May 22 to 23 Dusk and with it the haunting sound of the azaan!

The sounds of the azaan bracketed our days. It's a haunting, almost comforting, sound and accompanied us on our journey across Central Asia. This morning was no exception. From Bukhara in Uzbekistan we headed west towards Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. It was a interesting trip passing goats and camels and donkey carts full of all manner of goods including reeds - reeds are collected for a number of purposes including stock fodder and roofing.  At one point we crossed the Karakum River.  This is a man-made canal linking a couple of big rivers to bring life-giving water to the desert. Irrigation on a grand scale. Water is used wisely here. Drainage runoff from the irrigated fields is collected and piped to the desert against times of drought. It is salty but water nonetheless. 

(Most shots are framed by the car window!)

Past many ugly gas plants

Karakum River, a man-made canal

Not so pleasant was the border crossing into Turkmenistan. It was a very lengthy process having to pass through two sets of border check points and all that gors with that. Our driver dropped us at the border control and left - and there we stood along with a few other people.  I managed to winkle out of one of the guards that they were closed - for lunch? prayers? Suffice it to say it entailed a bit of a wait but one of the guards brought a chair out for us, the dear man.  Once inside Uzbeki border control building the process was not difficult. We were even filmed! We were the main feature of what we think was the making of a promo or training video - we were the only ‘clients’ there. Lots of smiles and we sailed through. The grind was yet to come!  Outside we had to check through a guard post where our details were hand written into a ledger before hreading out into no man's land! We then had to walk almost 2 km with our luggage in 35+C midday sun to the next border control - and it was a pretty rough track. Not the most fun experience we'd had, but all part of the journey.

Then at the Turkmenistan border control we were held up by a franctious group of French tourists who were giving the officers a very hard time. It was rather embarassing.  I think the customs officers were not overly helpful - a bit of (well deserved) payback! We just shrugged our shoulders and smiled. It was all over the visa and immigration fees which we had been warned about. At this point, our guide arrived and we were swept through without a hitch inspite of the puzzlement over our large bag of drugs (which we had been nervous about). I indicated that we were old and had heart issues and got lots of kind smiles. All that mucking about was worth it in the end as our guide, Atu, was a walking talking Mr Google. You can imagine my delight - me, who never stops asking questions! He was a real gem and he was kept busy! We piled into a broken down car to take us away from the control point and there was our lovely driver, Ibrahim, waiting with a comfortable car and lots of smiles. Then we were off to the ancient site of Merv. 

 

Watching as ancient Merv comes into sight

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan's capital, was too far to reach that day so we stayed in Mary. On the way, we spent a couple of hours exploring ancient Merv which was built around C6 BC. It is a major archaeological site in Central Asia and once contained several walled cities built over a couple of millennia - C6 and C3 BC into C8 and C15 AD. We wandered almost totally alone among ruins in this 14-hectare site. Ruins, grand and other-worldly, became increasingly dramtic as they became silhouetted against a fading lavender and chartreuse sky. It was a thrilling experience.

Mud washed down from the old walls is used for restoration 

One of the very early palaces

Within the boundaries of the site we came across the C12 Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar. Even though it was very late, the kind watchman let us in for a good look.  It was huge, silent and a little spine-chilling.

C12 Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar glowing in the light of the setting sun

We ended our visit to this ancient site exploring a C12 tomb outside of which on an old dead tree was witness to a not-so-distant Zoroastrian past - devotees still come here at particular times of year to tie their wishes and prayers to this ‘tree’. 

C12 tomb

A very old wishing tree

Our guide Atu

Outside ancient steps led to a deep water cistern from an earlier settlement

Merv was a spectacular place to be allowed to explore. We felt very privileged and we had the perfect guide in Atu. It was a highly romantic way to end a rather challenging day and an interesting introduction to Turkmenistan. (We weren't sure we would be allowed to enter Turkmenistan until a few days before we left home!) We arrived in Mary to a quite luxurious hotel and an extremely late dinner. Tomorrow Ashgabat!