Diplomat Hotel Baku

... to cut across several lanes of heavy traffic and disappeared into the night, not to be seen again as it happened for many days!<br><br>Bas and myself, with Pete in tow, paused at the roadside and pondered our options and decided on a hotel, preferably close, and even more important with a cold beer and a hot shower. At this point a small crowd gathered and one bloke came up to us and started to chat ...

Well, it's taken all day, but we've made it onto the boat. This is one dodgy affair. Happily the few other passengers on this filthy freighter are mostly British, travelling around the world on motorbikes. Everything is filthy, and there is nothing but Molly's ...

Chris didn't feel great, so Damien and I went into town to investigate the ferry, and while we were relieved to discover there was one the next day, we were surprised to find they were after over $600 for the privilege. We got a bit separated ...

... front if it wasn't for a well timed prayer session which allowed me to sneak to the front. I was now on the other side of the border from Chris and Damien, but they had my passport, so I lurked outside the railings, chatting in bad French and sign language with Elmir, armed teenager and life long Man U fan. We eventually got in, with 3 days to get on a ferry out of Baku. Chris had ...

... roles..." - Shameki to Baku - 118km In Azerbaijan the roles seem to have reversed and instead of us taking pictures of the locals the locals are taking pictures of us. They use their mobile phones and everywhere we stop for a break they seem to stop as well and join us. Take a few photos, sit with us eventhough they cant speak a word of English and leave when we leave.It is quite fascinating and I am sure it is for them as well. Today was going to be a long and challenging ...

... although the high price of the Manat uses yankee dollars at a great rate. While looking at our map to find the internet, are helped by a student type, find it as described below the telecom building. Not too fast, and mostly in Russian, but dead cheap, and good enough to keep in touch. We have now sorted out the map, and work out how to get back home, so walk up the hill, not too far, stopping to buy good plums for .60 manats ...

... of kindness and thanked them heavily as I left the next morning. The next day I was to experience my first Georgian tunnel. At the top of a mountain, I had the choice to keep going up and over the bypass but I'd gone up enough for today so took on the 2 km tunnel. The lighting was ok - just, the road surface pretty rough but the dangerous thing here, the reason I wished I hadn't entered when I was half way through, was the ventilation. Non existent! And the diesel ...

... man rett og thetta allt vissi Narmin upp a meter og mg i ml. Eftir Gobustan bordudum vi a veitingahusi sem var eins og safn, gamlir munir, teppi og uppstoppud dyr. Eg missti mig i myndatoku. Thadan var farid a tad sem mer skildist vera tjodmynjasafnid theirra en fengum bara ad skoda 6 sali fulla af teppum! Og NU komum vid ekki ad tomum kofanum hja Narmin tvi hun utskyrdi ut i horgun hin ymsu takn og myndir i vefnadinu mog mismuninn a hinum ymsu ...

After we boarded the passenger ferry at Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, in the late afternoon, we were told that the we were not sailing due to bad weather. Even though we were docked at the wharf, we could no longer get out since we have officially left the country. The ferry ticket cost $45 per person for foreigners. Once on board, they sold us an officer's cabin ("super lux," they called it) for an extra $30 for the two of us. We ...

... on, but compared to the Kompas, and at 10$US, it was heaven. -- "Maybe I come with you" I washed up quickly and ran off to meet Rovshan. He'd promised to get me a taxi and tell the driver in Russian where to take me for my day trip into the outskirts of Azerbaijan. When he drove up to the front door of the ISIC office, he pulled me into his car and offered to drive me to the bus station to find a taxi. It was funny, the night before I had been laying on the boardwalk, watching ...