Turkmenbashi

17 September 2012

Back amongst the Turkmen people, I journeyed by train through the night to the western town of Turkmentbashi.

Back amongst the Turkmen people, I journeyed by train through the night to the western town of Turkmentbashi. The train traveled slowly, stopping at villages in the desert on its way and arrived in Turkmentbashi in the morning. I went straight to the port to check whether there was any vessel leaving for Baku that day. Luckily a cargo ship was scheduled to sail in the evening and would carry some passengers -  brilliant.... Azerbaijan here we come.!!!

Turkmenbashi is a fascinating place; obviously once a beautiful Soviet town with grand buildings built around the central palace and along the sea front. Now it is a scruffy decaying place with the occasional new development offering hope for its future. I explored the older parts of the town and met some teachers and their students from one of the high schools.

The cargo ship, Nakhichevan, docked at 5.00pm. Approximately 30 foot passengers embarked at mid night after a long wait in the departure hall. No tickets had been issued as this is not an official passenger ferry boat. The crew met us at the rear of the boat and passengers paid their 90 US dollar fare directly to the chief crew member. You can then pay 20 US dollars directly to a crew member to rent their cabin for the crossing. I was lucky - I had met a young woman in the passenger hall who was travelling back to Baku. She was a friend of the radio master, so we rented his bigger and cleaner cabin at the front of the ship for the voyage. Some time around 3.00am the ship set sail across a smooth sea. I was sleeping on a bed built into an enclosed compartment whilst my cabin mate choice the sofa. A cool breeze wafted in through the port hole during the night and fresh fruit had been delivered by our radio master friend, Sunil. This experience reminded me of many stories I have read of women travelling in the 19th century. As usual we were treated with great respect and kindness throughout the 13 hours at sea.