Hotel Riviera Baku

... shouting and thumping of tables. I was delegated to go in to the Customs office and try to remove Pete before the guns came out! After more shouting and tearing of various triplicate forms, the Customs guys eventually processed the paperwork, demanded the usual seemingly random amounts of Dollars and let us through, complete with yet another wad of undecipherable stamped forms.<br><br>It wasn't over ...

... to stop her sliding off the oily deck into the sea. Fantastic. I have met a Russian lorry driver called Alexander, who has taught me to play Kazio. He thinks the crossing will take 3 days. I hope he's wrong but he has apparently done this journey many times.

... lost on the metro, but eventually got back to the Gordons. They had a few friends over and we spent all evening outside chatting and barbequeing. It was fantastic and we will all be reluctant to leave the land of real food, showers and beds.

Spent the day in Baku and met up with the Gordons in the early evening. We had showers! I was disappointed to find that most of my tan was ingrained dirt. Graeme took us out for a curry and few beers and we returned to sleep in beds! Chris and I shared a double bed, but he only hugged me once in his sleep. It was a special moment.

... they have to say about Azerbaijan: a nation with a majority-Turkic and majority-Muslim population - was briefly independent from 1918 to 1920; it regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has ...

... Azerbaijan's ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. It's mostly 15th century, but was heavily restored in 2003, and is UNESCO listed. We see the following: 1. Divankhara, 1428 2. Shirvansha's Burial Vault, 1435 3. The Shah Mosque, 1441 4. The palace hamam and saray Hamami, 1438 5. The key-Gubad Mosque, XIV century (burnt down in a fire, 1918) 6. Seyid Yahya Bakuvi's mausoleum, 1464 7. Palace building, 14-15th century. Take lots ...

Last time I wrote, way back in Trabzon, I think I was still deciding whether to ride the Trab to Samsun leg of the journey to cover my bus trip. Well, there's no short cuts for this kid (except the odd truck tow) so I did it, and it was good. Two days of pure flatness- a nice change from the rest of Turkey. It was to be a 358km run but on the second morning, just west of Ordu, I headed through the longest tunnel I've encountered so far. It felt like a god 5 or more kms amd ...

... to go there because they are way out of town, with no clear, marked paths. But I gathered courage and after 2 long bus rides and 40 minutes walk in the middle of deserted fields surrounded by old huge metal pipes I finally arrived in the impressive site where I could see several mounds expelling mud and some pools of bubbly water. I loved the place and it was definitely worth the effort and the skipped lunch.

DAY 27. AUGUST 28. BAKU Welcome back to the real world I like Baku. I like Azerbaijan. I would like any place after leaving Turkmenistan, even Baghdad but Baku is cool. At 6am we got a bang on our cabin door and a lady turned on the light and asked for our sheets. Apparently we were about to dock in Azerbaijan. Moving at lightning speed for fear of being sent back, we were up packed and in Azerbaijan just before 7am. It was a relief to a) find immigration and ...

... over the Caspian sea to Turkmenistan. The ferry, now moored on the sea port, had been converted into a cheap hotel. It seemed like a unique place to stay, so I climbed aboard, to the top deck where 5 Russian speaking men sat drinking vodka. The rooms were cheap, 4$US in a town where budget tourism was non existent and hotel rooms range from 40$US to 200$US, a far cry from typical budget accommodations, this was a steal. At first, everything seemed fine but when I was ...