A day at the docks

The ferry moves towards the dock at Turkmenbashi - our first glimpse of Turkmenistan shows a certain rich facade;

Getting closer to the docks there is one rather splendid motor cruiser amongst the rusting ships;


After some help from a tug to turn the ferry around, we were soon docked.

We sat on board the boat for a further 2 hours whilst some rumours circulated about the Turkmenistan doctor boardin g to check for swine flu (our visas were delayed due to this), but after 2 hours we were summoned one by one to a crew room where our passport numbers and names were entered onto a piece of paper, and we were asked to sign against our names.

We then then descended into the cargo deck, and rode ashore, to be directed to park up in the blazing sun, where we hung around in what little shade there was, whilst our visa, registration and customs documents were processed.

Waiting in this no mans land - no food, no water, no toilets; joy-o-joy


Finally around 5pm, we had all the paper work completed, and we were ready to go...
But, a train was unloading from one of the ships - blocking our way out of nomans land. Still, what's another 30 minutes, when we have spend 4 days to travel 200 miles...

Werner was quite pleased when we got to the hotel;