Ship Ahoy 3rd May

Sorry for not getting up to date sooner but in a police state, everything is locked down especially corrupting facilities showing the outside world. Would you believe that my Blog would not load at an internet cafe and the Wifi was not working at the hotel , “REALLY?”



So we got on the boat and I quickly took a sneaky picture of the trains being loaded onto the boat (if caught (Camera confiscated). Only took us 3 hours to clear customs of Azerbaijan
Once the boat sails we can take as many photos as we like so a quick reminder of the port that i sort of got familiar with over 3 hours
The boat is really only for the train freight but it does get us across a corner of central Asia without having to go through Iran
Facilities on the boat are really bad and cleanliness was non existing in the cabins. So we had all opted to bring on board our floor mats and sleeping bags. The only place that showed any cleanliness was the galley where Kevin had engaged the chef to cook us a Plov, a traditional dish of meat and rice for the area. Ingredients was provided by the group and it should have been ready for 7:30 but on ship you are a little at the disposal of the crew. So after several bottles of wine and Vodka, the Plov was finally ready



I apologise for a few of the photos as alcohol as the strange effect on your ability to focus on things
But the food was good and then we had the crew join us along with two Azerbaijan Footballers who where going to play for a Turkmenistan team. They smoked and drank lots of Vodka so no different to over paid, under worked premier league players (Oops, i will get off my soap box now)
So what else can you do on an overnight crossing when the cabins are crap and no electronic devices o play with, the crew decide we need to arm wrestle

Finally an alcohol induced sleep in the “AHEM” cabins, which Robert and myself with Michael and Colin paid for an upgrade. We were going to have cabins with no toilet , however ,some of the cabins toilets you would not use and i think the $20 upgrade “CASH” upgrade to the floor above (staff quarters me thins, as we were next door to the security officer), was worth it. No more available for the others