“Burning ring of fire” (Johnny Cash)

Having boarded the Caspian Sea ferry on Wednesday 28th May, we finally entered Turkmenistan in the afternoon of Saturday 31st May! We had celebrated two birthdays, and spent 3 nights trying to sleep on the boat. The 31st was a day of firsts for us – our first lunch prepared while driving (cutting cucumber and mystery meat while bumping along Turkmenistani roads was quite an experience, and as for the molten margarine and Branston pickle…), our first night drive, and our first truck quiz hosted by Quizmaster Edel. In order to try to make the most of our very limited time in Turkmenistan, we needed to drive through the night to arrive into Ashgabat, the capital, early in the morning on Sunday so that we could visit the Sunday market and attempt to get back on track. Driving through the night can be a bit of an adventure in Turkmenistan as there are road blocks every 50km or so, and they can stop you from continuing on if they so choose, but fortunately our guide was able to sweet talk us through, and we finally rolled into Ashgabat at around 4am. The market that we visited is the largest in Central Asia, and is famous for its “flying camels” where a crane is used to load camels onto the back of trucks. While the crane was not in operation while we were there, we did see many very obstinate camels being caressed and cajoled into walking onto the back of the trucks, often unsuccessfully. Quite a sight (and sound) to behold! The rest of the market was an amazing mass of colour and activity – the women are all dressed in traditional long colourful dresses with equally colourful headscarves, and everything conceivable was available for sale from zips to fruit and veg, some very dodgy looking meat and carpets. Camels in the market:

After the markets we headed back to the hotel and spent the afternoon by the pool – a very welcome luxury given the temperature was heading into the high 30s. Not very “ruffty-tuffty overlander” though!! Wandering around Ashgabat the next morning led us to invent another competition (there is always something we can compete about!). This time it was who could get permission to take the first photo! Around the major monuments there are guards posted on the street about every 50 metres, and one of their roles is to ensure that you don’t take photos of anything unauthorised! It is an amazing city – full of white marble and massive gold statues, and very few people! But we did hear a radio playing Leona Lewis in the midst of all the madness! We went up the lift at the Arch of Neutrality and got amazing views of the city including the President’s Palace and the largest mosque in Central Asia off in the distance – it is modelled on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, but is larger, and up to 20,000 people can pray there at the same time.

Elaine & C at the Arch of Neutrality: Madly dashing back to the hotel to sneak in another swim before we were heading off, we arrived, dripping in sweat, only to receive the very welcome news that we were staying for another couple of hours as there were some hassles with the visa extensions that we required due to the extended crossing of the Caspian. We finally hit the road in mid afternoon and drove for a couple of hours through the desert. We eventually pulled off the road, and parked up in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Our local guide then headed off on foot (although none of us could see that there was anything around for him to head to!), and returned triumphantly in the front of an old Soviet truck.

Our transport to the gas crater:

We all jumped into the back of the truck, our heads peering over the sides of the truck like the camels we had seen in the market, and we were off over the sand dunes. After driving for half an hour or so, we suddenly arrived at our destination – the Darvaza Gas Crater. It was an absolutely unbelievable sight – a massive hole in the ground which is on fire. Words can’t really do justice to how amazing it looks, and particularly once the sun had set it was unlike anything any of us had seen before. We returned to camp and enjoyed another great meal (Thai chicken curry) and the slightly cooler temperature that nightfall had brought! Me at the gas crater: