TURKMENISTAN (28/04/2008 - 6/05/2008)

At the border we had to take a van for the firsts 20 km
as far as Ashgabat.
Between the border and Ashgabat it's "No man zone".

We had to stay in an expensive hotel in order to get the Visa
registration. It was interesting going around Ashgabat.
The city has been rebuilt and everywhere there is gold
statues and the President's picture.
We began our trip in Turkmenistan but not alone! Vladimir, an old Russian followed us with his car. He spoke only Russian!
With a tourist visa we couldn't go alone inside the country.

We spent all the nights in tent while Vladimir slept inside
his car. At the beginning the wind pushed us but from the
third day on it was strong against us!
Vladimir was a good person but sometime too much stubborn!
We know only 40 words in Russian but he insisted in complicated
conversations. Usually we said "da da" so he was happy but we
didn't understand anything!

On the 4th May we got Turkmenbashi where we slept with other 15 people in the waiting room of the port. There wasn't
any timetable and nobody knew when the boat would have started.
Inshallah...

The day after we crossed the border and got inside the boat.
We paid 100 US$ each! Of course, that was a tourist
price!!

We slept one night on the boat stuck at the quay.
Fortunately inside there was a restaurant and a small
kafe. On the 6th of May we left Turkmenistan sailing toward
Baku, Azerbaijan.

Claudio and Patrizia