Interesting doesn't even begin to cover Ashgabat. It is positively surreal. It looks as if somebody was playing Sim City in cheat mode.

And getting through the beaurocracy, crossing the border by car was very much akin to https://youtu.be/JtEkUmYecnk?t=33

After that, finding out that the whole district your hotel was supposed to be in has been demolished just a few weeks prior isn't as surprising as one would think.