Turkmenistan (oh holy crap I'm months behind!)

Turkmenistan: 1st June 2011 to 6th June 2011

Total distance travelled: 8,244km

Total days travelled: 50

Sadly, Turkmenistan did not improve following the rude awakening by the scary woman on the boat.  Possibly because I was most excited about visiting the place, it supposedly being a mini North Korea with its very own crazy ass (if slightly dead) leader who named himself Turkmenbashi (father of the Turkmens), built a lot of statues of himself, wrote a book that he decreed had equal status to the Koran etc.

The reality of the place was that it was all a bit sanitised and bland.  

We started off by driving through the desert in searing heat and camped (rather glamorously) at the side of a busy highway and then drove all the following day through some more desert, stopping to look at some new glossy mosques, all the way into Ashgabat, one of the strangest cities I've ever been to.

Mosque built in Mr Turkmenbashi's honour

The place is completely sanitised.  There were very few people on the streets, the buildings were mostly clad in white marble and a variety of hues of mirrored glass (classy) with gold touches here and there.  There's even a building in the shape of a book which we were pretty sure is a nod to Mr Turkmenbashi's tome. 

Sterile Ashgabat

There were also a bunch of parks and fountains everywhere, but all similarly deserted.  And the roads through town were lovely smooth multi laned highways which was nice, but there was very little traffic and I couldn't help but think it would be nice if they bothered to build some roads in the desert!

the man himself

AKA The Toilet Plunger

So we spent a day going round the various monuments and parks in town.  Sadly this did not include the rather fabulous statue Turkmenbashi built of himself where his golden statue rotated all day to face the sun, as the current powers that be have had it pulled down.

Big hat country

Turkmenistan really improved for me as we headed out into the desert again and off to some gas craters.  They were apparently created when the Soviets were drilling for natural gas and the ground collapsed.  The first crater we stopped at was filled with water (and rubbish) and the second with bubbling mud.

Campsite at sunset

But the best of the bunch was one we visited after dark, travelling in a 6 wheeled drive truck over the dunes (CJ and Jim just about died of excitement to get a go in it!) and to the amazing site of a massive hole in the ground full of flames.  Apparently when this crater collapsed, natural gas was seeping from the rocks so they decided to set fire to it and burn the gas off.  This was 40 years ago and it's still burning!

Big Russian 6 wheel drive truck

Mel, Lucy, Me and Aoife lit by the crater fire

Strange things:

• fuel is really cheap - around 12p a litre which makes it cheaper than water.  It's even cheaper when you consider that Turkmens get a massive free fuel allowance each quarter.
• no smoking in the street, but it's fine in bars/restaurants
• apparently there's a curfew of 1130pm but we weren't out late enough (or brave enough!) to test it.  Apparently this rule has relaxed a little.

Fuel prices

Alternative transportation

Pretty little girl in traditional dress