Brief update on the last 36 hrs. We arrived in Turkmenistan at Turkmenbashy yesterday and docked at about 11:00. A lady guide joined us to accompany us in Turkmenistan assisting us through immigration and customs, road checks and registration.
Delays, delays, delays – we got through immigration/customs about 5 hrs later then waited for the truck. When going through Immigration Peggy was delayed as they thought she resembled a wanted terrorist, however the wanted person was about 20 years younger so when they allowed Peggy to continue she was slightly flattered. In the evening (although we didn’t lean this to the following morning) the Tukmans found that the rail cargo contained an illegal load of cigarettes and were refusing to offload the train. Therefore anything loaded before the train (all vehicles including out Truck) were stuck. Only an American School bus (taking part in the London/Mongolia rally with most of the other cars) and one lorry could get off. Negotiations are going on this morning to try to resolve the situation. We have just had breakfast (2 eggs, sausage and bread) in the small café in the port and are waiting for news. Everyone only got a few hours sleep on the tile floor of the waiting area, so we are all very tired and need a change of clothes. In addition the toilets are also out of bounds by the morning, again it seems more important to sweep some of the dust from the high windows than to sort out the toilets! A lot of us have not had access to our big bags properly since we arrived in Baku several days ago, so we are all running out of overnight things!
Common sense prevails and the train is offloaded allowing the Truck and all cars to come off. We eventually leave approx. 11:30 and head for the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat. It is full days drive so we only have a comfort stop and a small meal stop and we arrive in darkness approx. 22:30. Police checkpoints are at regular intervals on the road. The scenery changes from semi arid and then desert to good agricultural land as we get nearer the capital. Roads, houses, cars etc. noticeably also improve towards the capital. Mountains are on our right hand side along the whole road while on the left the flat plain stretches to infinity. We find the hotels after driving through the centre which is full of modern expensive looking buildings, plenty of cars, but very few pedestrians. The city was rebuilt after the 1980’s earthquake and again after independence. It was built as a showpiece of achievement and it looks its part. We get split into 2 groups (couples and singles in separate hotels) and go to different hotels a few hundred yards apart. No internet at the hotel, but local TV (8 channels) and en suite (with bath). Share the room with Terry and Eamon. Will explore the capital tomorrow and try to find internet access. Also none of our phones are working in Turkmenistan.
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