Got up nice and early to get to the lake as early as possible, we were told it is open dawn ‘til dusk, but it isn’t, it opens at 9am. We got there at around 8am, a long time after dawn. So we killed an hour by sitting around chatting, Hugh and I climbed up the hill, but forgot to take a camera, it was a great view point for the dusty desert. Then 9 came and we went to go in but the man at the gate wanted 40 Manat each and noone wanted to pay that much, Lonely Planet had said around $10 per person, at the current rate 40M is around $15 but the price for Turkmen was 3 Manat! We wouldn’t pay that much tourist tax, and he absolutely wouldn’t budge on price, so we left it. We were, however, all desperate for a wash so we asked the man washing the toilets if we could borrow his hosepipe. He didn’t have a problem, so we all washed down under this huge hose and went on our way back to Ashgabat to find the Bazar.
After much driving around in circles we found the Bazar and it was HUGE! Hugh says he read 680 acres somewhere, I have no idea how big an acre is, but this place was massive, it actually feels like a bazar too, people are haggling, there are stalls everywhere and anywhere, it's not like the fake touristy version in Mashad anyway.
We had a long wander around some of the stalls, tried a couple of times to haggle cassette players down to dirt cheap, but people here seem to think they’re worth something. We all got tasty kebabs and then hid in the shade for a while all gulping down the bottles of cool water. Then we got back on the road to Mary. Going to try and get past Mary to camp somewhere near the ruins of the ancient city of Merv, so we can go and visit that tomorrow.
We’ve just pulled over at the side of the road because there’s a Mongol Rally car in a field! A Terios had a blowout and rolled down the bank into the field, nobody badly injured, but it looks a mess and will probably cost a lot to fix. This road is full of potholes so it could have happened to anyone. The 2 guys in the other car that was with them (The Spigots) had also rolled their car in Turkey!
After much driving around in circles we found the Bazar and it was HUGE! Hugh says he read 680 acres somewhere, I have no idea how big an acre is, but this place was massive, it actually feels like a bazar too, people are haggling, there are stalls everywhere and anywhere, it's not like the fake touristy version in Mashad anyway.
We had a long wander around some of the stalls, tried a couple of times to haggle cassette players down to dirt cheap, but people here seem to think they’re worth something. We all got tasty kebabs and then hid in the shade for a while all gulping down the bottles of cool water. Then we got back on the road to Mary. Going to try and get past Mary to camp somewhere near the ruins of the ancient city of Merv, so we can go and visit that tomorrow.
We’ve just pulled over at the side of the road because there’s a Mongol Rally car in a field! A Terios had a blowout and rolled down the bank into the field, nobody badly injured, but it looks a mess and will probably cost a lot to fix. This road is full of potholes so it could have happened to anyone. The 2 guys in the other car that was with them (The Spigots) had also rolled their car in Turkey!
Just been into town to buy everyone some cold water and the police have pulled the Terios out of the field and burst another tyre in the process. They’re off back to Ashgabat to try to get it fixed. We’re back on the road to Mary.
Oh dear! We must have missed a signpost or an obvious turning because we’re not on the road to Mary. We’ve just been stopped at a checkpoint where the soldiers laughed at us and told us we’re at Serahs, a town on the Iranian border! Russell blames missing the sign on his desperation to find a nice spot to use the poo chair, and his terrible night-vision.
Just driven back up the road a bit and found somewhere to camp beside the road (The road back to the road to Mary!)
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