The Ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi

I had been trying not to think about the twelve hour boat ride between Baku and Turkmenbashi, but inevitably that day arrived and it was time for me to face the journey. We left our hotel around midday, as confirmations were made that the ship would be going to Turkmenistan and not to somewhere else. For quite a while this was unclear, so we made our way to the harbour, hoping that our appearance would speed things up. We watched huge lorries and even train carriages drive onto the ship, as railway sleepers extended onto the ferry floor. We were stamped out of Azerbaijan and by three pm we were on board Ms Mercury.



The ship was larger than I imagined and very sturdy. I had a twin cabin, which was perfectly adequate, with a desk, bunk bed, an ensuite bathroom with a shower and sink. These were the best cabins at one hundred dollars each, and thankfully came lacking the cockroaches that I had expected. It was quite a relief that we had our own Western style toilets and not some grim, communal squatter. There were a few communal areas and a basic restaurant, which would cook dishes like chicken and chips or lamb and chick peas for a few dollars should you wish. There was a fridge with a selection of water, coke and fanta for sale at a dollar, but not a lot else. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, we set sail at eleven pm. We ate some cold pizza and a few snacks that we had brought with is and went to sleep. We had the windows open, as it was good to have a breeze in our cabin but the sound of the wind gusting in and the crashing of the waves was so loud, that I put my earplugs in to sleep.

The following morning I awoke to the gentle lull of turquoise blue water and passed the day by sitting out on deck, under a shady pillar. I ate my way through a bag of snacks and read a book about the life of a Japanesse family, through the eyes of a cat. In the afternoon they put down the ankors and we remained stationary, waiting in a queue of ships, for our place to dock. Mid afternoon, we began to move again, and by five pm we had docked. It took another six hours for us to pass through immigrations, by which point we had reached the curfew and were unable to drive to our camping ground.



We have a young and enthusiastic guide, who brought us some containters of meat, potatoes and salad, which was promptly consumed on the waiting room floor. We were all so hungry by this point as it felt like hours since the food that we were given for lunch. The various containers of cooked beef, pork, lamb and fish tasted delicious, and we were delighted with the baked jacket potatoes and dishes of chopped cucumber and tomato. We tucked in, to the envy of the local people, who were now trying to sleep across the plastic seats.

Due to the eleven pm curfew for tourists, we had to camp outside the immigrations building, and began to pitch our tents in the dimly lit car park, just as the wind began to pick up. We met some local people who had been waiting all day to get the ferry to Baku, and would still have to wait longer, since they were told that a storm was coming and the ship would not be leaving the port. I thought how lucky were, to get in when we did, rather than being stuck out at sea, in turbulant waters.

I put up my tent and tried to sleep, but when I could see the street lights from the gap that the top sheet left behind, having risen a foot from the base of the tent, I knew that it wasn't going well. I lay on my sleeping mat, constantly buffeted by the wind and decided that with a storm on its way, things would only get worse. I slept on the back seat of the truck, and watched the guide's tent rolling around the car park, upside down. I went to see if he was trapped in it, but no one answered when I called. Several people tried to move their tents in the night, to somewhere less windy but it was a fairly fruitless task.

The following day we called by a market stall at Turkmenbashi and bought ingredients for dinner that night. Most of the day was spent driving through various stages of dried mud landscape, dry and desert like until early evening, when we set up camp outside an underground lake. I was awakened in the night to the sound of rain drops, but fell back to sleep shortly after.