Saturday, August 2, 2014

Turkmenistan

This morning started out with a truck clean - inside and out-



Here is one last look at Ashgabat-


This is typical women wear: long dress with some brocade and a head piece-


This afternoon we're on our way to the Darvaza Gas craters via the Karakum Desert in northern Turkmenistan.  As soon as we left Ashgabat, the highway turned into a long ribbon of bumps and the desert began.  They use bamboo to help prevent sand erosion-


for miles-


and miles-


and miles-


and miles-


Careful for camel crossings!  


This is a yurt or home, out in the middle of literally nowhere-


Turkmenistan is the fourth largest producer of natural gas in the world.  We stopped at this small gas crater-


This picture shows better depth perception-


and visited with a couple of Aussies who are doing the Mongol Rally.  It's a 10,000 mile journey from London to Ulan Baataar, Mongolia-


We were quite impressed with the small crater, however, the best was yet to come. There are three Darvaza Gas Craters.  They're artificial, left over from the Soviet gas exploration days in the 1950s.  The truck is too big to drive on the sand road.  A couple of years ago it got stuck and it took 5 hours to dig it out, so we caught a ride rather than walk the 8 kilometres each way-


Here are Dennis, Carlos, Marianne, Dave and Ellen-



And another fabulous bush camp!



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