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Gonur Depe - Ancient Capital

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 11:56 Douglas Turkmenistan - Sights

September 2007

Gonur Depe is an active archeological dig/restoration project in the middle of the Karakum desert. Experts believe that this was the capital of a previously unknown great ancient empire, but fell into disrepair when the river that it was situated on dried up. We were lucky to receive a tour of the site from the head archeologist, although I am sure he just barely tolerated having to do it. This site is interesting because of its animal graves, something which was apparently not common.

We spent a day here talking with people, and wandering around the site watching the workers. The city is expansive, stretching off into the distance. Pottery was strewn everywhere, aside from the piles shown in the pictures here, there were enough pieces lying around to fill a small house. I looked for coins, but everyone else had gotten before I did!

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 December 2009 12:11

Walk of Health

Sunday, 29 March 2009 16:30 Douglas Turkmenistan - Sights

Location: Just west of Ashgabat.

Cost: Your knees.

October 2007

We were on our way out of Ashgabat, heading towards Darvaza when we saw this on the side of the road and absolutely had to stop. I had read about this in the guide book, but seeing it really showed me how crazy things can be in Turkmenistan at times. Our guide looked at the stairways with disgust as she explained how about how one Saturday a month, all the members of her department that were in the city at the time had to go and do one of these walks. The Walk(s) Of Health are two long staircases to nowhere. One is fairly short (8km) while the other one is a bit longer at an easy 25km. From what I heard, they only had to go for an hour or two nowadays, but before the leader passed on it was mandatory to complete at least the 8km climb.

Now while I like a good hike every now and then, I can't imagine this being any fun. Makes a good story though I suppose!

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Last Updated on Sunday, 29 March 2009 16:40

Darvaza Gas Crater

Thursday, 05 February 2009 13:46 Douglas Turkmenistan - Sights

Location: Middle of the Frickin' Desert. Make sure you go with someone who knows where it is!

October 2007

I need to get this out of the way, I love Turkmenistan. It has to be my favorite country to travel in. I have never seen so many unique things at one time, like I have here. The whole country blew my mind. This was on the second last day of my stay in there, and it was an amazing experience. We showed up just after sunset, and I got some great pictures of me doing a fire dance. I will post them later, though you will probably not want me to!

According to the guide, this hole was created by the explosion and subsequent collapse of an old Soviet natural gas mine. There are several other craters, but none are on fire like this one. Those seemed to collapse and fill up, where as this one exploded causing the flames we see today. The constant supply of gas to the crater is what keeps everything going. Since so many people have died in mining disasters, no one wants to get near these things, which is why it has stayed the way it has for so long.

We were the only people there at that time, so we got a pretty good view, and could stand right up at the edge of it. In the video above you can see how close we got!

The video has been moved to here