I write in haste and excitement! I am in my hotelroom in Baku. the capital of Azerbaijan. Its currently midnight, the light is off, Denis is asleep and we are catching a ferry across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan at 3am! So as I say to all the girls, I'll make this quick!
So what has happened since we last talked? Well we made our merry way from Tblisi the Georgian capital to the East of the country. This is the wine region and we visited a very nice winery that is run by an American artist in a very nice small town who's name I have forgotten. Georgian wine is some of the best in the world and the brewing technique they used in the winery we visited can be traced back to 8000BC. So can the guy's beard..
We slowly made our way across Georgia with a few Bushcamps one where I got bitten to shit by bleedin Mosquitos but apart from that it was very relaxing (apart from the thunder!) One of the highlights of the next few days was a little monastery we visited that was carved out of rock. Truly spectacular!
Oh and we saw some really cool cloud formations!
We then arrived in a small town called Telavi. Again, small town life so strange and surreal. We stayed in a homestay with a woman who didn't quite live up to the Mrs. Doyle of Mestia but who was very nice and had a seriously posh gaff! We celebrated Georgian Independance day in the house and old vino did flow! There are no pictures from the night because none exist and thats the way it wil stay forever...
Soon it was time to leave the eastern European, Soviet ravaged Georgia for the Oil rich madness of Azerbaijan. Border day was relatively smooth across in about 2 hours which was amazing considering the hassle we had with the visas. It was a short drive to Sheki our first port of call. This was a small town and we stayed in a Caravansaray which is a really old hotel where the traders used to stay. The ground floor was for their animals and the traders slept upstairs. No animals stay there these days except me and Denis!
The following night was one of the highlights of the last few weeks. We had a really cool bushcamp on the side of a monutain right next to some mud volcanoes. These were really cool as they spurted out of nowhere and the lava spilled down the side of the mini volcano. there was also a lake that you could wade through and the ground gave way as you walked and you'd sink into the volcanic ground super awesome man. By far the best bushcamp we've had to date!
Today we made the short trip to Baku. CJ and Jim, our guides, dropped us at the hotel and headed down to the port to beg borrow and bribe our way onto an oil tanker across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan. They returned 2 and a half hours later and announced that we were leaving at 3 am so get to bed f**kers!
I had a siesta this afternon then headed around Baku with Denis. To sum up the place from what I saw in a few hours is the place has bags and bags of cash! Oil money is just pouring into the place and its full of rich little kids and overdressed women and extortionate prices. It feels like we took a step back into the west for one night only before we head to the unknown desert of Turkmensitan. Having said all that they seem to be spending the money well. The city is beautiful and I will say if you're into construction get to Baku there's cranes everywhere!
So only an hour till we meet so I'm gonna get packed. This ferry journey can take anywhere between 16 and 36 hours depending on weather and reliability of the port so I think "interesting" may be the word to describe it.
Wish me luck...
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