Iran, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan...............................

The valley of the fish farms ........

Our fish supper  fished ............



...... and gutted



Fish tanks

 It is a week since Iran and so much has happened.  I have not been abe to log in, explain later on in this entry.  Leaving Tehran was fairly easy and we went through some stunningly beautiful scenery in the Golestan National Park.  After the flat, dusty desert the trees, water, greenery was such a change.  Interestingly we all thought that the scenery reminded us of somewhere from earer to our respective homes.  For me it was the Ardennes and interestingly enough there were masses of vinyards (only producing vinagre or eating grapes, of course!) 


The landscape so reminicent of France complete with the"ghost" of a Drago traveller!



Don't tell me that some of this doesn't end up
in a wine bottle not a vinaigre bottle!



My first view ever of a dormant volcano, Mount Damavand ................



.... with that tantalising, teasing little waft of smoke - when next?



Ah! .... the places of romance and the places of history .....

the Caspian Sea

Iran does not import all the rice that is eaten there ........

 

... rice paddies under an uncertain sky.

We had a photostop to take pix of Iran's volcano (sorry forgotten the name!) but fortunately  dormant at the moment that we passed it!  Then down a valley where I think every single trout farm in Iran was situated - so we had the most delicious meal of fresh trout that evening in our car-park campsite.  We parked up in a carpark in the middle of a town, having tried the regional Governor's place on the outskirts of town, but he said no!  The local Mosque provided our "facilities".  The tarmac was a bit hard but nobody bothered us apart from the usual interest.  Next morning we headed off towards the border.  We hotelled it that night and when we got to our hotel there was a wedding in full go.  After a long wait we crossed the border and entered Turkmenistan and headed down to Ashbaghat.

TURKMENISTAN.........

A surreal city of white marble rising from the moutains on one side and the desert on the other.  After Iran the lack of litter was almost in your face.  In the morning, and at other times of the day there were groups of women, usually "supervised" by a man sweeping the streets with brooms.  So that is how the streets came to be so clean! The previous President of Turkmenistan called himself "Turkmenbashi" or leader of the Turkmen people.  He was very keen on white marble and arranged for a tremendous monument of himself to be built out of white marble topped by a huge golden statue which turns so that his outstretched arms always follow the course of the sun.  This is truly amazing and indicates a man who had supreme confidence in himself!  After Iran it seemed very quiet, nobody approached us in the street to talk and everything seemed very well ordered. 



The surreal, white marble city



.... of Ashbeghat



... a dictator's dream rising from the ashes and dust .......



.... of a devastating earthquake.



But kept so clean [Turkmenbashi, the former dictator,on the right]



... because teams of women sweep the streets with house brushes.....



but fortunately did not sweep this little person away.



Ah yes, they do a good line in cakes too!

So going to the Sunday market was a compete contrast to the city.  There everything bustled in the huge market place where it seemed that anything could be bought or sold.  The animal market was an eye opener - to see a camel being craned into the back of a lorry so only its head stuck out over the sides or a calf being put into the backseat of a car.

Ashbaghat Sunday Market where all good containers go to die.

How to get a camel in the back of a lorry in 5 easy steps ........

.......... not for the faint hearted but at the same time ...........

... these animals are somebody's livelihood and ............

.... and are a capital investment

 

.... and from what I saw looked ........



..... healthy and well cared for ............

..... even if the market appeared a bit chaotic.



A last view of the market before heading out to the desert.

 After this more desert but for me it was much more how I imagined desert to be - sand dunes disappearing into the distance, yet surprisingly green.  When we took our "pee breaks" we were told to check for scorpions (more of this later) and snakes before squatting!   There was a campsite in a desert truckstop which sadly was going to be closed in 4 days time (there had been several of these on the way - small, empty houses by te side of the road with holes knocked in the walls.  The governement apears to discourage this sort of enterprise.  This one despite the imminent closure was very welcoming and also offered sleeping accomodation to those that wanted.  Then the most amazing thing happened - during the drive we had stoped at a couple of natural gas craters where there had been drilling.  One filled with water and the other with bubbling mud as the gas made its way to the surface.  But the 3rd one (at Darvaza) we were to see was way off ther road along a desert track  Our guide flagged down a passing truck (ex Russian army 6 wheel drive) and after the nogociation of a small fee the drivers said they would take us.  Actually they were on their way home to beyond Ashbaghat but the small fee persuaded them to do it - also despite being Turkmeni lorry drivers they did not know of the crater's existence.  As it got dark and with the help of a step ladder we all piled into this huge truck (standing room only) and made our way down the road.  When the 2 Queensland ladies got into the truck they did the most fantastic "camel in a truck" impersonation replicating to the last bray exactly what we had seen that morning at the animal market - even down to the heads sticking up over the sides of the lorry!  It was an awesome performance - fortunately captured on video.  At this point the guys driving us there may well have had doubt about the whole outing- and possibly wondered if they should be taking us to see a natural gas crater or  to Turkmenistan's psychiatric hospital!!!  As we cruised through the desert along the an track we were in a queue of lorries going to work at another gas well.  One of the lorries in front got bogged down in the sand and the next thing we were flying off the track and across sand as if we were on a motorway - it was absolutely thrilling to be riding  sand dunes and I was so sorry that the lorry unbogged itself and we rejoined the track.  Then the crater - oh..... what a sight.  A huge crater in the middle of the desert aboiut 40 feet deep - on fire.  It has been on fire for over 40 years following a drilling accident in Soviet times and drilling operation went wrong and the well collapsed, caught fire and has burned ever since.  As I am not having much luck with downloading photos, despite having bought extra space I will load all these photos when I get back hopefully by the end of July so that you can see what I am on about.  But this certainly has been a unique experience and a memory I shall treasure and I think I found the ride to the crater as exciting, if not more so, than seeing the crater itself and that was exciting enough.  Oh... what a day that was.  Our final day in Turkmenistan was very "cultural" as we went to the site of Konye Urgench - a superb mausoleum and also the tallest minaret/building in Central Asia at 63metres (and 20 shorter than when it was built a long time ago - check the internet or a guide book for exact details- mine are on Archie at the moment) until Turkmenbashi built his enormous statue.   That night we found a campsite by the side of the road - our guide certainly earned his money as he delath with the police, a farmer and an immigration officer just so that we did not have to move on - unlike Iran where camping appears to be the norm (we were not the only tents in that car park) despite having nomadic/semi nomadic populations the country is not a camping country at all - or at least not for foreigners.  So this leads to the scorpion story -  I went off to have a pee and did the usual scorpion/snake check and was satisfied that all was safe - started to do the business only to notice something moving - on closer inspection I saw a small but angry scorpion trying to run away from a stream of piss!!!  I would have been angry too, I think.  I finished the operation moving up the bank as I did and legged it out before the angry scorpion had time to realise who or what had caused its distress!  Or maybe I drowned it - I did not hang around long enough to check! 

UZBEKISTAN......................

Over the border yesterday (20th April) where I made a very serious border guard laugh- yes it is possible - He had been really po-faced with everybody and when it was my turn I said "salamaleikum" as recommended in my phrase book and got a "salam" grunt back again.  He looked at the pasport - glared at me until I took my specs off - then proceeded to look at my passport - visas/stamps etc. until he came across my Iran visa which contains the most horrendous photo of me with hair completely covered by a black headscarf looking extemely severe (I was really pissed off when the photo was taken because black is not my colour and I do not look my best with hair completely covered - in fact I described myself as looking like a "middle eastern dominatrix").  So the guard looked at the photo - then back at me - then at the photo again and looked at me with a realy quizzical expression and at this point I snorted and he started to laugh and I guffawed and then I got a really lovely "goodbye" in return for my "rehmat" (thank you) and another big grin!  The guard after that was an Arsenal supporter and very disapppointed that I did not have a favourite team!  He said next time I come back to bring a shirt!  So Uzbekistan - here I came.

Today has been spent in Khiva - truly wonderful and I can see why a world heritage site.  A walled city full of musuems, hareems, palaces with beautifully decorated ceilings - more photos of this in uly.  We went on a walking tour around the city and I have been just overwhelmed by the decorations, beautiful buildings and things I have seen.  Tomorow we make our way to Bukhara and more culture.  So hopefully a bit more of this later. 

• Lorry laden with wood slowly crawling  the hill.
• Hairpin bends snake through the mountains.
• Sulpherous smoking volcan white against a blue, blue sky.
• Rough rocky peaks like a cheese grater.
• Strands of cloud rising from the morning trees.
• A frog leaping through a rice field.
• Lunch by the Caspian Sea under grey cloud.
• Poppies in the fields in April! 
• Turkmen girls in bright red skirts
• Real border country- harsh and forbidding.
• Climbing up to the border.
• Border ridge 2000+ metres high.
• Crossed the border (Iran/Turkmenistan)
• Small fox by the side of the road.
• Ashbaghat - is unreal -surealist - empty white marble skyscrapers.
• Clean white streets
• Camels walking stately across the desert.
• Ripples on the sand dunes
• Wind whistling, whipping up the desert.
• Green fields.- irrigation systems.
• A donkey cart plodding along themain road
• A surprised hnting hawk dropped its prey
• Crossed the Oxus - Syr Darya - now I feel that I am truly on a journey.