September 3rd
128km (145m vertical)
There are 3 things missing in Turkmenistan: Efficiency, Transparency and Hospitality.
Last night, after we were all in bed, a dim witted policeman stuck a flashlight in each tent. I think he was counting us...to make sure that no one had run off into the desert after dinner. Nicole told him off and zipped her front door closed. The guy went around her tent and stuck his head in the back door. Complete idiot.
30km from camp to the Uzbekistan border. The Turkmenistan-side of the border doesn't open until 9am. It took about an hour to get through Turkmenistan exit-customs, and 4 different people made me show my passport. After all the trouble we had getting in, and the constant surveillance while we were here, I thought they would have made leaving the country as easy as possible.
We crossed 500m of “no man's land” before reaching the Uzbekistan customs buildings. It took 2 more hours to get through here, even though we all had our visas already. Seven more people required me to show my passport. We finally got on the road around noon...and 3km later there was a checkpoint where I had to show my passport again.
We met a poor Belgian guy at the Uzbekistan border that had been stuck in no man's land for 3 days! He had left Uzbekistan but was denied entry into Turkmenistan because of some problem with his visa. Now Uzbekistan won't let him back in, because he only has a single entry visa that is now expired. He didn't get food or shelter for the first 2 days...and no mans land is hot desert!!! Apparently the Uzbekis let him charge his cell phone this morning so that he can call his embassy and family. What a nightmare!
Leaving 5 hours later than usual made for a very long day. There was a strong headwind too, that really sucked the life out of my legs. I'm beat and my butt is sore. Didn't get to the hotel until 6:15pm!
Its nice to be out of the Turkmen desert, even though Uzbekistan had short stretches of similar landscape today. There were lots of people on bikes today, which we didn't see at all in Turkmenistan. The children like to race along beside us. And, after the checkpoint, we didn't see any more police!
Assuming that I can find an internet cafe tomorrow, I'll upload photos for the posts since Baku that didn't have any.
Some local kids on their way to school:
Waiting in a mob at the Turkmenistan exit-customs. Big brother is watching:
Donkey cart in Uzbekistan:
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