Man who tries to visit every country documents his trip to TURKMENISTAN – where ‘there is no internet’, driving dirty cars is a crime and the cities are ‘ghost towns’

A man on a mission to visit every country in the world has revealed what it’s like in ‘the weirdest place on earth’.

Chris, who goes by the username Authentic Traveling, has documented his progress online as he travels the world.

Most recently he visited Turkmenistan, his 159th country to date, leaving him with just 56 to explore.

The content creator, who has gained more than 717,000 followers on Instagram, put forward some of his bizarre findings, including that the internet is banned and that driving dirty cars is a crime.

In his clip, which he uploaded to Instagram last week, Chris began: “This is what it’s like to travel to the weirdest country on earth.

‘I’m going to Turkmenistan, an isolated country in Central Asia.’

He continued, “The first thing you have to understand is that there is no internet here. In fact, every website is banned and I had to tell people that I would have no contact for the entire trip.’

Chris later clarified that while there is technically ‘an internet’, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, news sites and even airline websites for booking tickets abroad are completely banned.

He said citizens often use VPNs in an attempt to circumvent the ban, but they are regularly disconnected.

The explorer also explained: ‘You cannot travel here without a pre-approved visa and a pre-arranged guide for the entire duration of your stay.

‘In fact, the country has only recently opened up to tourism after being completely closed since 2020.’

Chris looked across the deserted scene as he visited the monuments and sights of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.

While exploring the space, Chris commented, “To call this place strange is an understatement.

‘The capital is full of grandiose, functional monuments and virtually devoid of people.

‘There’s just an eerie feeling when you visit these buildings with dozens of empty shops in them, almost like a ghost town.

“It just felt like something was wrong and you couldn’t tell exactly what it was.”

Reflecting on his findings, he said: ‘The government of Turkmenistan has used its vast wealth of resources to build these buildings, but it is clear that most of the population has a significantly lower quality of life.

“It seems like they want to impress the world with these monuments, but for a country that only attracts an average of 25 international visitors a day, you wonder who are they really for?”

In the caption of one of his videos, he noted that he had “a lot of questions” about the way of life in the country, but admitted that he “didn’t feel comfortable” asking locals questions.

“Just about everyone who visits the city notices an eerie lack of people around all the monuments and government-built apartment buildings, but the truth is that most people live in poorer and older Soviet-era apartment buildings in another part of the city,” he wrote.

‘Why are government workers given such luxurious apartments that they never seem to visit and the rest of the country has a much lower quality of life?

‘I had a lot of questions, but I didn’t feel comfortable at all in Turkmenistan.’

While driving down one of the city streets, Chris also pointed out something incredibly strange about the amount of vehicles on the road – revealing the bizarre reason why every car he saw was white or silver and was also sparkling clean.

“Ashgabat is known as the city of marble and every car must be white or silver and it is a crime to drive a dirty car in the city,” he said.

However, one of the places he liked to visit were the ‘gates to hell’ – a gas crater that has been burning continuously since 1969.

‘It’s amazing, it’s so hot. You can feel these waves of enormous heat coming. Sometimes the wind blows it away, making your face so incredibly warm.

“It’s absolutely amazing to come here and see this really cool natural wonder.”

Chris concluded: ‘This is without a doubt the weirdest trip I’ve been on.’

Formerly under Soviet rule, Turkmenistan remains one of the least visited countries in the world.

More than half of the population is under the age of 30 due to the high birth rate in the decades after independence led to a population explosion.

With 70 percent desert, the economy is dependent on cotton cultivation and the extraction of oil and natural gas.