27th May, Day 40, still in Tbilisi, Georgia


Toe still sore, so didn't do much. At least we have a nice comfy hotel to stay in. Most of the others went out to a restaurant in the evening, but we didn't want to because it was a Georgian restaurant, and Georgian food is very oily and salty, and I've had quite enough if it! Instead we went to a Chinese restaurant. The food was still salty, but not too bad.

28th May, Day 41, Tbilisi - Bushcamp near border, Georgia

We leave Tbilisi and head towards our final stop in Georgia, a bushcamp near the Azerbaijan border. Whilst some people are prospecing a potential campsite, some others, myself included, were invited to someone's home to buy some of their wine and chacha, so we spend a nice time in someone's shed trying their wines. I'm happy to report that this wine is rather better than the wine we had in Batumi, it's really quite drinkable. The chacha goes down nicely too, but I really must be careful. I think I'm actually warming a little to Georgia, on our last night here! Better late than never. Again, the hospitality and friendliness to complete strangers who can't speak a single word of their language is impressive, and in Georgia, when you drink, you toast, and you also eat. We were treated to bread and cheese before buying 30 litres! Will it be enough to last all 23 of us all the way to China?

The original planned campsite is a no-go. Bridge out or something. We find another one a few miles down the road, well away from the village, in the middle of a thunderstorm. We set up camp as fast as possile in the torrential rain. It's an early night as tomorrow we leave for the Azeri border at 7am.

29th May, Day 42, Georgia - Sheki, Azerbaijan.

As we cross the border we lose Rich aka "Newey", the trainee crewmember. It takes the truck 3 hours to get through, 3 better than Turkey. We have to start getting used to long border delays now that Western Europe is far behind.

Almost immediatey, it's clear that Azerbaijan is richer than Georgia, and everything is neater and tidier. The countryside is still green and hilly, with many trees. I was not expecting Azerbaijan to be green.

Tonight we are in Sheki, staying in the famous hotel "Caravanserai". The name gives away its history as a silk-road stopover. We stroll up the hill from the hotel to look around the Khan's Summer Palace. It's extremely ornate, although rather small.

30th May, Day 43, Sheki - mud volcanoes bushcamp, Azerbaijan


We cross more of Azerbaijan, we are now quite close the the Caspian Sea. This is a small country, but the scenery has changed. Gone are the green tree-covered hills os western Azerbaijan. It's now much more arid, although recent rain has brought forth temporary grassland.

The camp tonight is surrounded by impressive mud volcanoes. Cold grey mud oozes slowly from the ground and forms cones some 10-15m high. It is surprising that the mud is cold, one always imagines volcanoes to be hot, but not these ones.

The grassland is filling the air with pollen. It seems that to hayfever pill in the world is strong enough to take this on, and most of us are suffering.

31st May, Joy's Birthday, Day 44, mud volcanoes - Baku, Azerbaijan.

Baku is large and filthy rich. The hotel is the most expensive on the trip at US$140 per room per night, but the agency which organised the letters of invitation, a pre-requisite to being issued a visa, has an arragement with that hotel. The cost of the hotel is all covered by the trip cost anyway.

We arrive about lunchtime and explore the town. Much of it is under construction. In a year it will be even more impressive that it is now, this is the richest place we've seen for a long time. Armani and Gucci stores line the streets, a far cry from the sleazy casinos and brothels of Georgia. While exploring, the crew are busy trying to findout about the ferry to Turkmenistan. There is no timetable, it goes when it's ready.

This evening, we meetup for drinks to celebrate Joy's birthday in a local bar. There's even a cake! After, a few of us go to a retstuarant for pizza.

1st June, Day 45, in Baku, Azerbaijan


We are hopefully sailing at 11pm tonight. There are no rules with this boat, it goes when it wants. It is about a 20 hour crossing, but could easily drop anchor for an extra day before docking at Turkmenbashi. This is where things really get interesting.

Meeting up at 6pm in the hotel reception for an update...