August 26th
11 hour bus ride today. Hopefully the last bit of non-bike travel until we reach Beijing - knock on wood. We have no more planned boat, plane or bus segments. We have visas for all of the countries we will ride through. We are now back on schedule after the 3 day delay on the boat. Let's hope for an uninterrupted trip going forward.
For yesterday's 5km ride from the ferry port, a police cruiser with flashing lights led the way. It seemed unnecessary, since there was very little traffic, but it was a nice touch. It was definitely unnecessary today, when the cruiser rode in front of our bus, with lights on, for the entire drive. Apparently, the police are keeping an eye on us as we travel through Turkmenistan. There were different police in our hotel last night, in the tiny shack of a restaurant where we had lunch, and at the dozens of checkpoints on the road all day as well. This country is very tightly policed.
Leaving Turkmenbashi, we saw nothing but oil refineries and industrial docks. After that, it was flat, beige, rocky desert all day. The few buildings en route were the same color as the sand, so they melted into the landscape. We saw several wild camels wandering the desert, and dozens more that we being shepherded around. Otherwise, it was road, sand, and telephone poles stretching into the horizon. The capital city of Ashgabat was like a sudden oasis. Big roads, nice buildings, plants and grass, fountains. This is where any money in the country goes.
Trying to walk to dinner at 7pm at night, we were approached by 3 different people in the first 500m: a police officer, a military person, and a civilian. Each tried to direct us off of the main road, which didn't seem smart, so we turned around and ate at the hotel instead. (Later learned that the president was going to drive past, and they were clearing the road.) Very nice hotel with a great restaurant tonight – the complete opposite of the past two hotels. No internet in the rooms though. I imagine that internet is restricted here so that the government has more control over information flow. CNN was on TV though...along with “Full House”dubbed into Russian.
I've had to borrow cash here since there are no ATMs and no one told us to stock up on cash in Baku.
Here's a photo of our lunch stop:
3 comments:
Glad you are on the move again although it doesn't sound like much fun! If nothing else it will give you an appreciation of Canada and travel in North America and Europe. You are also getting to experience parts of the world that few visit and it makes a good story that you can draw on for years to come! Hope things start improving.
Daniel;
I wrote a rather long comment for this entry, but it was censored by someone!
Let freedom reign!
LFL
Dan, so jealous of your experiences! Boat, car plane whatever at least you aren't stuck in NA working and studying everyday!
Sounds a little dodgy and all with the police having to escort you everywhere....but a pretty neat experience.
P.s. love the picture of you cooling off in the trough, you look so content?
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