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!

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Last night's bush camp was heavenly!  No fly!  Clear sky! Millions of stars and millions more with Neal's telescope!  No barking dogs!  No howling wind!  Absolutely stunning!

We camped right beside the Kow Ata Underground Lake so we were ready for a swim in the morning.  We descended 65 meters to a sulphurous subterranean world where the water is naturally heated to 36 degrees-

 This is the funny entrance message.  What is a sober king?

Group photos!

On our way to Ashgabat, we stopped at the mausoleum of President Niyazov who had some crazy ideas!  He renamed the months of the week after his children!  People were to call him Turkmenbashi which means 'leader of the Turkmen'.  He erected gold statues of himself and had posters plastered everywhere.  His slogan was " People, Nation, Me".  

This is the exterior of his mausoleum.  Pictures are not allowed inside.  He is buried along with his father (ceremoniously because he was killed during WWII), his mother and two siblings who were killed in the earthquake of 1948.  Everything is white marble, with gold, green and black accents.  The interior of the dome is a beautiful white/blue-

Next to the mausoleum is the Turkmenbashi Ruhy Mosque, the largest in Central Asia, accommodating 10,000 worshippers.  The minarets are 91 meters tall to commemorate 1991- the year of Independence.  Inside, it measures 100 meters long.  The dome is 50 meters across and 51 meters high.  The carpet was hand-woven by 160 women over 2 years.  It weighs 1.2 tonnes.  There are individual prayer stalls woven in the carpet, as well as the eight point star, representing the eight gates of paradise in the Islam religion.  There are 8 doors and the final gate points to Mecca.  There are 48 windows in the dome, to represent 1948, the earthquake.  400 vehicles can park underground.  

The people are Suni Muslims but anyone is free to start a new religious sect if they have 500,000 names on a petition!  

Ashgabat was levelled in an earthquake on October 6, 1948.  It was rebuilt in Soviet style, but with President Niyazov and oil and gas revenues, today it resembles a mix of Las Vegas and Pyongyang (the capital of N Korea) with fountains everywhere-

Many of the buildings are empty, guarded by police if it's a government building and pictures are not allowed.  Most are made of marble, at least the exterior-

This is what they call an Americano!  To be fair, they did bring a pitcher of hot water to add to the shot-

We went to the Sofitel Hotel for free wifi.  It's a very fancy place and one could live in the bathrooms.  For instance, the toilet seat is connected to the toilet!  This picture is in the lobby, looking up at the rooms-

I like how they held this burger together-

More fountains-

 This is a typical boulevard- colored lights and water flowing.  There is only one thing missing - people!

Even the under-street walkways are made of marble-

As we were walking around, we came to a few police 'road blocks'.  No one was allowed to walk or drive down the particular street.  Traffic stopped and the city was extremely quiet.  So weird.  Even in our hotel, there were 2 or 3 women working on every floor, watching.  There's an apartment in one of the rooms where they live.

Ashgabat is such a strange city- huge beautiful buildings, police everywhere controlling everything and few people walking about.  All of the women wear long beautiful dresses, often with a scarf/turban headpiece.  They were also quite thin.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is pretty hot - 34 degrees today and barren.  This is what we've seen for most of the day-

Turkmenistan is the fourth largest gas producing nation in the world.  Diesel costs $.20/litre and the people get natural gas for free.  They use their ovens to heat their homes in the winter -

The scenery doesn't really change-

This is a gigantic cemetery.  The sticks seem to be the grave markers-

More scenery-

We stopped at a roadside kafe and I tried what I thought was coconut water.  Not.  It was camel's milk.  Not my favourite!

There are miles and miles and miles of......

This type of detouring happens often along the highway-