Azerbaijan 02/08/2005

Trip Journal From 2nd August 2005 - 4th August 2005

The guys on the boat tried to get US$50 each from us before we drove on the boat,” fee to look after our vehicles “they started to get very irate when we all refused; we started to reach a standoff when Paul just accelerated and drove on, while they were distracted we all followed. We are starting to get good at avoiding this extortion money they seem to want from us. We all took a cabin for the night, US$10 as the sailing took 15 hours, surprisingly, we all had a good nights sleep. We were all up on deck early watching as we slid past all the oil rigs that rise up from the Caspian Sea as we sailed into Baku.

We were planning a leisurely trip through Azerbaijan but local officialdom had other ideas. A new law had been passed three days ago, only allowing right hand vehicles a 72 hour transit visa to get across the country. They were very thorough going over our vehicles with a Geiger counter, sniffer dogs and a partial search. Interesting using a Geiger Counter the first time we had encountered this what were they hoping to find a stash of uranium…lol,3 ½ hours later and after paying a US$30 Road tax and insurance we were on the road.

We opted to stay overnight in Baku, figured we would be able to get our Georgia visas issued the same day. We were in luck, it’s amazing what a few extra $ will do. Nestled under the hills, the harbour facing out to the Caspian, Baku has a lovely European feel to it. A mix of architecture, the Old Town with its cobbled streets blending with the more modern buildings of today. ATMs and internet are back in action again, no more black market. We had a quick taxi tour of Baku wishing again that we didn’t have to rush through this part of the trip.

Up and away early in the morning waiting for us was the taxi driver from the previous day still trying to extract more money from us along with a strange little man who appeared from nowhere to say he was watching our vehicles and wanted US$5 per vehicle according to the hotel parking was free. There was a large police presence they lined every corner in Baku. The first couple of check points were easy, just a wave and we were through we though this is great and then drama…… A rather snaky policeman asked for our papers and refused to give them back to us trying to extract a fine from us saying we had failed to stop, utter rubbish, it was looking like our good track record of not handing over any money was about to go out the window, when I decided to make a grab at our papers don’t know who was more surprised me or him, having got them I fired them through the open window into Nigel’s car, then it was a free for all as he tried to grab Nigel’s keys , Nigel and I then turned our cameras on him, then we were just in the too hard basket and he rather reluctantly waved us to go on…….thank goodness.

We overnighted in historical Sheki, gloriously set in the tree carpeted foothills of the great Caucasus Mountains; strolling along the cobbled streets of Old Town we visited the splendid IXX century Caravanserai that has been converted into a unique hotel, settling for a dinner under the grape vines seeing that they had no vacancies.

Today Thursday August the 4th we crossed into Georgia at the northern border crossing at Geraki / Laqodexi.It took 2 ½ hour and it was just bad luck that we got caught behind a bus load of people. An easy crossing and we had the compulsory insurance to take out for US

Georgia

Trip Journal From 4th August 2005 - 7th August 2005

The rolling country side heading towards Tbilisi reminded us of home, no we are not home sick yet………too much to see and do ……because of the limited time we were given for our visa in Georgia we decided to motor onto Tbilisi and stay put and explore the city for a few days. The Mtkvari River weaves its way through the city, bars, cafes and restaurants are plentiful, and Lawrie is in heaven …….A McDonalds, air conditioning, a banana milkshake and a Big Mac. We stayed at the Merani Hotel a small boutique hotel in the middle of the town, it only has 7 rooms, price comes with breaky which I might add, was so huge we had enough left over for lunch as well. Ruefee was parked in a secure car park next door which is always a relief to have the vehicle parked up some where safe.

We found an English book shop which was a real treat as we were running out of reading, also a chance to get some maps and a couple of Lonely Planet books for our onward travel. We hired a taxi to do a tour of the Tbilisi, through the old town and up to the hill to the splendid panoramic view it offered over the city, didn’t think we were going to make it to the top as at one point as we slid out on a rather tight corner, crazy taxi driver. We are still traveling with Nigel and we plan to split once we get to Turkey as Nigel is now in the homeward bound mode and we wish to have a more leisurely drive through Turkey. The Pinders and Robertson’s will also be traveling independently from Turkey on but we are all in touch via email and satellite phones so I am sure we will connect up at some point.

Leaving town we stopped to check with the police that we were heading the right way, they indicated for us to follow them in their vehicle , so follow them we did and we were given the right royal treatment, their lights flashing, siren going we were escorted from the inner city to the outskirts and directed to the road heading towards Turkey, at the crossroads as we stood chatting trying to understand each other, we understood they wanted us to wait 5 minutes, ( we were thinking is this another bribe coming up!!!), siren blaring lights flashing another police cars skids to a halt, they had called for another car to come as this guy could speak English and was able to translate for them all. Whew that was a relief!!!

The countryside was dotted with lovely Albanian Churches, lots of hills nice rolling countryside and very green. There were lots of road side stalls selling fried bread, huge pots of boiling water filled to the brim with fresh sweet corn to tempt the buyers and lots of fruit for sale.

We were heading for the border crossing and we crossed at the Batumi / Hopi crossing into Turkey. This would have to be one of the quickest border crossings to date……45 minutes, but we did get stung US$30, for Insurance, $10 processing and $2 for a rather pathetic disinfectant wash for Ruefee a total of US$42 but hey we were thrilled to be in Turkey……… we are both feeling like we need a holiday from our holiday to recapture the wow factor back again, so we will look for that magic spot to stay put for abit , pitch the tent, spread out and recharge our batteries.