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Disneyland

Garis Batas 89: Disneyland

Dunia Fantasi di Turkmenistan (AGUSTINUS WIBOWO) Negeri fantasi ini pun menciptakan sebuah Dunia Fantasi … “Wahai generasi Abad Emas, engkau adalah manusia-manusia yang paling berbahagia!”   Turkmenbashi yang Agung bersabda, tertulis dengan tinta emas di pintu gerbang sebuah taman bermain, mengingatkan keberuntungan tiada tara putra dan putri Abad Emas, masa depan Turkmenistan. Dunia Dongeng Turkmenbashi, demikian nama taman penuh imajinasi dan fantasi ini, mengantar pengunjung ke dunia syahibul hikayat Turkmenia, salah satu proyek maha besar sang pemimpin untuk merayakan 15 tahun perjalanan hidup Turkmenistan menyongsong Abad Emas. Tetapi penduduk Ashgabat lebih sering menyebut tempat ini dengan nama yang lebih keren – Turkmen Disneyland. Pintu gerbang berwarna putih pualam berdiri megah, di hadapan barisan bendera Turkmenistan yang berkibar-kibar penuh gairah. Kota Ashgabat adalah salah satu kota yang hampir setiap hari berganti wajah. Gedung-gedung baru dari pualam bermunculan dalam sekejap malam. Semuanya seperti sihir penuh kejutan. Dan salah satu kejutan terakhir Turkmenbashi yang menggemparkan seluruh negeri dan jagad raya adalah  taman Disneyland ini. Lupakan Donal Bebek dan Miki Tikus, juga Sinderela dan tujuh kurcaci. Turkmenistan bukan tempat bagi mereka. Di sini, yang mengisi mimpi bocah-bocah Turkmen, generasi mendatang di Abad Emas, semuanya berasal dari hikayat-hikayat dan khasanah kesusastraan Turkmen yang tiada bandingnya [...]

October 16, 2013 // 2 Comments

Ashgabat – A Disneyland

Turkmen Disneyland (AGUSTINUS WIBOWO) Days were always cloudy and cold during my stay in Ashgabat. Today was not exception. Every Sunday, some old stamp and coin collectors gathered in front of Lenin Statue to exchange and sell their collection. Most of them were senior Russians, from 40 years to 70 years of age.As anything else here, philatelic and numismatic hobbies in Turkmenistan also went to bizarre way. The post office didn’t sell stamps more than for postage purpose. The stamps were printed abroad in limited quota, sold to some government officials who would then distribute the stamps through their own channels. This made Turkmenistan stamps incredibly difficult to get in their own country. Sometimes it was even easier and cheaper to buy Turkmen stamps in Russia rather than in Ashgabat. Mikail might be the youngest collector among those gray-haired old men in the park. He invited me to his house, some blocks north, to see his collection. “Life here is difficult, we don’t have money and work,” he grumbled. As a Russian, it was difficult to get proper job here. “If you don’t speak Turkmen, you cannot work. Everything should be written in Turkmen. I only know Cyrillic and it [...]

March 18, 2007 // 3 Comments