Out on the edge of the Karakum desert near the oasis city of Merv, odd buildings rise from the plain like giant sandcastles with ribbed sides. These are koshks, fortified mansions built of mud brick, their walls shaped into deep vertical corrugations that gave strength and shade and kept the interiors cool. Garam koshk is one of them, battered by centuries of wind and the occasional rainstorm, but still impressive in its bulk. They belong to the world of medieval Merv, and the most famous, the Kyz Kala, stand within the vast archaeological park that UNESCO inscribed in 1999.
Merv was one of the great cities of the Silk Road, a capital of the Seljuk empire and, at its height in the twelfth century, among the largest cities on Earth. Its ruins spread over many square kilometres, with walled cities of different periods side by side: Erk Kala, Gyaur Kala, Sultan Kala, and the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar, whose great dome still dominates the plain. In 1221 the Mongols destroyed the city with appalling slaughter, and it never fully recovered. The Murghab river, which brought life to the oasis, still flows through the region, feeding cotton fields and orchards.
Riding in Turkmenistan is not straightforward. Foreign visitors normally need a visa, often a transit visa with a fixed route, or a tourist visa with a guide, and riding your own motorcycle involves paperwork and restrictions. The roads in the Mary region are generally flat and straight, through irrigated farmland and desert, with sometimes poor surfaces and checkpoints. Summer temperatures are extreme, often above forty degrees, so spring and autumn are the only sensible seasons.
Bayramaly, eleven kilometres away, and the regional capital Mary, half an hour further, cover fuel, hotels and food. Petrol in Turkmenistan has long been very cheap, but rules for foreigners buying it can change, so fill whenever you are allowed to. The food is plain and filling, plov rich with mutton and carrots, shashlik grilled over charcoal, round tandyr bread and endless pots of green tea, and hospitality is generous even where language fails. Carry far more water than seems sensible, cover up from the sun, and follow the instructions of guides and officials without argument.