When you have a blog like this, you get access to various statistics about your blog. Obviously the main one is how many people have viewed an entry, but one of the most interesting is which countries they live in. You can look under today, this week, this month or all time.
Bangor, Mash and Freddie wanted to know who has been reading about them. Well, no surprise that the UK comes first. Next comes the USA - so a warm welcome to friends from across the pond. Why not leave a comment so we know who you are or where you come from.
Then it gets interesting - under "All time" next comes Russia, then Germany, Ukraine, France, Finland, Hong Kong, Canada and Poland. But sometimes you get "spikes" for different countries. For example, under "This Month" after the UK and USA Hong Kong comes next, followed by...... Turkmenistan! Yes, Turkmenistan with 21 pageviews. Hmmm.. well, welcome friend or friends from Turkmenistan. I felt I had to look up more about this hotbed of Canon mania.
Turkmenistan: Central Asian republic, population 5.6 million, much land covered by Karakum Desert, formerly part of USSR of course, capital Ashgabat - an astonishing city. Check it out on YouTube, just search Turkmenistan or Ashgabat. Interesting politics too...
The other big draw in the country seems to be the Darvaza Gas Crater (above notice person to left). This is a collapsed natural gas field that they set alight back in 1971 to stop methane spreading, and it has remained on fire ever since, with no sign of going out. Over 200 feet across, it is about 100 feet deep. It's become known, unsurprisingly as the Gate of Hell. It is, as they say nowadays, amazing.
This has been a special Canon's Stall Turkmenistan posting!
The other big draw in the country seems to be the Darvaza Gas Crater (above notice person to left). This is a collapsed natural gas field that they set alight back in 1971 to stop methane spreading, and it has remained on fire ever since, with no sign of going out. Over 200 feet across, it is about 100 feet deep. It's become known, unsurprisingly as the Gate of Hell. It is, as they say nowadays, amazing.
This has been a special Canon's Stall Turkmenistan posting!
Bangor, Mash and Freddie seem to have some interesting friends, fascinating to hear who is viewing the blog.
ReplyDeleteWhen Turkmenistan first left the USSR - they had a very traditional (that is Communist) Oil and Gas Industry and wanted to develop it fast to complete in Western Markets. I was lucky to be part of a team from the University who delivered staff development for the management of the Corporation. Though it was still state run they wanted to move to capitalist approaches in the Industry, so Business Management (and my specialism of Marketing) was a hot topic.
So I got to see Ashgabat, which was very similar to other Soviet cities, but never got to 'The Gates of Hell'. Long may I stay away from them.