Facilis Descensus Averno
Ahhh, sweet noble Turkmenistan, you’ve given us…………….uhhh……………….and. . . . . . . The Door To Hell!! Alright! Derweze (aka Darvaza) is a tiny Turkmenistanian village with one biiiiiiiig attraction.
Rich in natural gas, in 1971 a crack team of geologists came prospecting and accidentally drilled upon a cavern full of the stuff. The ground underneath the drilling rig fell out (whoops) leaving in its place a giant crater roughly 60m wide where today, 38 years on, the gases still illuminate and burn. Very Dante’s Inferno-ish the locals playfully refer to it as ‘The Door to Hell’. You can see it in action here.
Meanwhile on the flipside, the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is kicking off in northern China! In Harbin! No shit! Check out some of the glowing works here.
