Last Saturday was the inagural Merv camp out. Well it was inagural for the T-16s. Merv is one of those cultural heritage type places, and rightly derserves to be. It was sacked by all manner of mauradering hordes including Ghengis Khan, the Mongols, and the Russians. It was strong hold of Sultan Sanjar who used to dictate the Persian caliphat from his desert. Even though it now stands in ruins, the place is awe inspiring. The old walls of the city loom up like mountains. The area where towns and houses used to be look like immense valleys, and it is littered with thousand year old pottery shards. Conservation is a bit behind.
We rolled up, 19 altogether, in two vans with carpets to sleep on, kilos of meat to cook, and a burning desire to “destroy some nature.” We had to hack our own firewood with axes whose heads were liable to fly off the handle and clear the sleeping area of vicious desert thorn plants. When that was done, we toasted the night (Merv bolsun), and cooked shashlik. I overcame my distates, fear, and repugnance of raw hamburger in order to make beautiful skewers.
As I stood on top of one of the walls, I saw a tour bus in the distance. Turkmenistan is wary of foreingers being in their country unsupervised. Generally to travel here, you need to be on a tour or have an approved travel ‘minder’ at all time. As we waved from our sentinel positions on the wall, I was really that I have this chance to see Turkmenistan at a different level. Those on the bus were guided among the stones, while I slept among the ruins!
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