Tag: camping

A Gas Crater, Desert, Ruins, and Probably the World’s Strangest Country

‘Where?!?’ ‘You mean Turkey?’ ‘Is that even a real country?’ These questions are, well, not entirely unjustified. Turkmenistan is one of the world’s least visited countries, being number 7 on that list. To put that in perspective, North Korea and Afghanistan both get more tourists.

Above: A park in Ashagabat, with the world’s largest indoor ferris wheel in the background.

Several times throughout my trip in Turkmenistan I had to ask myself the latter question, because at times I wasn’t sure. For those of you who don’t know much about Turkmenistan (well, who does?), this should get you up to speed. The country borders Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the Caspian Sea, and is made up of several tribes who previously roamed the Karakum Desert. While the Silk road was still a major trade route, several of its cities were some of the most important in the world, such as Kunye Urgench and Merv. Passed between several khanates, invaded by Mongols, and conquered by Tamarland, it was finally captured by Russia. Now, it has an eccentric dictator Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow – don’t worry, only Turkmens can pronounce it. He rose to power after being the personal dentist of his predecessor Niyazov, an equally eccentric man who loved his mother so much that he renamed bread and April after her. Yup, that’s right, Google it. And that’s probably the most important thing for you to understand about Turkmenistan – logic isn’t always obvious!

My first experience of Turkmenistan was being stuck out at sea, which somewhat marred my initial impressions of the place. (Read about my experience here.) After that, I will admit I was probably still tinged with cabin fever and exhaustion, and couldn’t fully appreciate the strangeness that is Ashgabat.


Ashgabat is apparently the city of love. One look at the place, not knowing anything about it, and you wonder if they named it ironically. These days, it should be named ‘White Marble City,’ since every building is made of marble – or white plastic when they ran out of money. Several times, myself and fellow travellers have struggled to describe it, because it’s so unique in such an eerie and bizarre way that it’s hard to convey just what it is like to someone who hasn’t visited.

The best I could come up with is that it reminded me of the Truman Show. Everything looks the same. The super market looks the same as a public toilet building; everything is white, and might have gold painted eaves for decoration at most. There are perfectly manicured parks, statues and monuments every few blocks, and wide (but empty) roads. And the weirdest thing is that there are no people. No one walked the streets. The only people outside were the gardeners and street cleaners, and the military guards posted at statues and monuments. It just doesn’t feel like a real city.

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We visited the market in Ashgabat, and actually discovered some people. This used to be the local livestock market, but now has been rebuilt into a massive complex of aircraft hangars filled with stalls. There was everything from fruit, rugs and camels, to generic plastic junk from China. It was impressive in its size, but it is no longer the traditional-style market it had been just a few years earlier. Looking back, although it was the first fat-bottomed sheep I got to see, I think it was possibly more amazing we found some local Turkmen people not behind white marbled doors!

We were given a quick bus tour of the city, and shown most of Ashgabat’s main buildings. We weren’t allowed to stop at those buildings, only take photos from inside the bus. The sites we could get out at was a statue No. 34 of current Mr Unpronounceable, and the that mosque Niyazov the Bread Renamer built in his own honour.

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This mosque is unique. It is the world’s only mosque which has non-Arabic script used for decoration. Our guide was quite proud to point out that this inflamed several ‘more conservative clerics,’ and I would have to admit it did sound like a brave and perhaps more modern thing to do. However, former President Niyazov has actually covered the mosque with quotes, not from the Quran, but from his own book. Both inside at out, nationalistic phrases about Turkmenistan and its former leader replace those that might otherwise have been about Allah. I don’t think it was the language that offended.

Turkmenistan essentially has one east to west road that stretches across the country. This has been very poorly maintained – but don’t worry, they’re building a brand new one right next to it. Of course, in Turkmen style, instead of doing the logical thing of working at this project in continuous sections, bit by bit, they’ve got brand new road dotted throughout the country. There would be about 5 km of new road, and then it would abruptly stop (which we knew, because they’d put a mound of dirt there), then it would be back to the old road for about twenty more kilometres, before coming across another 5km of new road. We’d have to drive off the road, through dust and ditches, to switch lanes all the time.

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One hilarious point had two bridges. The old one was broken, and our guide proudly proclaimed the newer more modern one ‘a beautiful Turkmen bridge.’ Only problem was, the road (well both of them) led to the old one, and no one had thought to solve that problem. So we had a bridge, but no road. The truck clambered off the road, down the ditch, and lined up to what was essentially some sort of Moto GP or dirt biking ramp. Some serious driving skills were needed, and if we didn’t already know it from the occasional deep pot-holes, vehicle suspension was now appreciated even more.

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The definite highlight of the country is the Darvaza (also Darwaza) gas crater. The crater is in the middle of the desert, and we got to camp near by. In the 40s, the Russians were building a gas pipeline, and accidentally hit a seam of gas while building it. Thinking it would burn out in about 2 days, they decided to throw a match in, and then continue building when it had burns itself out. Instead, it’s still burning about 70 years on, and it’s a fearsome sight. It’s best appreciated at night, when the flames stand out more. You feel the heat before you see anything, and the closer you get the size of it impresses more.

While writing about this Silk Road trip, I find myself constantly using the phrase ‘it wasn’t what I expected.’ So, I’ll use it here again. The kamakazi locusts were not what I expected. At times, they made appreciating the impressive flames of the crater hard to enjoy, because there were thousands of the things flying everywhere, crawling over our feet, landing on shoulders, and flying straight into the crater. It was such a bizarre thing to see! These locusts would fly towards the light, get caught in the hot air above, and most would drop dead before they even realised they were in danger. Some managed to turn around and land near the edge of the crater – before realising they couldn’t climb out. Very few seemed to survive at all. I wondered what effects this phenomenon had on the local ecosystem, and if this was some freak occurrence that day or a year round event.

Our last stop before heading into Uzbekistan was Kunye Urgench. This city used to be in Kwarezm, a khanate that included parts of modern day Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Due to the surrounding deserts and more hostile climates, it was an important stop along the Silk Road, which is how it acquired its wealth. The city rivalled Bukhara in its heyday, but was devastated in the 13th century when the Mongols came through and massacred many living there. The city rebuilt, but when Timur captured it, they rebelled several times against the Uzbek conquerer. This resulted it the city being raized, leaving the few remnants at the site today. The buildings have not had much attention to them paid, and were one of the best examples I saw of original, untouched and unrestored history. It gave me an appreciation of how much work must go into restoration, and what an important thing it is to look after sites such as these.

Sadly, I didn’t get to see much of Kunye Urgench, because I managed to get heat stroke (and throw up in a rose bush near the entrance). I did get to see the first building, which was one of the few with art still remaining on its walls. Regardless, it’s inspired me to look into the history of Kwarezm to find out more about what I missed seeing.

Turkmenistan is not my favourite country. I will admit that I didn’t enjoy it as much as most other tavellers in our group, who had a slightly more relaxing week. (Due to the 5 days at sea, the long drive into Ashgabat to catch up to schedule, being quite tired from our 2.30am arrival and not having a lot of energy to site-see Ashgabat, summer temperatures of 40 degrees and above – I did of course choose to come here in summer, my fault there! – some bumpy roads which I  blamed for my nausea, managing to give myself heatstroke  – turns out the roads weren’t actually that bad! – and finally, being too sick to appreciate Kunye Urgench.) But, it was certainly an eye opener! And that’s why I chose to travel the Silk Road, to learn from the countries I had no clue about. The country’s oddities have stuck with me, and I find myself talking about this place more than any other country I visited. Turkmenistan seems to have an entirely different way of doing things, from roads to politics, and I could never believe a place like it existed unless I’d visited.

So no, it’s not Turkey. And yes, somehow, it is a real place.

I travelled with Dragoman, one of the few companies who take travellers through the 7th least visited nation in the world. You can visit Turkmenistan on the Tbilisi-Ashgabat legs, or the Ashgabat-Tashkent leg. Due to current issues with visas, it’s best to travel on a tour such as this, as it is the easiest way to get a visa there nowadays!

Wine is Culture

First thoughts on Georgia: the roads are better, the driving worse. I’d chosen to go for a shared taxi, known as marshrutka, to get from the Armenian capital of Yerevan up to Tbilisi in one afternoon, rather than the more expensive and lengthier train. What I didn’t realise, is that although the scenery through the window is much the same, the train driver isn’t trying to give Tokyo Drift a run for its money on hairpin bends. The noticeable difference between the unmaintained Armenian roads and the far smoother ones immediately across the border was, at first, appreciated. I thought perhaps our Georgian driver was in fact just a little crazy, probably not representative. But within 48 hours I’d learnt that it’s just the way the country drives.

Frighteningly, several of the taxis had cracked windscreens and paint scratches of varying degrees. It got to the point where it was almost entertaining to compare the speed at which they cut in front of other drivers to the severity of the car damage – almost. One taxi I walked past even looked like the windscreen had been shot at! I couldn’t quite understand why no one seemed to fix these kinds of scrapes, but looking back, it was probably more of an attitude of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The kind of laissez-faire outlook that made the country such a wonderful place to visit.


Above: Tbilisi’s old town

Georgia is a very relaxed place. Everyone is so busy being hospitable, talking laughing and eating their way through life, that it seems impossible that there’s ever a need to be rushed in this country. The Armenians often said that their northern neighbours are the only ones they could joke with (since they have such bad relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey, and though on cordial terms with their southern neighbours, the Revolution in Iran made things a little more difficult for the Christian Armenians still living there). It’s easy to see why they never lost their friendship with Georgia!

We did of course, do the obligatory wine tasting day. When you visit the nation famed for being the first to have made wine in the world, you can’t neglect to! And though other in the group had already had their first taste (literally) of Georgian hospitality, and knew what they were in for, I was yet to be included in that club. We weren’t given sips or two of each wine to taste, at the second winery we were given glasses. And then we went to the next winery – and were treated to a huge feast with several jugs of wine. Considering we’d had our first drop at about 10 or 11 am, we’d been pacing ourselves a little.


And then a friend of our local guide turned up, incidentally accompanied by a significant Georgian archaeologist on his way to check out a site nearby. So despite being on the point of food comas, more food was brought for the table, more jugs appeared, and then the dangerous old chacha came out. Chacha is a spirit made from the skin of grapes, and it is certainly strong! It’s generally considered more potent than vodka, and though my other friends wisely refused after learning from experience, I decided it would be best to try the local brew while I had the chance. Thankfully I didn’t take the full shot, considering the wine already tolling on me! It certainly has a bite to it. We started our tour at about 9.30 in the morning, we made it back to our home stays sometime after 4pm, and were then expected to sit down to a dinner none of us needed soon after, or risk insulting our hosts. There was of course wine that appeared on the dinner table – and for the first time none of us touched it, despite it probably being the only alcoholic drink on our trip that didn’t cost extra. Yes, that’s right, nothing extra. At any big meal, it’s just expected that there will be jugs of wine! And they are often jugs, not bottles. So it was entirely normal for our hosts to automatically bring them out without asking. Even restaurants in Tbilisi often had three options for wine: glass, bottle,or jug. That’s how ingrained their wine culture of over 6000 years is.

Toastmaster is a significant role here. It’s someone, often a host, at a party in charge of making all the toasts, and seeing to it that enough alcohol is consumed – a dangerous business! And no toastmaster would be fit for the role without a traditional Georgian drinking horn. They’ve even got a statue dedicated to the Toastmaster in Tbilisi!

Above: Toastmaster statue, with his drinking horn

Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi is nestled on the the banks on either side of the Kura River, with steep hills and narrow winding lanes containing the south-eastern section of the city. Tbilisi is a great mix of everything: medieval and modern, traditional and soviet, and Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities that have lived here for centuries together. Overlooking the city from the ridge above, the Narikala fort includes a church, the botanic gardens a little further around the valley, while the other end of the wall now hosts the statue of the Mother of Georgia. The statue symbolises Georgian hospitality with her food bowl and the national pride with her sword. Then there’s the statue of St George in the typically Soviet Freedom Square. Churches, historical figures, modern architects, mosques, synagogues, hamams…I learnt so much about the history of Georgia in just two short days of wandering around and looking at architecture, without having read much about the place.

Walking around the city was definitely more challenging than it sounded. In high summer, Tbilisi can get quite humid, and going up and down the steep hills proved to be better exercise than any aerobics class. What should have been a five minute stroll from my hostel on one side of the river to the next place I was staying on the other, took me almost 20 with my backpack. There are plenty of quiet backstreets to discover, with some really nice eating areas of the city as well. In one such place, there were even a few live jazz bands playing! On a Sunday, I stumbled across a church service which has spilled out onto any available space around it. Obviously this church was more popular than the others I’d already walked past, but it was a nice thing to see. Most of the people outside couldn’t hear what was going on inside, yet they still hung round all the same, chatting with other families instead.


The other surprise I had while in Tbilisi was the dumplings! A friend and I saw dumplings on the menu and were a little surprised, having had no idea that dumplings were eaten outside of Asia. What came out were not the kinds of dumplings we’ been expecting at all! They were huge, about the size of my hand. Certainly not chopstick size, and not really fork size either! After eating a few, we were told by a couple at the table next to us that you actually ate them with your hand, by turning the dumpling upside down, and using the top of the dumpling as a kind of handle. It felt so strange! Turns out I’d be seeing dumplings all along the Silk Road for the next two and half months, of all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of sauces and fillings.

The Soviet influence on Georgia is still in some of its architecture, but if you go looking for it, there’s a little more to see and learn. Georgia also hosts Goris, the birthplace of Stalin, though he doesn’t seem to be entirely popular with the locals. One of the more interesting places we visited was the Soviet car museum. This is a tiny place, down a dirt track, and you’d have to know about it to find it. Not being a car person myself, I didn’t appreciate it quite as much as some, but it was definitely interesting to see the array of cars, and learn about which types cars were used by the police, diplomats, leaders, or locals. I also loved the bullet proof car – with a gunshot in its windscreen. Those who work there have spent a lot of time and money restoring these old cars to pristine condition, which you can see them doing in the workshops just next to the display room. It was a quick glimpse into daily life during Soviet times, as seen from a mechanics workshop.

Our final stop in Georgia was the Lagodekhi National Park area, where we camped for the night. Not far from both the Russian and Azeri borders, these woods were a nice changed rom everything else I’d seen so far on my travels. Most other scenery I’d seen had been deserts, mountains, open fields, and cities. It felt like we were getting into out into nature, and I’d been looking forward to my first night of camping. After stetting up camp, I snuck off to play saxophone for a while a little. The sound carried beautifully, and I could hear it ringing out through the trees. I enjoyed it so much that I just stopped playing, sat down on my saxophone case, and watched the insects and birds flit around, before standing again to play.

I travelled to Georgia to start my Silk Road trip with Dragoman, who specialise in overland journeys. Local home stays and camping took us off the beaten track, and certainly made the trip more memorable!