, or, to be precise, the Awaza National Tourist Zone. An unreal collection of futuristic hotels, all huge, complemented by the occasional holiday cottage enclaves, everything connected by wide avenues. Never mind these avenues, and the six lane entry road, only busses are allowed in; at the edge of the complex is a mega parking where you leave your car – to take the bus to your hotel, and afterwards to any other attraction, the mini concert hall, the sports facilities, the malls. Or what about the 30-hectare Awaza Aquapark, including water attractions, shopping areas, cafes, an amphitheater, and artificial mountains, lakes, and waterfalls. No doubt there is a lot to do in Awaza.
entrance to the Awaza Awaza National Tourist Zone, six lanes for busses and taxis only
and at the edge, a giant paking garage
further approach, getting towards the hotels of Awaza
somewhere in town, swimming pool with giant tobogan
hotels being situated in a broad, green zone, with abaundant parks in between
this being one of them
each hotel has its own futuristic design
or pompous entrance road – I hope thus bus gets this far!
the restuarant that specially opened for us, out of season
and outside the resort, it is indeed clearly out-of-season, still
the beach, for the moment abandoned
and the palm trees, still warpped in plastic to protect them from the winter
But not yet. The place is closed and is eerily empty. The hotel strip reminds us of Cancun in Mexico, or Batumi in Georgia, but without any of the atmosphere. Sterile. The restaurant at the end of the strip, where we have a late lunch, specially opened for us. The set-up, with long tables for many people, suggests that it caters for group tours rather than individuals, and I suppose that suits the Central Asian culture. Outside, the palm trees have been wrapped in plastic to protect them from the winter cold, but for the rest much of the decoration is fake plants and artificial flowers. There are wide corridors leading to the beach, admittedly the only beach in Turkmenistan, on the Caspian Sea. Unique in the country, and no doubt attractive in summer.
Yet, I am not sure; apparently, there are 18 hotels, with hundreds of rooms each, collectively accommodating up to 10,000 guests at any one time. According to our guide a hotel room cost 200 manat, a little over 10 US$ (at the black market rate, which I believe is applied everywhere). But the target audience is entirely the local, Turkmen population, who, presumably, don’t have access to black market US$ exchanges (which thus turns a 200 manat room in something like 75US$ – still cheap, but unaffordable to the vast majority of the locals). Yet, he claims the place is packed in summer – so badly, that they had to introduce the car ban, and limit access to busses only. Hmmm, perhaps. To me this looks like another prestige project, perhaps worse than Ashgabat, providing heavily subsidised beach holidays to the Turkmen elite. To buy their support for the president. But I may be wrong, of course.
Pity it was clouded, which doesn’t help with the photos. But then, we are out-of-season, anyhow.
next: the Yangykala canyon
and sure enough, yet another monument to the seagulls
