This is the Aral Sea. The photo above was taken from Moynak  harbour wall, where you can now see the local fishing fleet stranded. It was a fishing village once home to over 10,000 people, their boats and a canning factory. The drying up happened here so quickly that many owners were unable to move their boats in time. It is now a place of immense sadness and dereliction. The drying up of the vast Aral sea has destroyed the local economy.

Leaving Turkmenistan was a lot easier than arriving in it. Sort of. My guide was panicking as the borders were closed between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, some sort of tiff as far as I could understand. Having been in Central Asia for two weeks I was less concerned, these crazy things tend to sort themselves out, all you need is patience.

On the northern edge of the Kara Kum desert are the remains of the important Silk Road trading post of Gurganj. It was the capital of Khorezm, a small country surrounded by the Persians and Uzbeks. It was a place of great beauty, with palaces, gardens and the mighty Oxus river providing both transport and irrigation. Its beauty was no protection from invasion.