Miss Globe Trotter: 8 weeks in!

Hello from Uzbekistan!

Apologies for the lack of blog since I have been away. I know, I know, its been almost 8 weeks since I left and i have not done a single blog yet, but here it is now!
So, where on earth do i start...?! We drove through Europe at a pretty impressive rate and covered a lot of countries in a very short amount of time, its been pretty full on! From the the day we left on 17th April until 3rd May we drove through France, Belgium, Germany, Prague, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and then arriving in Turkey, not bad for 17 days!

Europe was fantastic and had many highlights including my birthday in Budapest and our brilliant night out in Prague in 'The biggest nightclub in Europe'. But for many it is felt that the trip truly begins when we left Europe and entered Turkey. We spent an impressive 5 hours waiting to be processed at the Turkish border. We were finally let through and got to Istanbul late that evening. We stayed in 'the Orient hostel' which was a nice change after spending a lot of time at campsites. We spent 4 days in Istanbul so it was nice to spend a few days exploring one place as we had been moving around a lot over the past few weeks. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favour and it rained a lot but we all made the most of being in Istanbul and visited many sights including the Aya Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Basillcia Cisterns which was my personal
favourite. A few of us also took the opportunity to visit some authentic Turkish baths one afternoon. Not having been to a Turkish bath before we were not really sure what to expect but let me just say that we all knew each other a lot better after that experience!!We left the baths feeling slightly dazed but invigorated!

From Istanbul we then drove to Goreme. Our accomodation here was in one of the caves which was very strange but a unique experience. In Goreme a few of us took the opportunity to go quad biking which was absolutely brilliant fun and we also had an early start and went hot air ballooning which offered fantastic views of the landscape.

After 11 days in Turkey we made our way to Georgia. Our first night in Georgia was spent in Batumi in a hotel. We all went out for a group dinner in the evening and made use of the bar back at hotel whilst watching Eurovision. Needless to say none of us were overly impressed with the UK's entry...!

After a great night in Batumi we drove to a town in Georgia called Mestia. The truck drive to Mestia was probably one of the most random drives we will probably have on the trip! Its hard to describe just how bumpy the road to Mestia is unless you experience it firsthand. Its like driving over very large speed bumps for 13 hours. We managed to numb the pain of the long and bumpy truck drive by celebrating Susan's birthday with an awful lot of wine and some very bad singing! We eventually arrived at the homestay in
Mestia late at night with some people feeling a little worse for wear. We spent a relaxed day in Mestia catching up on laundry and internet.

Our next destnation in Georgia was Tblisi, but we stopped off along the way at a few bushcamps.
One of which was the location of the 'Red Party' which was a great night. We made our way to Tblisi to a very nice hotel which was a welcome sight after a few days of bushcamping and no shower. So after showering and some clean clothes we headed out in search of a good bar. We came across the inevitable Irish bar and spent the evening there with many a Guiness being consumed. The following day we went on a tour around Tblisi with many a hangover being nursed!

Telavi was next on the list of places in Georgia to visit. We left Tblisi and stopped off at a few bushcamps along the way. the weather was again not in our favour and we encountered a good few thunder and lightening storms with plenty of rain, not great when you're camping and have to pack up the campsite. But its something we've got used to and we're pretty fast at packing up camp by now! We eventually made our way to Telavi and spent the night at a lovely homestay. Again, we took the opportunity to sample the Georgian wine and a lot of wine was drunk that evening.

After a few more bushcamps, we made our way to the Azerbaijan border. After the problems we had getting the visa for Azerbaijan, the border crossing wasn't too bad and after a few hours we were processed through. We drove to Sheki to a Karavansary to stay for the night. The next day we drove to a bushcamp next to the mud volcanoes. We were warned not to get too close to the edge of the volcanoes as the ground is very unstable, but a couple of people got a little too close and ended up sinking to their waists in mud!

From this bushcamp we drove to Baku. We arrived at a hotel in the afternoon. This is where the port is and where we would be catching the boat to Turkmenistan. We were then told that a boat would be leaving in the early hours of the morning and that we needed to be at the port for 2.30 the next morning. We all knew that this may not be the case as these things do not always go to plan. As it happens, we were not able to get on the boat until 11 in the morning so a good few hours were spent at the port catching up on sleep on the truck.
We eventually set off at 1.00 in the afternoon. We were all given cabins to sleep in which weren't the cleanest cabins I have ever seen but despite that I had a great nights sleep. We were all prepared to spend at least another day on the boat as nobody knows exactly how long the journey takes as it is dependent on many things including the weather. However at 5.30 the next morning when everybody was enjoying a good sleep,
we were rudely awoken by the cleaning lady who does not have much in the way of a bedside manner! we were promptly turfed out of our cabins whilst still half asleep as she wanted to clean our cabins although I'm pretty convinced she hasn't cleaned the toilet in the last 5 years judging by the state of it so I'm still not sure what the great hurry was to clean the cabins! We discovered that we had already arrived at the port of Turkmenbashi, much sooner than expected. After getting of the boat, there was a distinct change in landscape and temperature. The landscape is very dry, dusty and very very hot. It was quite a shock to the system as we have not experienced this kind of heat so far. We drove a little way and set up camp. After a very hot and dusty bushcamp we drove to Ashgabat with a very welcome hotel and shower. Ashgabat is a very strange
city. Its all very very clean and white with statues and fountains everywhere you look.

After spending a couple days in Ashgabat we left to go to a bushcamp, but the highlight of this bushcamp was that we got to visit the burning gas crater nearby. Its hard to describe how amazing the gas crater is until you visit it yourself but hopefully the pictures will try and do it justice... We then carried on driving a fair way until we made it to the Uzbekistan border, again this border was a few hours wait but was not too bad as far as border crossings go. Khiva was the first stop in Uzbekistan. Here we spent 3 nights exploring the sights and eating good food! After an 11 hour drive we got to Bukhara which is where I'm currently sat writing this...

Again apologies for the delay in blog and whirlwind description of the past 8 weeks but time just goes so fast and one day just blurs into the next! will try not too leave it so long until the next one!!