Turkmenistan is one of the more curious ‘Stans’ of central Asia. Perched on the Caspian Sea, this fiercely private country borders both Iran and Afghanistan, but has kept below the radar of the West’s axis of evil. That is not to say that Turkmenistan is without fault. Gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, little has been achieved in the way of raising living standards for the four million Turkmens estimated to inhabit this country.

A legacy of the Soviet era, national politics have effectively been dominated by a one-party state, lead until his death in 2006 by Saparmurat Niyazov. The late Niyazov styled himself Turkmenbashi, the Father of the Turkmen, nurturing an all consuming cult of personality, an omnipresent culture which has outlasted this attention craving leader.

Spending vast sums of money on extravagant projects, Turkmenbashi has turned the capital, Ashgabat, into a visually lavish city. Built on the country’s vast reserves of natural gas, the fifth largest in the world, Ashgabat is littered with grand, gold-cladded, and idiosyncratic buildings. The most spectacular of which is The House of Free Creativity, a book shaped library devoted to media freedom, a ridiculous paradox to a system where journalism is heavily censored by the state.

Ashgabat’s eccentric architecture continues with The Arch of Neutrality, the city’s centrepiece. Adorned by a revolving statue of Niyazov, this solid gold effigy of the late leader always faces the sun, perfectly encapsulating this man’s extreme ego complex. Turkmenbashi’s cult of personality went beyond one meagre gold rotating statue however. The Father of the Turkmen reset the mould, leaving such dictators as Lenin or Hussain looking like schoolboy amateurs. Not content with this statue, numerous icons of the leader decorate the city’s buildings; his face even features on his own line of Vodka and Brandy. But the pièce de résistance is the Ruhnama, a 30-foot replica of Niyazov’s book, which opens and closes throughout the day. His proudest achievement, the pocked sized version contains a factually dubious collection of the President-for-life’s musings on spiritual and moral guidance, his autobiography and a history of Turkmenistan. Befitting this dictatorship the book is part of the staple education of young Turkmen and women, with the ability to recite the text verbatim an absolute must.

After the death of President Niyazov, his successor, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, assumed power with 89 per cent of the vote in an election which received multiple complaints of rigging by international observers. Despite being in power during the Soviet administration, and promising to continue his predecessor’s policies, the current President has begun introducing changes, including unlimited internet access, better education and higher pensions; the former being highly significant to a state defined by its secrecy.

Visitors to Turkmenistan are hampered by a restrictive tourist visa which marries them to an official guide throughout their stay. Still, those who have ventured out of Ashgabat have found the rural Turkmen to be immensely welcoming. These formally nomadic people, famed for their hospitality, are proud of their heritage and offer a true flavour of traditional life. While in the desert a visit to Darvaza, a burning gas crater 60 meters in diameter, about 260km north of Ashgabat, would be an unmissable experience. The crater, known locally as the ‘door to Hell’ was supposedly set alight in the 1970s by Russian geologists drilling for gas, and the fire had been merrily burning ever since.

Although Turkmenistan imposes significant restrictions on outsiders, it is a country I have wanted to visit for many years. Perhaps because of the secrecy which shrouds this nation, but also to see, for all its faults, what is a profoundly unique state.