Blogs from Dashoguz, Turkmenistan, Asia

Darvaza The Darvaza gas crater is probably the best attraction in Turkmenistan. The government has been trying to close it for years, but has not yet succeeded. The Russians were drilling for gas in 1971 and the ground collapsed, leaving a large crater. Gas was escaping, so they decided to burn it off. It has been burning for forty years or so. The temperature was 110 F abandnd the road was poor. There were lots of camels and lots of nothing along the way. At least we were allowed to drive out of Ashgabat. We spent a hot night camping in the desert so we could see the crater in the dark. The following day was only 106 F. It was escape from Turkmenistan day. The three best things about Turkmenistan are the gas crater, the ... read more

Turkmenistan is a strange little country in so many ways. From the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi we head to the capital Ashgabat then spend 2 days driving across the Karakum desert to the Uzbekistan border. Ashgabat is all grand white marble buildings topped with golden domes Presidential Palaces surrounded by rose gardens and manicured walkways. Wide avenues lined with white marble public buildings with names out of 1984; The Ministry of Fairness, the Arch of Neutrality. Its all very ostentatious and impressive. But its also very sterile and unreal, where are the people? The everyday people going about their everyday lives? There is just nobody around. The only place we see any life is in the Russian market where there are local smiley faces selling all sorts of things. Its the cleanest, neatest, tidiest market ... read more

From Tolkuchka Bazaar we drove for hours and camped somewhere in the desert, pitched our tents and we started cooking our meal, come night time Ata came back with this big tractor thing that transported us that night to the Darvasa gas sraters, it is better to view it at night as it would seem more dramatic, the trip to get there is very uncomfortable, bumpy ride, got there and was really impressive sight, after about more than half an hour we try to get back to the camp but got lost many times, the truck plowing through everything in sight, the wooden fence in front we were hanging on to broke and me and Noel got thrown in the back I have to grab and hold on to Angus' leg, until we got back safely ... read more