The news here accordign to the locals im sat with is reporting that the 10 minutes of intermittant heavy vibration i just sat through was infact an earthquake.

i did not realise this place had so much seizmic activity ? – looking at earthquake track (which is not registering todays YET ) they seem toi have one in this area every 6 months.

the last one was on october 23rd at 4.4 magnitude – but the epicentre was about 100km west of here so i did not feel it .

looking out the windows some of the locals were running round like maddies …. i had no idea what was going on – just thought it was a big truck haha

where?

balkanabat, turkmenistan

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGGIZKLrgmA[/video]

(bound to be, from this day forward, all Earthquakes are officially due to Fracking!)

Munich Re zone 4 (of 4), right in the middle of a red bit.

What’s it like?

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/research/manchester_sequence.html
I remember these clearly.The first one woke me up the second later on,happened whilst I was at work and gave everyone a fright in the seven storey floor office block where we worked.The ageing windows rattled like mad and one cracked…..

balkanabat, turkmenistan

You working for Burren/ENI?

nah i did a lower completion/sand control for dragon oil over the weekend in the LAM field

The joy of working for a service company.

ok so its showing on earthquake track now , 4.4 magnitude and right on my location.

was like sitting on a very big washing machine

I experienced a few tremors and an earthquake while living in Peru. Every truck going past made everyone cock an ear and ready themselves to sprint to shelter!

Trail Rat – ask the locals there about the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake.

I was in a small one there in 2006 (Burren’s field, a bit south east of you).

O/T – don’t forget to buy chocs/flowers on Womens’ day Friday March 8th for all the girls (if any) in the field offices – you will get lynched if not!

haha cheers for the warning caspian , lucky im due to fly out on saturday coming – i can think of at least 1 of the lassies in the office that would use it as a good excuse to beat me up ……we have had a few clashes of temper.

yeah the 1948 one that flattened the city. thats why most of ashgabat looks lovely in the white marble – till you get up close and see that many of the modern buildings are actually clad in a plastic marble look alike…..

I remember being in one on Boxing Day 2006 in Dumfries:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/6209949.stm

It was a 3.5 on the richter scale.

lucky im due to fly out on saturday coming

If you’re staying a night in Ashgabat, make sure you’re up at 7am to see the roads being closed and the President driving to work in his cavalcade. Amazing sight. Goes past the Nisa and President hotels. You won’t see any locals, just military/police saluting him blazing past at 80mph surrounded by a bunch of motorbikes

where?

Hiding under his stairs nr Aberdeen 😉

ah ill already be in the airport – no idea where our staffhouse is.

my flights at 8.35 so i imagine ill probably be in the airport at 6am to avoid this cavalcade – the only thing on the other side of security is a bar ….. is 6am too early for a post job”im getting the hell out of here” whisky ? i guess its drink o-clock somewhere in the world ….

Enjoy having your passport checked nine times. Next to the departure lounge with the bar there’s a business class lounge. Further up towards the windows there’s a prayer room and a sly little room no-one knows about with four made up beds in! Beats sitting on the red metal chairs listening to Russian rap videos at 120 decibels

I like your washing machine comment. There was an EQ when I was in Wellington in december, it was about a 4 and a half I think. I was woken up early in the morning with the bed shaking, and was wondering what my mother was doing running the washing machine so early in the morning thats exactly how it felt ! Dahuh.

aye id have gone to the lounge IF i was flying lufthansa as normal as frequent flier – i dont intend to be a frequent flier with turkish airlines – its a hellish flight.

oh and thats after ive negotiated turkmenbashi airport – the immaculate place that actually has nothing in ……

santa isobel in equatorial guinea – is a **** tattie shed on an island and even it has a place to grab a coffee/some food after security

oh and thats after ive negotiated turkmenbashi airport – the immaculate place that actually has nothing in

Agreed on that. I had to spend a whole night there waiting for a delayed TM Airlines flight to Asb. They really know how to make nothing out of something in Turkmenistan.

Did any locals talk you through how they passed their driving tests? They have to read and revise the former President’s book, the Ruhnama. Answer a few questions on the book, pay a quick bribe and you’re good to drive away!

haha – it shows in their driving – my driver jumped a prado on my drive from Asb to Bknb then another driver had our sienna going sideways on the drive to hazar just because it rained a little – after that found out that his rear tires were threadbare so telt him that he better get them replaced before he picked me up or id be phoning the boss – came back with brand new BFGs 😀

Im never flying turkish air to that place again

TURKMEN BAG WOMEN MUST DIE – ive never met such a rude subsect of a culture in all my time – even nigerians have more manners than those retards – i was ready to stick the nut on one on the plane today only so many times you can count to ten i tell you !

Even the turkmen are ashamed of them !

The lufthansa flights a much more plesent experiance.

Im never flying turkish air to that place again

That makes two of us. Agree that the 20 stone, cow-like, sweaty bag women with 8 carry-on bags each are as bad as it gets on planes.

You just have to put all your manners aside and queue jump them back. I tried that once when my flight home was closing and I was getting jumped by every local and their dog. I had a hissy fit and stormed to the front of the passport queue. I was expecting a reaction from the 20 people I jumped. They didn’t care. Normal

What do I miss about Turkmenistan?
Not a ******g thing

Never mind ….. Off to baku for same job on a big ex british national operator platform on wednesday – we have been caught short with visas and i have one . Make hay while the sun shines says i

Im sure it will be slightly different operation where by they will actually adhere to my completion program

Me and the american i was speaking to on the plane got the bitch back when it was time to get off we stood up asap and blocked her seats so she / her friends couldnt get up , youve never heard so much snorting and angry turkmen language…. “Im awfully sorry dear woman but i do not understand what you are talking about so im going to continue to stand here. ”