Going to Samarkand 2005 Part 4 and 6

After visiting all over Europe in long and wide, last winter we join a group to go to Libya, we were very happy and delighted in this country with its deserts, salt lakes, towns and villages, we already visited Morocco in Africa, but the Libyans with their kindness and hospitality we have conquered.
This preamble to explain our thirst for adventure beyond the borders of Europe, in countries as yet untouched by mass tourism.
Through the Internet I started looking for other campers on a trip to these countries unknown, among the first I found a group that went to Iran in the spring, after the first contacts we have ruled it was too close to the previous trip to Libya and plus it was very expensive as an agency-organized by the newspaper industry camper, then through the Caravan Club Trajan in Benevento I heard of a group that last year after visiting Iran, would like to extend the trip to Samarkand in Uxbekistan, contacted the group leader, I announced the itinerary of the maximum cost to the organization, including visas, guides for various countries, the parking lots at the various hotels in electrical connection and supply of electricity (Iran and Turkmenistan Uzbekistan), estimated at € 1850.00 per crew, he decides to meet in Porto Recanati by the campsite Bellamare June 2, meanwhile sending a confirmation with 50% of the total.
MEETING: camping Bellamare is very nice and welcoming, we arrived the previous day, the crew of Aosta came before us and make friends right away. On departure a welcome surprise, a stay at the camp has been offered by the crew of Osimo.
CREWS: We are 12 campers from 9 different regions, the average age is 64 years old, the oldest crew is already known: both have 76 years, Piedmont has two crews who were with us in Libya, the last crew was added although over a predetermined number (10 +1), as are doctors, very useful for the group.
Logistical problem: The group leader lists the various problems: logistics, border, water supplies and fuel.
DOCUMENTS: lists the various documents required to obtain visas: passports, passport-size photo 8 (women will do 3 pictures with the headscarf) compilation of various forms and a photocopy of the vehicle registration with the full list accessories (radio-stereo-CB-PC), brand and number of tire sizes, number of the engine. Everything is quite complicated because not all embassies in Italy: for Iran to Rome for the Turmenistan for Uxbekistan in Paris and Vienna.
Carnets de passage en DUANNE: Each crew will have to request a bank guarantee for the double or triple the market value at the age of the second half and through the ACI be releasing the document that will serve to pass the Iranian border, my half has been evaluated in an amicable manner, € 10.000,00, half the figure has doubled since 6 years, the acute and I paid € 180.00 to the bank (Friuladria) € 60.00 to € 359.01 for spending longer fixes the guarantee of one year (interest all1.80%), presenting the documents to the return duly signed by the various customs incoming and outgoing will be returned to me the months not used.
LICENSE: In these countries, an international driving license is required, for having an agency I paid € 50.00.
SPARE PARTS: The group leader advises us to equip various parts, filters, various belts, oil filling, as well as wheel-mounted spare, inner tubes and a gas can in addition, I have also in possession of a motor ZIP revision (€ 120.00)
MEDICINES: The two doctors are sending us a list of medications that we can be helpful, they endeavor to procure drugs for extreme cases that will be available to all.
CLOTHING: Women in addition to foul in the lead, must wear long dresses with long sleeves and wide, to cover the forms, Tina, my wife has procured two Moroccan clothes at a shop in Udine, men can not wear shorts courts, the head group advised to wear long-sleeved shirts, I saw that on TV instead wear shirts and polo shirts with short sleeves. All this only for Iran, the other two countries, we dress as we want.
Maps and guides: through the internet I found the Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com)
Guide to Iran € 23.50
Guide to 'Central Asia to € 28.00
and maps of Freytag & Berndt (www.freytagberndt.com)
- Central Asia Scale 1:1 750 000 to € 9.80
- Iran and neighboring countries scale 1:2 000 000 to € 9.80
bought everything in a library of Udine.
FERRY: Company VENTOURIS Line, all campers will be accepted as 5 to 7 mt. (Some, including mine, are over 7 mt.) for € 156 (Bari-Igoumenitsa-trip) Boarding September 4 at 20.00. Be paid immediately to the company by 30% for booking. The group leader takes charge of a single payment, pay that amount with the balance of the share trip in July.
CATS: Cats are our problem, we have two, have always been with us on all trips, are now old men: Sketch has 14 years and 18 princess, we do not feel for him to do a similar trip, we plan to put in a boarding house in a neighboring country, we will cost about € 800.00, but you can not help it, plus we are warned that they could refuse border animals without reason, and this convinces us completely.
MEETING: The starting point is Benevento, for various reasons we can not be there, we will embark in Bari
Tell us that two teams, for different reasons, forego the trip, I am sorry for them, but in this long journey is better to be in a limited number

 

607/5739 – Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) – Nissan Hotel

Continued from "Going to Samarkand, 2005" Part Three

It starts at three, but we're too tired, we stop again shortly afterwards for a rest of two hours of sleep and restart, it will travel to the bitter end, the rest just because a shot at No. 9 with sleep with one half of the heel immediately checked avoid going up against the mountain.
Arrival at 14:10 hours Iranian customs exit customs Turk. 17:05 pm
Our hard work paid off, after the red tape and paying $ 117 fee for the camper which includes: disinfection fee for the transit tax on diesel fuel and insurance and $ 10 per person, we can cross the border in time before they close, forcing us to camp out in no man's land, the last barrier to timely meet the Turkmen leadership: Helen, but a nice lady who speaks only English, accompanies us to the car park of the hotel, on the way we see the various monuments and tall buildings all lit up, very spectacular.
Adjustments, the clock half an hour ahead.

0/0 - Ashgabat – Nissan Hotel - meeting point

9:30 am departure by bus to visit the city, what we saw last night comes to our eyes in all its grandeur and grotesque grandeur, enormous apparently uninhabited buildings, fountains and monuments with columns only in blockbuster films are seen, everything seems to be built with bricks of Lego, the mind of the president has given vent to his questionable creativity. Visit the Carpet Museum (Museum of carpets) quite interesting.
Covered market with purchase wine and eatables, very colorful.
In the afternoon visit the racecourse including displays of knights then to Shopping Center, I returned for maintenance at the camper, my wife's remains and return to standing with the

0/0 – Ashgabat – Nissan Hotel

Visit the store Tolkuchka, chaotic gathering of stalls of all kinds, selling everything from food to clothing, from carpets to furniture, bicycles used spare parts car and truck used tires or used car or truck, covered everything and more.
National Museum: mammoth building with tall columns, hailing the president and his mother, ... ... .. can be avoided.
Ancient Nisa: few shabby ruins of this ancient city.
Dinner at the premises for parties and receptions at the local agency was blessed with three beautiful and great dancers with two musicians-dancers, as usual, involving the attendees, including a party of Frenchmen, have worn the No. 6 wedding and a Frenchman by marrying a busby hair, mimicking the wedding ceremony as per their custom. It 'was very nice and funny.
For crossing the desert tomorrow, guide, tells us that until Urgenj not find gas stations, everyone has a can of oil stocks, but not enough, you start looking for containers, it's Sunday and not all shops are open, after a long pilgrimage was at the store paint cans used for containing the solvent, at a price of $ 8 cd, we can not do is buy and then wash them and rinse them with another fuel, tomorrow morning we will take full everything.

279/618 – Darzava – “Karakumy” the dark sands desert

Start new 4 lane road, already provides for a fast crossing, but our enthusiasm is short, the road is reduced to 2 lanes poorly placed holes and depressions, which forces us to a very slow pace and tiring, the desert looks as a large low-lying shrubs, such as very monotonous landscape.
We camp in a clearing near a small town that no longer exists, was destroyed in recent years, why?? not known, the leadership chose not to answer, there is a tent near characteristic of nomads, Elena will spend the night with them, have their camels with small very beautiful and much-photographed, at dinner you decide to make a single table I, the No. 10 and No. 6 are preparing pasta, No. 5 fixtures with plastic dishes, then everyone will take what he has, I have many pots with vegetables from my garden that are very popular .
The LP guide recommended a visit to the crater with output of gas, of which one still on, just starting from this city by hiring a taxi, since there is unfortunately no more, we turned to a family that lived near our camp in a yurt a boy at the price of a dollar each would take us into the desert to admire this spectacle, everyone said yes, except that the boy was brought after about an hour, many had already withdrawn, an old Russian jeep he could only carry six people, I've given up, my wife managed to get on and told me about this show apocalyptic, from Dante's Inferno of these flames coming out from this huge crater that shoot high into the night sky.

353/6371 – Urghenc – Uzbpoy Hotel

The desert continues, the road, so to call it, does not improve is perhaps the worst location I've ever done.

12/6383 – Turkmenistan / Uzbekistan border

This morning I get up earlier than usual because I want to check the step that does not close, the sand and the dust came in the joints and prevent the complete closure of the steps, I worked for about half an hour, by chance I see the light of the fridge, put DC 220, off I go to check and see that the cables connected to the evening are detached and left on the ground, someone unplugged everything has returned to its cable and if they have cheated those who, like me, remained without electricity and the freezer full of meat that melted. In reply to my complaints I am told that I was that I had to be careful and not others that I had to tell ... ... .... Angry after a short discussion, I retired in good order and I plan to do more trips with people who do not know and who do not have the camaraderie of the campers. Plus I hear that some campers have the water, despite the previous evening we were told that we could not do.
Departure 8.30
Supply of diesel from a dealer where the column does not report the liter paid, the clerk stopped when diesel fuel spilled and was priced at flat rates, good or bad they all have done the same quantity, but the money went from one to three U.S. dollars !!!!!!!
The road is good.
We arrived at 11:30 in customs, let Elena hope to see you again on our return to Turkmenistan and meet the new guide, Shucrat, which helps us in the endless red tape, eventually exhausted and angry after paying a bribe to an official , we can share are 17.00.

CONTINUE ON "Samarkand, 2005" Part Five

388/8035 – Mary – along the road

Continued from "Samarkand" Part Five

The border is 100 km. For the customs paperwork takes a long time, pays the tax on motor homes in the $ 99, these countries supported by the bureaucracy inherited from the communist regime was to be expected that practice, lunch immediately after the border, then crosses the river Amu-Darya on a pontoon bridge for a fee ($ 50 for campers and $ 10 per person) that at a previous trip guide to being the very low level of the river, the boats were not well aligned, because it floats, have caused the significant differences in height difficult to overcome as our means. While they were waiting dell'attraversamento the No. 2 ask a policeman if it was possible to photograph, after the affirmative snap some pictures at this point comes forward to another policeman who seized the camera, confusion and fear for the crew , all cross the bridge unless the 2 in which the car is returned good-naturedly and with a gesture invited to take the tail of the group, everything was solved with smiles and greetings.
Tip of the Day: Do not take pictures when there are policemen.
Very late on the roadmap, then continue along the M37 crossing the desert "Kara Kum" that must be very beautiful to see, but almost everything in the dark path, it is already late evening when we get to the town of Mary, we were driving along the ring to bring us to our hotel, when all through the column, we are joined by a big white car, comes dangerously close to two of my first camper and then shocks me before, just with the intention to stop or push me off the road, I react ramming, the car gets sideways in front of me, I turn right to avoid going off the road ending in a shoe, luckily swerved further to the right I can keep half right by avoiding tipping, I stand almost vertically I see the corners of the car is reversing and the high-speed, fortunately my wife and I have fastened their seat belts, we have not done anything, I have only the right foot caught between the pedals, I feel for all Radio worry, we're fine, someone has already stopped and helps us to get out of the cockpit.
The camper is dangerously poised, I put in safe hooking a cable to another camper at an angle to prevent tipping, meanwhile the guide with the No. 1 was in the lead knowing what had happened, called on the radio, returns and call the police immediately intervened to stop a truck groped to recover the half, but the cable available to us is broken, back in the morning by other means, three policemen stood guard.
Meanwhile my wife and I were in shorts and a shirt, all spared no effort to dress, with stockings, with bib and eat, not being able to get on the camper because it was unsafe for the night we were hosted by No. 2, which we kindly offered the dinette, a thanks goes to all the friends who were very close

266/8301 – Serakhs Turkmenistan / Iran – customs parking

In the morning you experience: a large tanker UAE license plate and an old truck with a crane, the tanker snaps the camper diagonally to keep straight, the crane moves to the opposite lane and pulls the cord out of the escarpment the camper, when climbed into the cabin, I put it in motion, I moved and I found that I could go home, I'm not ashamed to say I started to cry, the tension built up during the night, is discharged into a fit of weeping and the camper is bruised and I feel a lot of noise transmission and the foot hurts.
During recovery, the police will not permit us to return with a camera or cameras, someone secretly managed to regain it. Before leaving, my wife and I driving we brought to the police station, a decadent place where it is drawn up the minutes, on an old portable typewriter, in Cyrillic letters, and without making copies, after having signed it request through guide, a copy negative response.
As we reported to the media, the policeman who accompanied us not stop at the Renault dealer to photocopy my driver's license and the libretto, I have the confirmation that the police office in addition to the copy paper was also devoid of a photocopier.
The column starts a great career, we have the same problem the first leg: exit from Turkmenistan before five otherwise expire visas. Enroute lunch time you make a big mistake, instead of eating a sandwich trip we stopped for almost an hour, lost time will cost us dear, following the road is longer than expected and we get to the border at 17, closing time, the insistence of unnecessary No. 1 and Elena, are adamant: no pass. Spend the night in a parking lot for Tir.

215/8516 – Mashhad (Iran) – Homa Hotel

Good now we present to the customs and waited for the arrival of the commander of the post, again we explain why we were late that the police chief Mary can confirm, in the meantime I had prepared the photos of the accident on the computer to show him Elena almost started crying, the bureaucrat did not want to hear reason, we had to go pay $ 118 a camper for visa renewal.
This figure could have been avoided had we arrived on time, I feel guilty because the incident happened to me all they had to shell out the money not covered, I know ... ... .. was not my fault, but this disturbs me equally.
Turkmenistan last barrier of another control of the media, will tell us or force us to drink all the alcohol in our possession, bottles or cans that we bought in their country but who do not want to put her in Iran where it is forbidden to use alcohol .
After this adventure, we arrive at customs where we find the good Iranian Hadi practices that will help us in the infinite customs of his country.
It moves the clock back an hour and a half.

CONTINUE ON "Going to Samarkand, 2005" Part Seven