To many known as the North Korea of central Asia, Turkmenistan is a black hole of little information on many people's mind. Its not surprising that one would not know much of this wealthy-in-natural-gas nation by the Caspian Sea considering there is actually not much news coming out of the country. While the former dictator Saparmurat Niyazov passed away because of health issues in 2006, he has been replaced by the current (& probably hardest to pronounce) president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. As it usually follows with totalitaristic regimes, rules like banning smoking in public, a mandatory health walk, banning gold teeth and beards and limp syncing out of a moving vehicle were at one point law. Never the less, Turkmenistan is changing today, it is trying to modernize and the natural gas from underneath the ground is transforming the city with polished white marble bought from oversees (ideally making it a perfect for skateboarding). The reason why I flew over to Ashgabat was not to skate (even though I did spend one whole day pushing around by myself), it was to visit the Gateway of Hell. In the 1970s a gas pipe imploded which left a huge creature left burning for over forty years now. I must admit oxymoronically that this non stopping bit of burning fire is probably one of the coolest things I have witnessed. Along the way zigzagging across the country to cities like Dashoguz, Darvaza, Balkanabat, Awaza, Turkmenbashi really gives one a inside access of how this mysterious nation ticks. (October to November 2014)