Week 7 - Caspian Sea and onwards

Our short time in Azerbaycan was a real taster and a country I would love to return to. If you think my spelling of the country is strange, it is how it was spelt on our 'Welcome to Azerbaycan' sign so I decided to stick with that. It seems strange that Georgia sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaycan uses a completely different language, not only spoken but also written but here Turkic is the main language although a lot of Russian is spoken. It is not exactly Turkish as I know it but close enough to be able to make myself understood most of the time except with the rather drunk (or maybe they are always like that) sailors on the Caspian sea.

On Monday morning early we set off for Baku, the capital of Azerbaycan, which is as different as can be from our previous couple of nights. On arrival in the city, Jim took us on a scenic tour of the city which was not intentional but allowed us to see it from every angle. On arrival at our hotel, we dumped our bags as our rooms were not ready and headed out into the city. By a bit of luck, Melissa and I found the Old Town having walked through the new town and marvelled at the designer named shops. The prices were similar to the UK so apart from delicious buns in a little café, our money remained in our purses. The whole place was extremely clean and had been extensively renovated although it was possible in the old town to see how things would have once been. We saw the Castle and the Maiden's Tower and of course there were the usual carpet sales people and a taxi driver who took a shine to Melissa and offered to take her to his country house. The people were very friendly and there was a lovely buzz about the place.

Baku

Library in Baku

Armwrestling???

Maiden's Tower, Baku

In old town of Baku

City Square, Baku

Back at the hotel we discovered that Calypso was booked on a boat to cross the Caspian sea. The downside was that we would have to get up at 2.00 a.m. to get to the docks. After a good hot shower, I went for another wander through town, bought some vodka and supper plus nibbles for the boat and went back to room to do my blog, sort out photos and sleep.


We reached the harbour at 3.00 a.m. and waited and waited. One by one people fell asleep in various places. I scored the front cushion, several people had seats with their legs across the aisle, Jim and Steve were on the roof, Colin was on some wood the other side of the truck, others had pulled out seats from the truck and the cat that had adopted us was curled up Mandy's sleeping bag. At 7.15 a.m. I asked the Customs Officer if we could plug our kettle in the socket in his office which he agreed to so everyone who was awake felt better after a hot drink.

Truck sleeping

Camped at Baku docks

 We continued to wait and eventually eight hours after we should have departed, we went through security (a waste of time as no-one was looking at the X-rays) and passport control and we were on the boat. Walking between customs and the boat, I had one of those B-rated movie moments when the heroine is passing from East to West Germany and expecting a bullet in the back at any moment! Fortunately that did not happen and Colin and Jim came down the gangplank to help me with my bags - what gentlemen.

On board the ship we sat in a seedy looking room and were eventually allocated cabins. I can cope with a lot but the mattresses in the cabins were even beyond my comfort zone but thankfully we had our bed rolls and sleeping bags. Whilst on the subject of seedy things, the toilet was beyond description and although it did not seem possible it got far worse as the day progressed.  At 12.15, after a little nip of vodka, nothing had happened and I dozed off for a while and awoke to find we were underway. The afternoon was spent reading, writing the diary (not a lot to say whilst on the boat) and chatting. After another nip of vodka and another sleep, we went on a water boiling mission which ended up with us in the kitchen trying to persuade the less than friendly women to make us some food. I did get a saucepan so that Sandra could heat up her gluten free meal and CJ arrived and organised that we could have some chicken and bulgur. When it arrived it was tasty and considerably better than pot noodles. After supper and another little nip of Vodka on deck (don’t worry I am not turning into an alcoholic but with the conditions on this boat I needed a little help), I had a brilliant night’s sleep only to be woken by Wendy saying that we had docked and then Svetlana banging on the door telling us to get up.

Some of our group had been drinking up on deck with the crew and were looking worse for wear but I felt great.  After a bit of hanging around, we were off loaded and sat around on the concrete deck. The sun was creeping up in the sky and it was going to get hot. We sat around planning our perfect breakfast. Some wanted burritos, fried bread and bacon, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, sun dried tomato and avocado. For me a blueberry muffin, a bowl of strawberries with thick yoghurt and a good cup of coffee would have hit the spot. Made a change from the past 24 hours toilet discussions.

After a lot more hanging around, we were processed through customs and into Turkmenistan which meant we could go to the little café and have tea and fried egg and sausage. Just as well I had that as it was the last meal until 8.00 p.m. Whilst we were through, poor Calypso was still stuck on the ship as she could not be moved until the two large train carriages were off loaded which required the shunting trains to come. I had just got out my bed roll and settled down for a nap when I heard the trains coming so foolishly I leapt up and organised myself to depart. However, it was probably another 90 minutes before all the paperwork was done and we were able to leave.

Entering Turkmenistan

What a difference a sea makes! Just that couple of hundred miles across the Caspian and we were in a different world. The world of desert. Not the Lawrence of Arabia desert with golden sand dunes but grey dust barren desert which got in your hair, eyes and ears with the odd camel in the distance or slowly crossing the road in front of us. We had on board our guide, Max, who gave us some of the history and information about Turkmenestan. The road was fairly shocking and the drive rather boring but eventually we reached the town of Balkanavet where our passports were taken in to a hotel so we could be issued with tourist visas. Calypso was then parked, unfortunately near a dead dog which rather tainted the atmosphere (wet wipes up the nose helped to dull the smell), so that we could go to the market. The cook group did their stuff and the rest of us wandered about buying cold water (essential) and some non-essential lollies and biscuits. The market had more than its fair share of flies which put me off buying anything much although I did have a rather delicious meat pastry. Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our passports and a visit to their clean western toilet with hot water, soap and towels – such luxury.

Our camp for the night was in the desert where we had been warned about scorpions and snakes. Slept for the first night with one of the side windows open but I told Melissa that if I woke up with a camel looking through the window that I would scream. Fortunately there were no camels, scorpions or snakes but apparently there had been men and cattle going through the camp but I slept through the whole thing!

First night in Turkmenista

Fuel prices - eat your hearts out!

Lunch spot where we ate our lunch and
washed our feet

Another long drive in the morning which took us to a fresh water bore where we cleaned all the boxes from the truck plus the saucepans and most of us took the opportunity to clean our feet and shoes as well. What a relief as my shoes were getting decidedly pongy. The downside of this location were the biting flies which made life a bit of a misery and reminded me of an Australian bush barbeque.

Back on truck for drive to Ashrabat stopping on way to look at Saparmurat Hajii Mosque with its sky blue domes and then on to the Turkmenbashi Ruby Mosque, the biggest in central Asia which can hold 10,000 people. It was opulent in the manner of a 5-star hotel with gleaming gold and enormous chandeliers. Nearby was the surprisingly modest mausoleum of President Niyazov. This former president has serious issues of grandeur and the whole city is full of enormous statues of him coated in gold paint. The more bling the better! Arriving at our hotel we were pleasantly surprised as the outside and the foyer were quite grand. The rooms were ok and the bathrooms more than functional but my mattress was a bag of nails or escaped springs. Fortunately I had my thermarest with me so I inflated that and put in under my bottom sheet and that solved the problem. A few of us headed off to the Zip Bar where we had a great evening with barbeque chicken and beer.

Saparmurat Hajii

Turkembashi Ruby  Mosque

Door knocker on Turkenbashi Ruby Mosque

The following morning we went by minibus to see the sights. Personally although the whole place is clean and well kept, sterile in fact, and likened by many to Disneyland, I longed for the grimy gritty reality of Istanbul where people actually live. I suppose people do live in Ashrabat although it is hard to see where and the streets are pretty deserted. You can only take so many ostentatious palaces with their gold painted statues of Niyazov. Everywhere was empty apart from us taking photos of everything. It is certainly a photographic place but getting back to my room I deleted many of them. I will be glad to be back in the desert with our bush camps (I think). We visited the Arch of Neutrality, Independence Square and The Palace of Turkmenbashi. We drove past the Earthquake Memorial and the Monument to the Independence of Turkmenestan known as “the plunger” locally and then miles out to another park although we were not really sure why. By then we were mostly over it as it was hot and the mini bus overcrowded.

Independance Square

Me with the heavenly horses in Independence Square

Statue representing one of Turkmenbashi'ssons

ME!

A quick trip to the Russian market did not result in any purchases as the clothes were Primark quality at High Street prices. Back at the hotel I watched Lucy wash her clothes! We have added another topic to our conversations of toilets and food – laundry! My preferred method is to soak in the bath and then tread like grapes which while is does not really get rid of the stains does freshen the whole lot up. Lucy had bought some soap which left her hands like sandpaper but had resulted in clean clothes although they will probably all fall to pieces after another couple of washes.

Colin, Wendy and I headed out in the early evening to have another look around ending up in the Russian market again to buy some supper which we ate back at the hotel accompanied by a few vodkas.
The following morning a group of us headed over to the Russian market for tea and spinach or meat slices. We then went in Calypso to the new Tolkuchka bazaar which had been moved out of the centre of town into a very sanitised white marble series of buildings the size of an airport. The place had absolutely no atmosphere and I knew within two minutes that I was going to hate the place and I did. Apart from a good cheese slice and a cup of tea for lunch I wasn’t tempted to buy anything except a cheap imported Chinese umbrella to conteract the sun. The journey continued through uninspiring desert to a grotty little town where we sat in a teahouse and drank good tea out of chipped cups and looked at a camel grazing on the rubbish dump.

Tea in a teahouse - note the men lounging around - the
women were probably back at the truck slaving away!

Maybe you are by now getting the impression that Turkmenistan is not my favourite place and as things went on this impression did not change. We continued on stopping to look at a large hole with bubbling water on which a large amount of rubbish was floating – cool, not! Then on to a large hole in which mud was bubbling and then another large hole but more of that later. The desert camp was good and Max, our guide, proceeded to cook a great barbeque and then at 9.45 a monster truck came to pick us up and take us to the third hole which was a crater of gas flames. Some people judged it to be the highlight of our trip so far and whilst it was certainly a spectacle, for me it was a just a large man made hole in the ground which was spurting flames and which the Government are now trying to put out so that they can do further gas exploration in the area.

Bushcamp in desert

Sunset at bushcamp

Gas crater

Turkmenistan is certainly a police state and some of our group thought that Max, our guide, worked for the secret police. If he did, he certainly did not have any influence of the traffic police which stopped up frequently. Interestingly enough they have the title of PYGG, very apt I thought.

The following day was more of the same dry dusty desert although the sand was a yellower looking colour and some irrigation had been taking place. When we stopped for lunch, it had clouded over slightly which made the break slightly more bearable. We reached Konye-Urgench where we went to the most extraordinary place to have a shower. It was a very run-down wedding reception place cum disco bar cum shower block cum brothel (maybe). The shower and the tea were good but the men hanging around especially the rather strange one trying to give me a honeycomb not so good. The young ones started dancing in the bar until every young man in the vicinity arrived with movie cameras so they headed back to the truck to escape the attention. A truly weird place where we ended up staying much longer than excepted so that the water tank could be cleaned out and fresh water obtained.

Our planned trip to Nejameddin Kurba Mausoleum was reduced to a drive past with photo opportunity due to the fact that the since it has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site the buildings have been closed for renovation, it was getting late, we were all tired and dusty and wanted to make camp. An excellent dinner of burgers was made by Cook Group 5 who we decided should become permanent cook group but funnily enough they did not agree.

Nejameddin Kurba Mausoleum

So the 7th week finished. What a contrast from the glitz of Baku and Ashrabat to the gritty deserts. Next week’s blog will be a biggy with the towns of Khiva, Samakland and Bukhara. Talk about living the dream.