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Firstly we would like to apologise for the lack of contact over the past 10 days. Due to technical difficulties a blog sent from Baku, Azerbaijan did not publish. For anyone who was worried due to the lack of contact need not be. We are safe and well in Almaty, Kazachstan. Since the last blog from Istanbul there have been many experiences - some highs and definitely some lows.
From Istanbul we set off on another marathon drive to Georgia, which took about 30hrs to complete, pretty good going seeing as we were previously planning on doing the stretch through Turkey over 5 days. Along the way saw a sliding contrast from Istanbul to the border towns of Trabzon and Gieresun, which were run down and the conrtast between Europe and this part of Turkey was staggering. The border between Turkey and Georgia was a lengthy affair with much queue barging (yes - cars driving up onto the pavement and past lines of cars in an attempt to get through quicker). It was the 1st border where the passengers had to go through without the car, so Teddy was left to persuade the officials that the var was in fact his. After the heat and frustration of the border we drove a short distance to the town of Batumi where we watched the sunset with some well deserved beers.
The next day we set off for Tiblisi, where we had a great meal and after much deliberation on where to sleep, we decided to sleep at the airport in the car, due to Ned having to fly to Azerbaijan as he was unable to obtain a visa before leaving. Someone must have been looking at for us, as there was only one flight a day to Baku, and this was two hours after we arrived at the airport. A major success as it meant the rest of the car could attempt the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan that night!! We were not to be so lucky there though, with the computer system for internationals down we had to wait in the car outside the fence, with regular interruptions from the police who demanded we didn't sleep, even though they would not let us through for a further 4 hours. In front of us two more Mongol Rally teams slept in the compound of the border which looked like an old river bed with a few shacks that were the offices. The border was one of the most difficult things we have had to do, as the lack of manners and ability to queue from the gold teethed lorry drivers made our entry extremely long. Connie made friends with a border guard who then demanded that they swap watches, the delights of corruption in Central Asia.
CASPIAN
We pushed on to meet up with Ned in Baku who had spent the day finding a hotel in the Old City and enquiring about the ferry crossing of the Caspian sea, which is notorious for its irregularity. We had an amazing dinner within the old city and it was great to all back as a team and one country closer to Mongolia.
The next morning we awoke to find our car no longer in its parking space. The police had towed it away, after a short while we found it, strangely enough very close to the port where we would sail from. The port was unlike anything we had seen before, down a tiny track and such a small port for such a bustling city. After much persuasion and negotiation on prices we were ready to set sail. As we were ready to board the boat they stopped us, for no apparent reason and the boat set sail. We were all just blown away by what just happened and didn't know what to do (we had heard from others the wait can be days between boats). However, another boat arrived and after a few hours wait we set sail for Turkmenbassy, Turkmenistan, a country which is run by a very self loving Dictator.
The boat journey was an experience to say the least. The bedrooms brought us all back down to earth pretty quickly. With the bathrooms pretty disgusting and the room temperatures around 50 degrees Celsius we tried to spend most our time on the deck. We met a variation of people, some great (a guy called Alim) and some awful (a guy we nicknamed fat baby due to his looks and that he was always whining and wanting more things from us. After two days we left the boat behind and then went through the most inefficient (hilarious at times) border control. With all of the paperwork and the taxes paid we set off to order everything on the menu of a restaurant, (we had not eaten properly in two days).
After not too long the excitement of pushing on started and we set off on the road to Ashgabat. With the most amazing sunset in the rear view mirror Ned managed excellently with the bumpy roads. We were in for surprise though after a couple of hours of driving. We were flagged down by a passing car, who wanted to take photos with us. So friendly and we look back on our time in Turkenistan and remember the people the most. Anyway the people stopped us again and the next thing we knew we had been invited for dinner and to stay the night at the people we had met for a couple of minutes. So exciting!! Although we had no idea what to expect. When we arrived we were a little cautious and closed however after 10 minutes we were made to feel so welcome with Kebabs thrust into our hands and drinks poured within seconds. From there we went with the two guys to a night before wedding party a few streets away, we sat on the ground and within minutes were toasting with vodka and eating Turkmen dishes. Connie and Teddy had an interesting time with a 60 year old man who if anyone has seen WithNail and I was the splitting image of Uncle Monty, who we quickly nicknamed Uncle Viktor. He repeatedly invited the two of them to stay at his, they politely declined! We then were made to dance in front of the whole wedding party with circles of people around us clapping. The video is a much watch!!
The next morning after our goodbyes and thanks to the two guys and his family for their hospitality we set off for the capital Ashgabat. The roads were pretty atrocious, to the point that we a large part of our exhaust along the way. The roads were through desert with banks of sand at the side of the road and the tarmac regularly in large lumps where it had melted and formed again! The under carriage of the car has seen better days!!
We arrived in Ashgabat, which was one of the most ridiculous cities any of us have been to, with the majority of the buildings government owned and all made from marble with vast amounts of gold on them (mainly statues of the President) When driving past the sports stadium, hanging outside was a giant picture of the President in his jogging gear, VERY unique!! We had a nice recovery in Ashgabat after a few days of hectic travelling. We are all at this point loving the new culture and way of life.
The next day after struggling to find the border we arrived and camped outside waiting to be the first car through the next morning. We woke early and were given a melon for breakfast by the border guards. A nice change from them demanding money!! The border was reasonably quick and we passed into Uzbekistan, one of the countries we had been most excited about for the trip. We drove onto the town of Buxoro, which had the most amazing old city, built up onto an man made hill some 6 or 7 hundred years ago. Connie and Thomas tried on some amazing outfits and we have some incredible photos of them. For the night we stayed in Samarkand. Which hands down has some of the most amazing architecture. We were even allowed to climb up the inside of one of the minarets, which had the most incredible views for miles around. Most of the team then went a huge shopping spree for Turkmen carpets.
Having heard Toshkent the capital was a pretty uninteresting sprawling city we set of highly impressed with Samarkand for the border with Kazakhstan. What delights or challenges would this bring us??
Well it brought us perhaps the biggest upset of the trip. After passing through the Uzbek side quickly and onto the Kazak we felt confident we would be out of their by 10.30am. Teddy has to go through Customs and Immigration separately from the rest as he is the owner of the car. When he was in their he went through the normal procedures of persuading the people the car was his etc. After a man studying his papers and Passport for a few minutes he looked up and said "Big Problem -Mr" Teddy had got used to this phrase along the trip and was expecting to just have to clarify something on the car documents. But no - his Visa didn't start until the 24th August, 10 days later. With Thomas and Teddy doing all the paperwork at the same time and with Thomas through, there had been a mistake at the Embassy in London. And the nightmare began, with now a car and Teddy stuck in no man's land. No amount of persuasion or donations to the guards would help, Teddy would have to get a new Visa in Toshkent. To cut a long story short, Teddy finally flew from Toshkent to Almaty after the help of many people in Belgium and Embassies around the world. The good thing is everyone is safe and we are all now in Almaty the capital of Kazakhstan where their are mored Range Rovers than anywhere we have seen before. We are all now very well rested and we are setting off this afternoon towards Russia. We are unlikely to have internet until we reach the finish line, which we are aiming for around 10 days from now. We look forward to writing to you on our arrival in Ulaanbator!
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