Can't believe it is three weeks since I held an online Twitter vote on what Memoirs piece to write next; which is another way of saying er I haven't done it yet. Let's just say one thing and another has got in its way (and I also may have forgotten about it). Anyway the winner was 'Turkmenistan' and I have now started it. Hope to get it finished and up today. In the meantime here are a few shots I took in the country.




A Government building and the Russian Market in Ashgabat and a bread seller near Guardak, north east Turkmenistan.


A seed seller and me playing Russian billiards.

One of the remains at Merv (Mary) on the Silk Road and me near the Afghan border.

Salt at the Gulf of Karabogaz and a ubiquitous statue of 'Turkmenbashy'.

An evening of vodka, beer and bbq in Krasnovodsk (Turkmenbashi) by the Caspian and a massive though apparently 'cursed' mosque in Ashgabat.


Camels running near Merv and motorbikes with modified side-cars.

The pontoon bridge over the Amu Darya (aka the Oxus), near Turkmenabat in north east Turkmenistan and a Government building in Ashgabat.


The 'Arch of Neutrality' or Tower of Power in Ashgabat (complete with rotating gold statue of the first hero of the Turkmen state).