Travel notes

FROM Dec 22, Turkmenistan Airlines will resume flights from Ashgabat to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, three times weekly. The flight is about eight hours.

Merv Historical Site

Mary is currently the fourth largest city in the country, with a population of 130,000. Merv, a big 300BC, manmade abandoned city lies 10km away. According to historians, Merv was an important political economy of the Silk Road and a communication centre for philosophers in the 13th century. At that time, the resident population was about 500,000 people. From Persia to Greece, Mongolia, and Arabia, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam successively entered Merv, thus leaving a valuable culture of beliefs and ideologies, which includes the foundation of basic education. However, due to various effects and the aftermath of war, Merv was completely abandoned in the hands of the Soviet Union in 1989. In 1999, it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Darvaza Gas Crater

Most tourists come for this “Door to Hell”. Although called a “door”, it is actually a man-made crater filled with flammable gas.

In the early 1970s, geologists came to the area to search for underground natural gas. After digging three pits in the desert, no natural gas was found but an oil field was discovered just 10km away.

Shortly after that, the old pits that had been dug out (measuring about 50-100m in diameter) started to burn ... this blazing flame has been burning for 48 years and never extinguished! It’s a man-made miracle.

It burns around the clock, but the most suitable time to witness this is in the evening, when you can better experience the “infernal fire”, making it seem and look like it is the entrance to Hell.

Leesan, the founder of Apple Vacations, has travelled to 127 countries, six continents and enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored two books.