Before getting into the desert, it was time to have the first hours of the day to freely walk around Ashgabat, but only there nowhere else. Getting spied on in Turkmenistan, read about it.
We were getting some breakfast in the hotel and then it was time!
Exploring without a guide the capital
We walked out of the hotel and wanted to reach a mosque which looked like the famous one in Istanbul. Along the way, we walked through a park and the park was packed with statues. There were so many and it felt a bit weird as well, not only because of the statues also because it was empty.
On the streets we were seeing a lot of cars for the first time while being in Turkmenistan.
There was some life happening in the streets, something positive!
I felt like I was being watched the whole time, the eyes were sometimes on us, at least I saw people looking at us, something weird for sure.
Mosque
The mosque was cool, it looked really like the one in Istanbul and it was made because of it.
People were praying, but it was almost empty.
The mosque was beautiful from the inside and outside and it was very peaceful there.
We were relaxing a bit and took some photos and videos. I took in this trip way more pictures then I would do usually, this was due to the fact, that I would probably not come back anytime soon. At least for the time it is hard to visit without a guide.
Sadly we didn’t have that much time, because we would need to meet again with the guide to continue the tour.
Getting surprised
On the way back, I was taking pictures of a picture of the leader of the country.
Out of nowhere some undercover guy was coming to me, showed me the patch and told me to basically delete the picture.
Still I don’t understand why it would be something negative to take pictures of the leader. In the end it is showing respect to him in my opinion. Of course he never said, delete it completely from my phone, just to delete it and that is what I was doing.
From then on I looked a bit more through the streets. There were people near the important places who looked like normal people, but they weren’t.
I don’t get such things, why is it necessary at least, but I probably will never as well.
Obviously it is to keep the country and people shut, but that makes nobody happy.
Let’s go into desert
It was time to drive to the most popular destination of the country. The gate of hell!
For that he had to be driven outside of the city and to change the car.
I was happy to be away from Ashgabat and to be in silence a bit.
The roads were just bad, surprisingly bad. The government is putting so much money into buildings in the capital, but is not making good roads in important ways.
On the way it was possible to see many camels and sheep’s, but most things out there were obviously sand. Sometimes another car is passing by and driving in not a straight line is common.
Sometimes a road is well constructed on the one side and shit on the other and sometimes it is the other way around. The logic wasn’t there.
Stop in a little village
We were stopping in a little village before staying overnight in the desert without any possibility to buy something.
The shop was in a cool looking village, where many things were destroyed. Finally something authentic. The shop we went to was small and had not many things, but each of us found something.
It wasn’t good, but better than nothing and being inside a supermarket is quite cool in any new country, in my opinion.
Next to the shop there was a school located and the kids were playing volleyball.
The kids were excited when they saw us and our guide allowed us to play with them.
The girls were running away and we were able to play with the boys. All the other kids who were watching got super excited. It was a lot of fun and they were enjoying it as well.
At the end I took my phone out, to capture the moment that finished off the game. The kids were so afraid of the camera, that they were running away. It was so weird to see and made me wonder and question about even more things in this country.
Driving to the gate of hell
On the way to the gate of hell, there were two other big holes, the one which should have mud in it but ended up only having a little bit of fire. The other hole was filled with a lot of water and trash. They were to be honest quite sad to see, the only thing which hyped me was the desert.
I just love to be inside of the desert and enjoy the silence besides some sound of wind.
We were arriving in our yurt camp and were introduced to the owners of the camp. It was time for us to check out the gate of hell.
Like mentioned in the article which is going to be published in June. For sure check it out then!
Gate of Hell
The gate of hell is during the day very little and quite disappointing. It has some fire on the sides and that’s it. At some parts it is quite warm and at other parts you can even freeze.
Felix and I both were expecting more from it.
Around the Gate of Hell was actually nothing happening, nothing that you could do or see.
Just some yurts and that was basically it.
We were preparing the dinner and I was left alone, because I was the only one who was not eating meat. I was cooking my own pasta which sucked due to the tomato sauce I added.
The tomato sauce was very disgusting, the rest was okay, but not really edible.
The night
The night was coming and you didn’t need a light to find the gate of hell, you were seeing it!
I could understand now why they would name it like that. It looks from the distance actually like the entrance to hell.
From being close there it is actually not looking as amazing as you would imagine from pictures or from storytelling. In my opinion it is hyped too much, all people around me thought the same.
Being in the desert and everything is great, but it wasn’t a “wow” moment, as you would imagine.
There were other tourists who just looked at the fire for a few minutes and left again.
The night in the yurt was great, I was sleeping well until before sunrise I couldn’t sleep anymore due to some snoring.
Sunrise
For sunrise I went back to the gate of hell and enjoyed the peace. Nobody was around me and I had the fire for myself. It was also a bit scary, but I still enjoyed it. The silence was great.
We had some breakfast all together and went back in the car to drive to Uzbekistan.
On the way we did some off road streets and were able to stand inside of a herd of goats. That was maybe even my highlight of the trip even though I am afraid of them.
Overall I was happy to leave the country and not so motivated to be in Uzbekistan, because my last trip there wasn’t as great.
What’s up next?
Next week you will read how this trip continued and how Uzbekistan went, so stay tuned!
