Day 55

 

 

We hit the road early to Dushanbe passing under a mountain through a tunnel that was still being completed around us and was about 2km long it was quite cold and very dark. It felt like off-roading in the dark. We arrived in Dushanbe in the early afternoon and circled the town to find the hotel and found it near an Australian version of KFC so we got sorted and headed to the Chicken King for Lunch/ Dinner and waited for our room to be ready. Then we went out to see what the city was like in the evening. We were refused from one Café that was full of men, I think it was a Muslim club, no women.

Day 56

We were up for breakfast and then back to the room for some laundry before exploring the city. We
found it quite hard to explore as there were no maps to be found and we didn’t have a bible (Lonely Planet) so we sat with a few others and had lunch then stocked up on some stores for the next week as we were planning on a long time of bush camping. The evening was spent on the computer with the slow Wi-Fi trying to upload photos, the blog and chatting to everyone on Skype including half of the Wynne Family at the wedding which was nice as we wouldn’t have missed it if we were at home.

Day 57

We were ready to hit the road for the Pamir Highway the next day leaving Adam and Corinne in Dushanbe to meet them in Bishkek in two weeks. There had been a bit of trouble with rebels in the Pamir Highway so we weren’t sure if we would be able to travel on it so when we got there we were told it was closed to tourist as of two days previous and only locals could travel on it. It was around 3 when we arrived at the check point so we decided to camp close by and try again the next day so we parked up in a field with the amazing colours of the Pamir Mountains behind us and a lake in front.  We were checked on by the local police that night just as we were going to bed, as always, asking us to check into a hotel for the night, but “no russki, only English, no russki, we camping, ok” and they headed off laughing after 20 mins of a circular conversation.


Day 58

We headed for the check point again the next day, but still no luck so we headed to the Kyrgyzstan boarder on the outside of the Pamir’s which were amazing. We went through two Checkpoints with a bit of banter with the soldiers. We crossed the boarder and the boarder guards were really nice bringing out half a watermelon to us in the heat and chairs for the older ladies. We had a time to wait at the Kyrgyzstan side. I was feeling a little unwell after the boarder so I slept most of the evening to the bush camp. We camped in a newly harvested field with the Pamir’s still on our backs for the night, I was unwell for the evening and went straight to bed with only a little dinner to try and get rid of it as soon as possible.

Day 59

I woke up feeling a bit better the next day as we headed further into Kyrgyzstan I spent most of the day asleep but figured out that a lot more of the truck were sick as well in some way. We got to Osh in the early afternoon, but none of the hostels we found had space or were acceptable so we stopped for lunch and headed on towards Lake Song-Kol. We camped on a hill over the motorway that night.

We sat and watched the stars for a while before bed.

Day 60

 

 

We woke up early and did some truck maintenance for most of the morning including changing tyres, fixing the roof vent and changing the air filter. It was all hands on deck for the morning so we all ended up helping to lift tyres, tighten the nuts etc.

Once finished we were back on the road again. We drove for most of the day and stopped for the night at a lake that was in the middle of a mountain range. It was lovely, when we arrived locals were swimming and enjoying the good weather by it so as soon as dinner was ready we headed down for a nice swim to cool off because even though it was 7 in the evening it was still really warm. There were little fish in the water and if you stayed still they came up and nibbled on your feet, better than any spa, but too weird for me. We slept on the roof that night under a blanket of a million stars.

Day 61

We were on the road the next day passing through the farm lands of Kyrgyzstan seeing the farmers in the fields hand harvesting their crops and making their hay bales and stacks. Martin still was unwell so we stopped off at a doctor’s and collected some wood while he was in with them. He looked a lot better after. We drove further through the country side up into the mountains during the day. It seemed like most of the truck was getting sick and Yvonne was next to be sick during the day.
We drove until it was getting dark and parked on a hill not too far from the town near Lake Song–Kol. It was very very windy and cold so we had a quick dinner and headed to bed around 8 just to get out of the cold wind that would cut you in 2.

Day 62

Porridge with local honey, which you can get everywhere, was on the cards for breakfast because of the cold. We then went to Cotchcord, the village to book a Yurt stay for the night up by the lake. The lake was at 3000mt so it was going to be cold so we stocked up for some hot dinners for the next two nights. We found a café with some Wi-Fi that was pretty expensive but a quick 5 mins to touch base with home then off to Lake-Song-Kol. On the way up we passed some wood on the side of the road so we stopped for half an hour to stock up and then headed up further into the mountains to the lake.

The roads there were tracks in the grass and you had to remember which one you were looking for. We were out on the front for that part. The lake was on a plateau with nothing else on it with short coarse grass like the Curragh with loads of Yurts in twos and threes around the lake.

We arrived at ours by lunchtime and set up camp beside them as there were over half of us staying in them. The sun was beating down with a cold wind so we sat out for most of the day enjoying the comfortable weather. The water in the lake was cold so we didn’t swim but it doesn’t freeze even in the winter because it has thermal vents opening in it.

We helped with dinner and had it just as it got dark in our thermals as it was extremely cold once the sun disappeared. Once dinner was over we sat and talked close to the fire before heading to the Yurt for a girly night with a film on our laptop that Yvonne had brought. It was nice and cosy in the Yurt with its heavy padded felt walls and thick heavy carpets on the floor. We slept in a kind of sleeping mattress which folds in two and you sleep in the middle with extra heavy handmade quilts and blankets over you if needed. It was so heavy you couldn’t turn over in the night unless you woke up. I slept so well.

Day 63

I woke early in the yurt and headed for breakfast which was included. It was cold pancakes, homemade jam and as much tea as you liked. It was great. We then headed back over to the truck for the last calls for more tea. Another overland truck had pulled up while we were at breakfast, they had a Japanese film crew on it, they were documenting one of the passangers of their second truck’s journey.

We set up the tarp for shade during the day as it was to be hot by the middle of the day. We did some washing during the day by the pump as that was the water supply and then had lunch. We met some people traveling in the area and chatted a bit with passers-by and played with the children from the family staying in the yurts. It was a nice afternoon and didn’t get too hot as we had cloud cover for most of the day. In the evening after dinner we sat around playing cards, poker on the truck and switch under the tarp. The rain started at 8 and was down for the evening. We played cards for a while then headed to bed.

Day 64

We were on breakfast the next morning and we had to spend ages coaxing the fire to life to boil the kettle. After breakfast we filled the tanks all 400ltr each by hand from the pump, over and back with buckets, it took a good hour and a half to fill both. There was tea and coffee after then folded up the tarp and we headed back over the flat lands to go down the mountains. On the way down we met the second overland truck belonging to Oasis Overland they were going from Istanbul to Beijing. The crew were really good friends of Will, Karen and Johnny so they organised to bush camp for the day together further down the mountain. We got a ride on their truck to the next village to get some supplies for the day and headed to the camp near the river.

Their truck had inward facing seats and tarp sides with no fridge, or toilet and they didn’t have the large water tanks on the bus. Their lockers opened under their seats so they could access everything from the truck. It was very different.

We set up camp and got out both tarps and made an “L” shaped camp. We chatted to their group which was an older group and the crew getting stories of past trips etc. It was nice. The two cook groups cooked together and we invited a group of 5 cyclists from Madrid to join us for the night and made a party of it. It was a great night talking to so many different people. It was a late one by the time we headed to bed.

Day 65

We had a group breakfast of fried potatoes, baked beans and eggs. It was really nice to have baked beans for a change. We then packed up and said good bye to the other overland truck and headed back to Cotchcord to stock up before heading to Jeti-Orghus near Lake Issyk-Kol for two nights for a truck clean and some hiking. We went to the internet café again to check in and have some coffee then headed back to the truck to get on the road.

We drove past Lake Issyk-Kol which was very big the only way to see the other side was the distant mountains. It was very tourist driven lake with lots of café and restaurants and hotels on the edge of the lake. There were lots of Toursit Information centres to be seen and some signs in English.
We drove up a gorge to the north of the lake where people go hiking and parked up beside the river in mozzy heaven. We set up camp and had a wander to see what was in the village below us. We found a little café/shop that sold everything from atlases to mars bars and traditional felt hats and shoes. We then went back to camp and helped with dinner ate dinner and headed to bed with a book as it was dark by 8 in the valley we were in.

Day 66

We were up and started the Truck Clean by 8 which ment taking absolutely everything off the truck, cleaning it, cleaning the truck, taking stock of what food we had and then tidying it all back in the truck. It took about 3 hours to get it all done as everyone was given a job and helped with other jobs when theirs was finished. The guys on the truck were given the task of fixing the truck springs that had broken along the way which took them all day nearly to fix.

When we finished we reorganised our own bags and cleared most of the stuff from under our seats before putting our stuff back on the truck. We then had lunch and went for a walk up the mountain to find the waterfall. It was a nice walk with a mixture of forest and clearings. There were lots of yurts along the way and we found a yurt village and decided we had gone far enough so came back down to find dinner already started, a stew, yum. We sat and chatted while dinner was cooking and met a French guy traveling by himself from Being to Turkey for 6 weeks by public transport, he sat and chatted for a good hour before heading on to catch his bus. Dinner was ready by dusk, it was amazing one of my favourites so far and people headed to bed after it. We stayed up a bit longer by the fire having a quiet chat before turning in for the night.

 

Day 47
In the back of the Truck: Yvonne
Brenda is travelling in the front of the truck today and navigated the way to Khiva. After a few stops to confirm our route Khiva comes into sight. Brenda askes a local man where the hotel is, and all of a sudden his little son (about 3yrs old) is in the cab of the truck with her. The man is darts off on his scooter to show the way to the hotel. It is a two minute drive and everyone in the back is amazed at the event. As the day progresses and we our sight-seeing we realise that it is just the hospitality that the locals are showing. They would bend over backwards to help in any way they could.
In the front of the Truck: Brenda
I volunteered to be in the front of the truck to navigate for the day. The trick is trying to stay awake for the whole day. Will showed me the map and where we had to go and we set off for the main road, not like main roads at home these were tarmacked about 20 years ago and ore like a testing ground for tanks, but with “Galway Girl” (Will’s choice) blaring in the cab I figure it’s not going to be hard to stay awake.
 So after a few stops and jumping down to confirm we were on the right road we set off. When we hit Ugench, the main town on the way, I jumped out and ran around the corner to ask for directions and the person looked so confused, a European girl in shorts and a tshirt with a mp asking for directions to Khiva wih no mode of transport. I quickly showed them the truck and the pointed us on the right road.
When we got into Khiva we were driving around the walls looking for somewhere to park and a guy with his young son drives up on a scooter and puts the kid in the cab with me and directed us into the walls near the hotel. The poor child looked so confused he didn’t know what was happening but was happy enough once he could see his dad out the window. Once we were parked up I helped him down and he went back to his dad.
Yvonne

Khiva is a UNESCO heritage site so it is preserved as it has been for the last 100 years or more. It is all built in sand bricks or with a sand mix, wood and straw with blue/green tiles used to decorate every building. It is like stepping into the Disney movie Aladdin.

We catch our first glimpse of the Olympics today during lunch. Some of the swimming heats are shown so we are delighted. The food here is good, lots of kebabs and stew-like food which is lovely.
The rest of the day is spent sight-seeing in the many museums and skyping home.

Day 48
Yvonne
We spend the morning hoping between the museums again and trying to keep out of the heat as much as possible. For lunch we decide to find the food market and see what we can buy from the stalls. We immediately hit the nut stall in search of the lovely sugared peanuts we had a breakfast today. The market is bustling with locals buying everything from nuts and spices, fruit and veg to clothes and material. It is great to see what life is like here on a normal day.
We end up eating at a little restaurant off the market as they have little hot food on sale. We become the main attraction in the restaurant with all the local men trying to talk to us in a mix of English, French and Russian.
The evening is a leisurely stroll through the city again and Brenda buys a traditional dress, which is very cool! That’s Hallowe’en sorted for the next few years.
Day 49
In the back of the truck: Yvonne
Today is a long drive day. We leave Khiva and make our way towards Bukhara. The roads are atrocious and we are all get a bit shaken about in the back of the truck. Most of us spent the time between sleeping and trying to read our books. The road does improve after lunch though so we make our target and bush camp close to Bukhara the desert.
In the front of the truck: Brenda
It was back on the road today to Bukhara, I was still navigating we head for the main road out of town and on to a really bad road with loads of creators and every car and truck was doing their best to pick out the best of the road which was any part of the road possible, there were obviously no road markings. The most annoying thing about it was there was a concrete road beside it with mounds of clay on it in intervals so it could not be used, gurr. It was like the never ending road from hell with nowhere to stop for hours and hours, we ended up having lunch at 3 in the afternoon when we finally got to the end of the road and turned on to a much better one.
After lunch we headed on hoping to get much further than the estimated 60km we had travelled earlier. We figured out where we were and at around 7 we started looking for somewhere to camp for the night. It wasn’t easy in a big flat dry desert, but eventually we found a small hill to camp behind and set up for the night.
Yvonne
After dinner one of the girls is heading to her tent when we all hear her scream. She has seen a big spider. It gives us all the heeby-geebies and we are all a little on edge for the rest of the night. Thankfully we don’t actually see any.

Day 50
Yvonne
We are up bright and early today to make the most of our day in Bukhara. Brenda is in the front to finish off the drive. We arrive just after 8 and take the hotel by surprise. They are very good though and have our rooms ready in a flash. We then head out for a bite to eat and a stroll through the city. The main attraction, the Arc, is closed for reconstruction as part of the walls collapsed recently. We are all disappointed but there is plenty more to see. It is a bit like Khiva but on a bigger scale with modern buildings and streets in between the older buildings.

We come across a carpet market with carpets the size of the building fronts. They are huge!
A siesta is called for in the afternoon as we were all up before 6 this morning. We get to see a bit of the Olympics at this time too.
We get up and head for dinner someone suggested pizza, but it was closed so we had dinner by the mosque. Then another wander around the street stalls before bed.
Day 51
Brenda
We left Bukhara early the next day to head for Samarkand the main city in Uzbekistan. It was only a few hours’ drive and we had lunch in a big restaurant that looked like it was set up for a wedding, the food was good. We got into Samarkand and headed for the hotel it was very nice. We had to wait a while Karen sorted out the rooms and then we drove to where we were going to park. There was a man doing some roadworks and he went a bit crazy because we were going to destroy his newly fixed road so we had to park around the corner.
 We eventually got sorted, we were staying between two hotels around the corner from eachother one had a pool and wifi that wasn’t working. We put our things away and headed to the pool to cool off. It was a nice pool about 10 meters long and it was refreshingly cool. We sat about chatting by the pool and talked about getting dinner. We went across the road for dinner to a kabab restaurant, they did kababs, salad and drinks and that was it. We looked up the Lonely Planet guide (the bible) to see if there were any nice places to go out and found a blues bar so we headed there next.
It was a nice small bar with blue neon lights and a big double base attached to the ceiling.

 It was playing dvd’s of famous blues people including B B King. We met some more Mongol Rally people at the bar and also some Australians who were traveling in the area. It was a great night with lots of music including one of the Australians playing the piano and the guitar. Then back to the truck for some more music before bed.

Day 52
Brenda
We got up late and headed out to see the sights after some breakfast in the Italian restaurant. We wandered for a bit doing a few bits and pieces before going to the main sights at the registran. We got a bit lost there and ended up getting a taxi there. The registran is made up on three buildings two were part of a university and one was a market building. They were all tiled quite similar to the buildings in Khiva and Bukhara. It was incredible the detail that was involved in making them. They are in an earthquake area and apparently needed constant repairs because of the tremors. We also saw the mausoleum of one of the queens. The story goes that she commissioned one of the registran buildings and he architect fell in love with her and would only take a kiss as his fee so it was eventually agreed and the kiss left a stain on her cheek so she said that from then on every woman should wear a veil so as not to distract and tempt men other that their husbands.

After the mausoleum  we went to a mosque which was beautiful and then headed back to the hotel as it was getting dark. We got back had some food then headed for bed as we were up early to head for the boarded and we were unsure which ones were open to foreigners.
Day 53
Brenda
We were up and gone early and were refused at the first boarder outside Samarkand and had to head north and try and find another one open to foreigners. On the way we stopped for lunch by the side of the road and had some cold lamb which was expensive then we headed further north. We got to the border crossing at around 5 but were refused again and sent to another 45km away. We decided to bush camp for the night. We found a field that looked like it was used for irrigation purposes and camped there with our old friends the mozzies out in full force.
We quickly set up camp and cooked dinner and took cover in our tents ealy in the night. Yvonnre and I decided to watch a movie as we were not tired and stuck on the laptop and watched Empire Records. We had a good laugh to it and then went to sleep

Day 54

Brenda

We were up early again and headed for the third border crossing with our fingers crossed. We arrived at around 8 and they let us through the gates so it was looking good, we had to fill out yet another customs form and get our big bags scanned through and then back on the bus to go to the Tajikistan side, we got stamped in one at a time and then on to customs where we sat around waiting for about an hour and a half. We eventually got out and changed some money and headed on our way.
We stopped for lunch at a hut on the side of the road for lunch which had Cornettos. We all ordered out food but ours was delayed because he forgot our order. From there we carried on to the  Shakhristan Pass which was incredible with its amazing views and sheer drops at the side of the roads, we saw some nasty crumpled up trucks on the slopes were people had crashed. I don’t think many survive those crashes.

 It was getting dark as we got to the end of the pass and we found a spot in a quarry to stay for the night. We slept on the room with the sky just full of stars. Amazing

Now on to Dushambe and the Pamir Highway fingers crossed :)

We should update in about 2 weeks keep an eye on facebook. 

  Day 30
We go on a tour of the city in the morning and see all the major sites in the old town. We are told of the Irish bar on the tour so we head there for lunch. The bar has a great atmosphere and the menu is great. I have the Enda Kenny burger with hash browns instead of a bread bun. It was great! We also sample a few of the cocktails. As we are about to leave the owner arrives. He is American but his parents were from Cork. He insists on giving the all the Irish a whiskey. His wife, he tells us is sailing in Ireland and is bringing back the white pudding for the Full Irish, which was missing from the menu.

After a few skype calls we head out for dinner, a kebab on the street. It is delicious. They are barbequed in front of us. We have discovered the essential cooking equipment in the kebab shops, a hairdryer. Every shop has one to get the coals going again when they get an order.  After another short power-cut we start to wander the streets to find a good bar to go to. We give up and go to dance bar. The guide from the tour earlier arrives and some of his friends. They are nice and we dance the night away.


Day 31

The market is our main aim for the day today so we set out after breakfast. It takes a bit of navigation but we find it only to discover that it is not a food market but a flee-market style market on the road side. It has a bit of everything in it with china sets and light fixtures on one side and tools and antiques on the other. There is a little park nearby with beautiful paintings and art work hanging on the fences.

Back at the hostel after lunch it is a computer evening, typing the blog and chatting on skype.


Day 32

The hostel workers wave us off leaving Tbilisi. We head for a little monastery, as we arrive we have to overtake a pair of cows who refuse to leave the road. They are still on the road as we leave. We head down the military highway. The view of the mountains is spectacular but the road itself is terrible. We are all a bit shaken about as we are so high up on the truck.

We arrive in Kazbegi and have a few hours to wander in the village before heading back to give a hand with dinner. The evening is spent around the campfire listening to a mix of music. We are joined by two guys from Tbilisi who are on holidays in Kazbegi. I am very impressed by the number of languages spoken by a lot of the people we are meeting on our travels. It embarrasses me that I cannot speak another language. The guys we talked to most of the night were able to speak 5 languages.


Day 33

After breakfast a group of us set out for the monastery in the top of the mountain. It is a tough trek but the scenery is beautiful and it is nice to be doing a bit of exercise.

When we get back down we are all starving so we stop off at the bar for a hot lunch. We all order the Kinkali, a Georgian dish a bit like meat dumplings. The meal is delicious.  There are two museums in the village and we visit them after lunch and find a nice craft shop also.

The evening is almost the same as yesterday with a campfire but instead of our Georgian friends, we are joined by a group of Polish bikers who intend to climb past the monastery to the glacier beyond.

Day 34

We leave Kazbegi the same way we entered via the military highway. The morning is great and there are no clouds in the sky so we get a great view of the glacier. Having lunch in a sleepy village a man and woman travelling on a donkey and cart pass us dressed in the old style clothes. It is like something form a postcard.

We cross into Armenia after lunch and while trying to ask where to go, a man kindly steps forward to help with the translation. It turns out he spent some time in Dublin with work. Small world or what!

We bush camp in a field not far from the border and watch the goat and sheep herders looking after their flocks. With one whistle the herds would change direction immediately. We are off to bed when the police arrive. Our first impression is that he is the only police man in the area but it turns out that he is leaving a colleague with is to keep watch over night. It might have something to do with the guys buying bear for the head of police in the area when they couldn’t find a shop.


Day 35

Today is one of the ladies birthdays so we have cake for breakfast. Then it is off to the nearest town to change money but the bank is closed. We head for Sheki getting our first feel for the Azerbaijan countryside. It is very dry and barren in comparison to the lush green of the last few countries. The fences are woven sticks and the bottoms of the trees are painted white.

Sheki is a beautiful mix of old buildings and new. They all have lovely stone facing. We change our currency in the fancy new hotel and head for lunch. We meet our friend from the border again and he helps us to order from the menu.

After lunch we head for the Kahn palace. We are met with a sea of colour. Every wall, inside and out, are covered in paintings. The guide tells us that it took 8 years to complete the painting.

Our bush-camp site reminds me of the moon or something for Planet of the Apes. It is the birthday girl’s dinner choice for dinner so it is roast lamb, potatoes and veg, yum! And to our delight when dinner is called there is gravy!! After a short waltzing lesson it is off the bed to try and seep in the heat.


Day 36

I wake to the worst part of our trip, the unbelievable urge to scratch the latest mossie bites! We must have been as tasty as our dinner for them last night. It is a big drive day and we are on cook group tonight. We help with the food shopping at lunch and decide on BBQ chicken and salad.

Our interesting it of today is the prehistoric painting museum and trail. It is fascinating. The museum is only just open and has loads to see but we are in a bit of a rush as they close soon. We rush through the museum to give us enough time to wander through the trail. There are all sorts of animals and people drawn on the walls. They is even pictures if pregnant women.

We bush camp at the mud volcanos tonight but as we’re cooking we’ll have a peek in the morning before making breakfast.

Day 37

After a quick dash to see the bubbling mud hills, we make breakfast and head for Baku. We are greeted here with all the huge designer names on flashy buildings and high rise 5 star hotels. It is almost like the main street in Hawaii on a much bigger scale. There is definitely money in this city.

We meet up with the new truck passenger and head for the hotel. The rooms aren’t ready yet but after a short wait we decide to go exploring and get some lunch. Pizza in an air-conditioned restaurant sets us up for our search for a supermarket to replenish our bags. We do our best but when you are passing Versace and Armani on every corner Tesco isn’t easy to find so we give up after a bit and head back to our rooms.

Steak is on the menu for dinner, it take a bit of searching before finding the place and when we see the menu we understand why no one knew where it was. It is extortionate. Some people share a steak and say it is delicious; we stick to the salad which was great. It is off to the USSR bar where we party the night away, dancing to a mix of Eurovision songs and dance tunes.

Day 38

The next morning we are all in a panic to get our visas sorted. We spend half an hour at the Turkmenistan embassy and then are sent to a bank on the other side of town to pay and get colour photocopies of our passports. We have heard a rumour that the ferry is going tonight so we are rushing to get everything ready but by the time we make it back to the embassy it has closed or the day. 

We trudge back to the hotel, check back in and get some lunch. We spend the evening in the hotel room sorting ourselves out and chatting on skype.

Day 39

We arrive at the embassy at 8:30am the next morning and wait for it to open. Before it doe open a crowd form the Mongol rally turn up. They are driving from London to Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia) for charity. It sounds great! They are hoping to get their Visas sorted today also.

Once we have our visas sorted we head for the ferry port to wait it out u till the ferry leaves. The ferry has no schedule it leaves when it is full whenever that is. It is still early and there is no sign of a ferry leaving today so a bunch of us head to the shopping centre nearby to kill some time.

We are moved from one port to another and told that the ferry might leave tomorrow so we are sleeping on the roof of the truck tonight. I’m looking forward to it. Some others have done it before when bush-camping instead of putting up their tents.
Dinner is first. We wander down the road and hope to find somewhere to eat. We stumble across a lovely local place hidden just off the road. We are served up a feast of bread, salad and kebabs for just 10euro each. It is after eleven when we finish so it is back to the truck and up on the roof for the night.

Day 40

The Mongol charity rally guys appear the next morning and we spend the morning chatting to them while we hang around for the ferry. They have great stories from their trip so far and how they got involved in the first place.

By 12mdday we are pretty sure the ferry is going to leave today and Will is sorting out our tickets. Unfortunately we have to leave two people behind because their visas didn’t come through in time and they have to fly over Turkmenistan. We are all sad see them head away in the taxi.

We are loaded on the ferry by 5pm and get going by half six. The ferry is nice, a lot nicer than last year apparently. They music comes out and we all chill out for a bit. Dinner consists of chips and bread. The locals are amazed by the other ladies drinking beer on the ferry. We seem to be the topic of interest for the evening.

Brenda and I head out on deck to have a look before sundown when a local guy beckons us to the front of the ferry using hand signals of driving. We are ushered into the captains deck and encouraged to take photos. It was great fun. Every deck hand nearby  it seems wants a photo. After all the smiles we rush back to tell everyone.

The evening turned into a bit of a party with one of the Mongol rally guys getting piled high with cereal boxes, flip flops, and sun cream when he fell asleep. The locals thought this was the funniest thing ever and rushed to take pics before he woke up. When he did wake up he was very good about it.

There was one of the Mongol rally guys from the North and when we heard where we were from you will never guess!!!! Yes, he said “Do you know …?” and of course we did, he lived with a brother of one of the guys from primary school in college. How mad is that!! One of the other guys commented that this wasn’t helping their idea of small little Ireland.

Day 41

We were all looking forward to a lie-in this morning. We all assumed that the ferry would take at least 16hours but a head pops into our cabin and tells us to get. The ferry docks by half nine and we are all off be ten waiting for the border to process our passports. The morning is filled with napping and chatting. We had arranged our visas to start tomorrow but we are all hopeful that they will let us through anyway, but they don’t. We must wait until midnight.

The rest of the day is spent eating lunch, napping and catching up on diary entries. There are about 40 of us waiting between the Mongol Rally people and ourselves. Karen kindly invites all the others for dinner. It is a great success, there is the lads form England and a group from Italy. Stories are exchanged about how everyone arrived to the port and their plans for the rest of the trips. Drift wood has been spotted around so there is a scavenger hunt for wood as we have none left. Everyone chips in and the guys all gather around the saw and prove their manliness (hehehe).

After a cup of tea around 11pm the border guards come over and ask for the driver to start the enry process. I won’t bore you with every detail but we ended up sleeping in the border office hall and the drivers did not make it to bed until 4am with their wallets significantly lighter.

Day 42

At 7am we are woken and sent on our way. We have a bit of breakfast in the car park and set on our way after goodbyes and good luck to the other groups. We meet them a short time later when we have been stopped by the police to prove our documents.

I catch my first glimpse of wild camels and desert terrain today. It is fascinating seeing the vast sea of sand and the mountains in the distance. The truck is very quiet today, I think everyone is tired out and drained from the last few days.

After a small technical issue that is quickly rectified (small power steering oil leak) we stop at the next town for some local cuisine. The locals are a little wary but the food is good, a plate of dumpling type things with meat in them.

We bush camp in the hills near the underground lake. We are all really looking forward to a shower and clean clothes. I walk to the top of the hill while waiting on dinner. The view is fantastic. Again a sea of beiges, browns and yellow with the twinkling of the street lights starting to come on in the distance.

Day 43

The underground lake is our first stop today. We have a little wait though because they aren’t open yet so we chill in the little café before our swim. As we descend the stairs we get the sulphur musty smell and it gets warmer the closer we get to the lake. The facilities are basic but with the low lighting they set a great ambiance. We have a great swim, there is only a few others at first but by the time we get out the locals are coming down in droves.

We hit the road again and head straight for Ashgabat. We have all heard and read loads about this city and it is everything we expect and more. It is full of huge white marble skyscrapers with barely anyone in the streets. There are pictures of the president everywhere and flags flying above every building. We immediately scramble for our cameras only to be shouted at by the police “NO CAMERA!!!” We did get a few sneaky pics though.

When we get sorted into our hotels and all get showered, we head to the British pub for a bite to eat. There are only two restaurants in the lonely planet guide so majority ruled the local place out. At 10:40pm we are all astounded when the barman closes that bar and ushers us outside. We then remember that there is a 11PM curfew. (Crazy or what!) So we head back to the hotel to continue the party.

Day 44

We had earmarked today as a sight-seeing day but seeing as we had seen most of the city yesterday when looking for the hotel and realised that the city was huge so we settle for a trip to the hub of activity, the shopping centre. We are all looking for the local Turkmen dresses. They are beautiful full length fitted dresses with short and long sleeves and an embroidered piece around the round of the neck. Unfortunately we discover that they are all made to order and we don’t have the time to wait for one to be made.

We have dinner in the Chinese next to our hotel tonight which is really nice. One of the girls parents come from China and we are all very jealous of her food when it comes out. We have decided that she can do all the ordering when we get to China. She also shows me how to eat with chop sticks which is a great success.

Day 45

After stocking the ruck with food for the next few days we head for the gas crater. It is a long drive to get there and we get there just after 4pm. Last year they didn’t attempt to get up to the crater but our truck has four wheel drive so we give it a go.

We get most of the way up when we get stuck in the sand and it is out with the shovels and sand mats. It goes well and after a few runs on the sand mats we are at the top. It is still bright so when we look into the huge hole in the ground the small pockets of fire in it aren’t too impressive. After dinner it is a different story. As dusk begins to settle in the crater starts to glow and by the time the sun fully disappears the true splendour of the crater come alive. The heat hits you as you walk near this glowing pit in the ground and the smell of gas is in the air. We take lots of photos and are joined by more Mongol Rally people with horror stories of the ferry. We sleep on the roof of the truck tonight.


Day 46

We end up sand-matting most of the way down form the crater. We are all wrecked and have sore shoulders and hands by the time we are setting up breakfast at the bottom near the road.

It is another long drive day today. We are hoping to cross  into Uzbekistan and bush-camp as close to Kiva as possible. We stop off on the way to see the ruins of Kahn Urgench. They are beautiful when you consider that they are from the 13th century.

The border crossing is very relatively easy and I think the border guards are the first Turkmen people I’ve seen smiling.

We bush-camp just over the border tonight to the sound of wild birds and what sounds something like a frog.