It was time to leave the white city of Ashgabat and head deeper into Turkmenistan. Our destination was Mary (pronounced Mahree). Althoughit is a sizable town there is not much in Mary itself. It is more of a commercial centre. However a visit to the local market provided an insight to local life. The stall holders were happy to engage with us, let us sample their wares and hopefully make a sale. So far the Turkmen hospitality has been front and centre. They ...

The Darvaza Gas Crater is without doubt one of the more bizarre sights I have seen. Located in the Karakum Desert about 250kms north of Ashgabat it was created when Russian engineers were exploring for gas. A giant sink hole formed where they were drilling. Deciding the best option was was to burn it off they set fire to it - and that was 48 years ago. Today it is still burning strong and shows no signs of extinguishing itself. About 80 metres across and 30 ...

Welcome to Ashgabat - or as the locals call it Ash Vegas. There are a few things that immediately strike you. The first is that virtually every building is white, and in many cases it is white Italian marble, the second is the neat and tidy layout and the proliferation of parks and gardens (12 million trees have been planted) and the third is they love their lights. It's a very modern city thanks to the unfortunate occurence of an earthquake in 1948 that meas...