Destination : The Silk Road

Arrived late in Ashgabat yesterday. A monotonous bumpy ride across a stretch of 550 km of desert between Turkmenbashy and Ashgabat. Here and there a stop along the way. Policechecks are still in place, but we do not have to stop here. I met a few other travelers in Turkmenbashy who brought in their own motorbikes across the Caspian. Well, you are a globebuster or you're not ;-). They only needed to show their paperwork on a few stops as well. A few years ago these were show-me-all-you-got stops.

As lunch we had a meat-pie fitci that was local in a town close to Serdar. It already was way to greasy and i assumed it would pass through pretty quickly. Well, the fitci is already foetsie. Feeling fine again, so not to worrie.

At the end we saw some ruins at Murche. These made me think of a town in Libya of which i can not recall its name. More things remind me of Libya ;
- The president also wrote a book. Muanmar gad its little green book. Niyazov has the Ruhnama. Feel free to read it. If you read it is supposed to save you a place in heaven.
- both countries are constructing a massive canal to bring fresh water to the remotest areas in their country. Turkmenbashi seems to have build the longest.
- both countries live on natural resources; oil and gas. The gas, like electricty and water, is free in Turkmenistan.

Gasoline cost about 3000 manat a liter. Then you know how many euros that is . Well here is the calculation. As of this year they have introduced new money; the old monay is still in use and you get new and old money in return on your dollars that are also excepted widely. Still no clue ? 1 US$ is 14.200 old manat, which calculates to 2.8.. new manat. I mixed it up a few tamis and you do not even get stares, since they are confused themselves as well. Just remember the introduction of the euro . So ; what is the price of a liter ... ? The 3000 manat is off course old money. 1 liter is about US$ 0.20.

At he end of our trip we visited the blue and the gold mosque. The gold mosque is the biggest in the world and can host approx. 20.000. It is next to the mausoleum of Nizayov.
Somebody out there - The Alan Parsons Project

Turkmenistan - Murche ruins

Arrived in Türkmenbasy save and sound by ferry. The 16th a ferry could port, since the sea was calm. Custom procedures went smoothly. The 12 hour tip to turkmenistan went as smooth as could be, it only took a little longer than the expected 12 hours. In the evening you could see oil drilling platforms with the lights on and a flame to burn excessive gas. Since both jetties in Türkmenbasy were occupied we had to wait an additional 8 hours in the channel. I was sound asleep, so did not notice anything of this

Had a nice chat with a few seamen and of course they all know Amsterdam. Although i would have guessed that the captain would have known Rotterdam . He is obviously not going anywhere with this ferry. I showed the captain my GPS on my PDA and he was amazed. He called it Akademic Vincent, since the ferry was named Akademic Tobashuv. I even set the GPS from the ferry to GMT +5 hours. The menu structure to do this is in English...

Oops, and then try to get through customs ... Liane was with me to guide all the forms to the right people in the right offices. I would not be able to enter Turkmenistan without her. I have one form with 5 [five] personal stamps on it from three different people. And it only says that i have a some 12 kilos in bagage, money in US$ and a camera. They will not get an Enron-scandal here. Luckily my bagage did not get searched like it got for the other local passengers. So in the end it took 'just' a little over two hours
For the moment this will have to do; internet is slow and everything I write is being monitored

Raingods with Zippos - Fish

Jet en Pet

This is probably my lucky day ; next to finally retrieving my bagage i also found a cab-driver who speaks english and Azeri. [He works for BP if he is not a cab-driver]. Tomorrow morning give the boat another try. If that does not turn out, the boat takes longer since it is pretty windy, we will go to Qobustan .

Baku, Azerbaijan - Skyline seen from the pier

So on to the next hurdle ; Getting yourself on a cargo-ship to Turkmenistan. Tomorrow at 9 there was still the notice that there is no ship. I will have to be back at 2 in the afternoon. This, visiting the harbour ticket booth two to three times a day, will probably continue for the next few days, till the boat is finally ready to leave.

In Turkmenistan Internet is not widely available, so i might not get back before I reach Ashgabat. Keep my fingers crossed ...