Water, from which all life comes from – appreciate our waters!
I entered Turkmenistan on the 1st of July. The entering procedure at the border crossing in Saraghs took quite a while so when I finished the temperature was the highest possible. But as I only had a 5 day tourist Visa, which is pretty short to cover the distance of 500km through the desert, I continued my journey immediately.
I had three litres of water when I entered the Nord-West oriented third class road. As I entered the road, there was a police check post, than for like 40km not even a sign of human life. By the way, considering this track a road is an overstatement; I would rather call it a sandy rollercoaster. Next to road runs the Karakum channel, which transports the water to the local cotton fields.
Afternoon the traffic started. As I was running low on water, I stopped trucks to ask for some water. Usually they just pointed towards the channel; telling me, that they also just drink that. First I objected, but as my water run out and I was on the verge of drying out I had no other choice. Just on the second day, when I reached a first class road, I found a shop where I was able to buy water. 3 litres per day was by far not enough. I drank approximately 8 litres in the great heat. The temperature rapidly rises from 9am, reaching 40 degrees, around 10am it is almost 50. Luckily till then I was done with my daily plan; after 82km I arrived in Mary, from there to the not so far lying ruins of the city Merv.
Around 2500 years ago Merv was a blooming town, an important waypoint on the Silk Road. It was here where I met the young boy, Rovshen, who together with his father, showed me around the ancient ruins. Back in the days it must have been a gigantic city, as it took us a while to drive around in it in a car. This was the only city on the Silk Road where the believers of all the different religions were allowed to live freely next to each other.
Rovshen’s family invited me to stay with them for a night, which I gladly accepted. We visited his uncle as well, who has camels as domestic animals. The village was noisy from a wedding celebration, but precisely at 11pm all the noise stopped. You must know, in Turkmenistan there is a curfew after 11pm, so even wedding celebrations cannot last longer.
