Ashgabat, the capital, honestly felt like the “Capitol” from the Hunger Games: futuristic, oddly clean and manicured, uniform buildings, and it overall had a unique feeling.

All of the buildings are white marble (mainly imported from Italy); the buildings are all new and spaced out evenly which gave it a strange look. There were huge monuments in the center of every roundabout and many statues of historical people and past dictators. In Ashgabat, only white, silver, and gold vehicles are allowed and if your car is dirty, you will get a ticket from the police. At night, all of the buildings are lit up so it felt a little like driving around Las Vegas!