18. ALMOST OUT OF TOWN!!

After all the problems the two taxi drivers had trying to find the ferry port office, we had a hotel driver who had received good instructions from the hotel's import agent drive us to the office on Friday the 29th of July. The driver still had to ask several people along the way. We were told the transportation office that had to permit the ambulance in the country for more than three days without a $2,000 fine was also near the same area.

Driving in the same area as the day before with the taxi drivers leading us, we find the transport office. Waiting for some time. The head guy arrives. He says OK no fine if you bring the ambulance here so it can't be driven while we are in Azerbaijan. That is fine with us. The traffic is bad, and many of the side streets are difficult to drive through because of parked cars and the overall narrowness of the streets.


After asking a few more people, we are told the ticket office is this little attached shack to the side of a building with no real markings on it except a little one foot square sign that I haven't examined yet to know if it says anything about a ticket office in any language. (Picture of "alley" the ticket office and road to the ferry is on is shown below. The small attached building shot through the back window of the car is the ticket office we think.)

There was no ferry leaving today. Hopefully, one will depart tomorrow. We can't purchase tickets until the ferry arrives, and we are the told the captain himself sells the tickets. (We read a previous rally account were there were several different rally teams on the same ferry trip. No one had paid the same fare.)

It has been approximately 95 degrees here every day with bright sun and noticeable but not "killer" humidity.

There is a large walking street with many upscale shops nearby. We had to pass through it to buy a few food items and more drinking water for our ferry trip (pictures below). There is no guaranteed of food service on the ferry. It is up to the crew cook if he will prepare anything for you.

The harbor may seem impressive from a distance, but there isn't much activity that we can see. There is a lot of high rise construction that has started but appears to have no daily activity being done at this time. The two large op0osing structures shown are supposed to represent a "flame" when completed. The construction cranes attached to them haven't moved since we have been here. We assume the World economic slow down has affected Baku also.

The weather forecast temperature for our first port of call in Turkmenistan if we leave tomorrow and arrive on Monday is Turkmenbashi at 103 degrees. The next day in Ashgabat it is forecast to be 114. I have been in temperatures up to and including 119. May be I will break my own ambient temperature record on this trip.

(Happy and Fortunate Grandfather - My oldest granddaughter, Morgan won the Illinois State Championship in 50 meter fly yesterday for 10 year olds and under.)

Cha cha for now......

17. A 4 P.M. BORDER CROSSING AND ON TO BAKU!!

Our visas for Azerbaijan begin on the 26th of July. Leaving from Tbilisi on the 26th our goal of crossing into Azerbaijan, spending the night along the way, and arriving at the port city of Baku on the Caspian Sea was in easy reach.

Finding our way out of Tbilisi took some time as the directions we received were sparse and unclear. Adding the usual lack of street signs adds to the confusion. We finally left town on a secondary road which took us in an Easterly direction. We arrived at a border crossing at approximately 4 P.M. We think we are at the one we planned to go through. We pulled behind two transit vans only to be asked to go to the end of the line with other cars when we reached the head of the line. At the head of that line, I am asked to walk through customs inside as I am a passenger in the ambulance. After the customs agent is finally convinced that I am the person in the photo in my passport, I have to exit the building and wait for Robert in the hot afternoon sun with everyone else standing around. There is no place to wait inside the building, and I can't go back to the ambulance as I am now officially in the country. The one entry allowed on my visa has begun. Three hours later, Robert appears only to be sent back for a two inch square of paper that is his pass out of the customs area.

Customs now is claiming that Robert's ambulance with right hand drive isn't legal in the country. He is only given a three day stay for the ambulance in the country or be subject to a $2,000 fine. We now have to try and sort this problem out in Baku as the freight ferry to Turkmenistan doesn't run on a schedule that has it leaving every day. We may have to be in Azerbaijan longer than the 3 days now being allowed by customs.

We spent the night at a small "Truck Stop Motel". No one spoke any English. We just pointed at what others were eating that would be fine with us for dinner. After dinner, I took a shower, put on bug repellent (mosquitoes - I had already begun my malaria medication sequence the Sunday before), and went to bed.

The next morning at breakfast we met a family going to the funeral of the father's 90 year old brother. They ask us to join them and share their food with us. The father was originally from the Eastern part of Georgia (A Muslim area even though Georgia is mostly known to be Christian.). The daughter and son spoke wonderful English, and were born in Azerbaijan . The daughter is a doctor, and the son works in finance at a bank. The family's warm welcome only shows us again that there is so much hospitality all over the World.

We reach Baku in the late afternoon and commit the sin of trying to drive in the city during rush hour. Our Belgium friends had alerted us concerning rush hour driving in Baku. Robert had made a hotel reservation in the city months earlier in order to have an invitation to Azerbaijan for our visa processing. Robert asks a cab driver to lead us to the hotel as we have no address with us. (The address is with Cloud Computing".) After many stops for directions 1 1/2 hours later, the cab driver and his cabby friend find the hotel. It turns out that it is not the hotel where the reservation is at, but the reservation for the original hotel is for tomorrow night as we are one day ahead of schedule. We decide to stay where we are for the night. I must have been in the shower 20 minutes because of the very hot driving during the day.

Match The Captions To The Photos:

-New Friends Along The Way.
-Nice Melons.
-East Meets West.
-Disney World 2015.
-Eastern Greyhound.
-My Favorite Patrol.
-Every Parents Dream.

16. TBILISI - WHAT A SURPRISE!!

We have breakfast on Monday, our layover day in Tbilisi. Robert asks at the front desk concerning how to walk to a large statue of a woman with a sword on a hill to the right of our hotel. I looked at it during breakfast at Robert's suggestion. I called it The "Mother-In Law" of the city. It is actually called the "Mother of Tbilisi so I was close.

The desk clerk tells us to walk right from the hotel and go a few blocks and turn into a street walking toward the back of that section of the city. It doesn't take long for us to realize that we are in one of the oldest sections of the city. It hasn't changed, and the speculators and entrepreneurs haven't touched it yet.

We see a very old church along the way. We stop and go in. The church is still being used and it dates from the 4th century. It is beautiful to see. I lit a candle for my family and all of you who are following my blog. I was touched being in this church. As we turned and started walking toward the back of the area, we continue to pass other churches. We stopped at another. Services with a clergy and a small choir singing are taking place. People are coming and going. Some praying only briefly and leaving. Others are moving about to different areas of the church stopping to pray at each. Continuing to walk, we are the only people in the street. We come to a Jewish synagogue. Two older men were near the entrance. One spoke English. We asked and were invited inside. We talked of Jewish history in the area and the country of Georgia.

Now walking a steep deserted, narrow street, we come to a steep flight of stairs made of stone at times, and brick and cement layers at times. The stairs crisscross the hill to make the ascent. We finally make it to the base of the statue. From the top of the hill we have a beautiful view of the city before us. We can study the old area of the city we just walked through. After a brief rest, we retrace our steps back into the streets taking a different path back. We had walked a good distance during the day, but it was certainly worth the time and effort.

A wonderful surprise, and a wonderful day in the city of Tbilisi.


Match the Captions to the Photos:

-Chosen People.
-Right Candle.
-Strong Stuff!
-No No Its The End Of My Sword!
-4th Century.
-"Joe Pesce" Apartments.
-Sharden ("The Blind")
-24/7

15. INSURANCE - WE DON"T NEED NO STINKING INSURANCE!! AND ON TO TBILISI GEORGIA!!

So it is now Sunday the 24th of July. Robert asks the hotel clerk to telephone the insurance agent for us. No answer. May be he is at a Sunday church service which can last 3 hours. Try again in 1/2 hour. The agent answers. He will meet us at his office in 1 hour. Off we go with the address in hand from him. We ask for more directions as we drive. 6 kilometers more the man says. We drive. Finally stop and ask a cab driver. He will guide us there. We drive and drive. Finally he stops and asks a shop owner. The address must be similar to a street or area of the town, but it turns out the agent is actually in Tbilisi the capitol were we are heading. Man, that is several hundred kilometers away. We decide to press on with no vehicle insurance.

Our plan was to continue North along the sea coast to Poti, Georgia and than head East and stop at Khasuri. Since we were a days planned drive behind more or less, we drove North a shorter distance along the coast of the Black Sea through a few resort towns until I found a black and white secondary road that headed East South of Poti which would cut off some driving time. We decided to take it. Driving was at steady speeds for the most part. I started driving and Robert took a nap on stretcher in back of the ambulance.

The road we were on appeared to follow the along pretty close to what was shown on the map, but it was off quite a bit at times. After the by-pass we took, I ended up back on the original route planned heading East. It took us through beautiful winding roads with great expanses of panoramic views of the distance fields and rolling moderately high hills. Unfortunately, the road demanded my full time attention so I couldn't take any pictures. (Later when Robert began to drive again, I opened the large map we were using to find out what kind of road a black and white marked road was. It turned out to be a railroad track.)

This is a two lane - one lane in each direction road. People are passing three abreast all the time. It is like a go cart race. At one bend in the road, one car has crashed still upright. the other is upside down all tore to hell. Another missed photo op. I try to pass a semi- trailer truck at a crawling speed only to have to have the truck stop along with us as a speeding car comes around the bend in the road at high speed.

We stopped to study the maps and take a break. We decide to just drive all the way to Tbilisi today. That will put us back on schedule, but we will be a day early for our visa entry date into Azerbaijan. So we will be spending a second day in Tbilisi the capitol of Georgia. We hope there is something worth visiting there as the country side though beautiful looks pretty basic hinting little in the way of attractions even in the country's capitol city.

Robert takes over the driving as we begin to approach Tbilisi at dusk. He stops to try to ask concerning a place to stay for the night. It is very hot, and we both could use a proper bathing facility. There is a man who happens to be at the station getting fuel. He speaks perfect English. David is with the United Nations Monitoring Mission here in Georgia as a result of the 2008 war with Russia. (Russia still has troops in Northern Georgia today as a "policing" action.

David suggests a couple of places to stay in the down town near "Friendship Square. We check into the Ambasadori Hotel after much walking around. I shower, have a breakfast bar and go to bed.

Match the Captions With the Photos:

-Blue Light Specials!
-Eastern Hog.
-Made it!!
-Meals on Wheels.
-Hey Hay!
-Hope Nothing Break.

14. EAST TO GEORGIA - MAN DID IT RAIN!!

We left Ankara in the afternoon on July 21st and headed back North to the Black Sea heading East toward the Georgia border. The weather was sunny. Our destination was Samsun that night. We had no problems in route, and arrived on schedule. Heading East from town, we pasted a Ford dealer. Perhaps a new taillight lens assembly in the morning - probably wishful thinking. We found a place to stay and stopped for the night.

The next day, we headed back to the Ford dealer. We had to drive down a ramp under the building into a service department that was reserved just for transit vans and other larger vehicles. No assembly in stock but they could have one delivered in 1/2 hour. We were offered tea and even food if wanted would be brought to us. Man what service, and the bill installation and all was like $30US.

A little late on our start East for the day, our destination was Trabzon on the Black Sea. We started having rain, than heavier rain, than it really came down. We pulled off the road down a street in a town named Giresun. The street was flooding. Water was coming UP out of the street drains. We turned around and headed back to the highway. Traffic was now totally stopped on the main road. Moving forward in small increments, we could see we were not leaving this town tonight. Now on a secondary frontage street along the main highway, we inched to a stop at a temporary parking spot. Robert went in search of a hotel name that had been given us earlier. He had to walk over a pedestrian bridge to the beach side of the main highway to see if a room was available. He said he had to walk in water up to his knees on the other side to reach the hotel. There was a room for the night. The next morning we left and headed for the Georgia border.

With driving miles to make up because of our early stop the day before, we needed to make it to the boarder as it closes at 5:00 P.M. We arrived near 4 P.M. Vehicle congestion was bad. A hawker came up to us, and for a small fee had us moved to the head of the line to have our passports stamped for our exit from Turkey. Georgia enter went quickly, but getting passed all the trucks in front of us took some time. We entered no mans land on the other side. It sort of looked like a scene from "Border Town" in the Mel Gibson movie. Robert went to look for an insurance agent while I stayed with the ambulance in a so-so parking spot. I was motioned away by a police officer in a car within a few minutes. Now parked in a lesser location, I waited for Robert's return. Robert arrived, and had been given an address of an agent ( in Batumi nearby? - more later). As we entered the town of Batumi, on the Georgia border, cows were all over the roads, walking, lying down on the road or just standing looking at everyone. We stopped for directions, but had no luck with our address. We stopped and asked concerning a place to stay. We were told the "Neptun" (correct spelling) Hotel. We went back several kilometers. They were full up. They said try the Cameo Hotel which also had WiFi. We were able to have a room there for the night. The receptionist tried to telephone the insurance agent's number - no luck to late in the day. Had a local fish for dinner that night to eat, a Georgia white wine to drink and went to bed. A long day.

Match The Captions With The Photos:
-Tail Lens Party.
-Beach Town North.
-Fish Service.
-Overload!!
-Border Crossing.
-Flag Day Again.

13. A STOP IN ANKARA

Robert planned the route for the trip. It is more complex than one may think. We have driving distances per day, type of terrain to be crossed, visa entry dates for each country that must be established and are now set (several countries have very short stay times) and places we want to visit along the way.

I had mentioned in my previous post that my university investments professor was from Istanbul. Well visiting the capitol of Turkey - Ankara gives us the opportunity to visit the burial place and museum of the founder of modern independent Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came from a tenuous middle class up bringing in Turkey. A military man from his youth, he ultimately became the first president of the modern country of Turkey. His many reforms to modernize Turkey into an independent, more western style country were many times in direct conflict with the established Ottoman way of life. (For every change we personally make in our lives, there are almost always positive and negative attributes associated with that change.) One of his most noted areas of change concerned the woman of Turkey. Always in conflict with the past, he brought about so much change in so little time. He is on my personal lists of one of the most important men of the 2oth century.

(Out Of Respect, Photography Of What I Thought Were Some Of The Most Interesting Presentations Was Not Permitted.)

Match the caption with the proper photo:

-Is there a museum here someplace?
-Impressive to say the least.
-Now that's a wall!!
-Its a Garand!!
-Time to "get out of Dodge" - again.

12. THE ROOM IS HOW MUCH!!

Bus drivers appear to be kings of the road at least around the larger cities. They take a line in the road and stay there regardless of what others try to do. The buses are the first to force their way into your lane too. They are always intimidating you too with their horns. The driver we had driving us back to Sile was driving fast. I was sitting behind him up front. The red line on the tach was 4000 RPM. He shifted many times at the broken red line just before that. We came over a hill at about 100KPH (60+ MPH). There is construction on this road with several one lane areas on this 4 lane divided road. A water or maybe fuel truck was sitting at the bottom waiting to make a left turn. With the brakes fully applied, the bus was still out of luck by about 3-4 feet. At the last moment, the driver turned to the right to avoid contact and missed the truck. The car on the right of the bus had to adjust his position quickly too as the driver only cared about saving the bus. No contact to any vehicles. I had been videotaping a few minutes before. Sorry I didn't have it recorded. It would have been great footage.

We arrived back at the university bus stop at Sile on the Black Sea a few minutes after 10 P.M. There is a petrol station a very short distance away. We purchased six 1.5 litre bottles of drinking water there to take with us the next day. I drank one almost completely before I went to bed.

The two young men who took care of the pizza restaurant/hotel asked in Turkish if we cared for any food. We said no as we had eaten in Istanbul after leaving Hagia Sophia. We were in our room only a moment when they came to be paid for the room. I had paid Attila the owner the agreed price for the first night when we arrived. They wanted double that now because there were two of us in the room. We said "no way". Since neither side could understand what the other was saying, they brought their laptop computer and used a word translator. The translation to English was exactly as we said. The amount was per night for the room not per person. (There was no breakfast included, no towels supplied and no air conditioning.) I then typed in English saying what they were saying to us was just as we said. They typed again and said they were still right in so many words. We paid the original agreed price for the second night as before. Robert shook hands with one or both of them. They still shut off the water to the "bath" for the night so I couldn't take a shower. There was enough water still flowing so I could wash and rinse off from the sink in the bath. I used my plastic cup to wet my hair for washing it with shampoo rinsing it to. The boys played recorded music a little louder than the night before, but that didn't bother us as we were tired and fell asleep quickly.

The next morning we packed up to leave. The two of them showed up about 9:30 AM and asked if we wanted breakfast (which we would have to pay for as before). We said no. While packing I could see on the roof that the main valve for the holding tank that supplies pressure for the water system was shut off. We asked others later about our pricing experience, and found that it isn't unusual in Turkey to pay the room rate for each person occupying the room. So who was right and who was wrong? The room certainly wasn't worth the asking price for each person occupying the room to have to pay individually. So another experience on the road.

Match The Caption With The Photo:

-Ocean View.

-First Door On The Right.

-A Room At The Inn.

-What Do They Really Sell Here?

-A Big One And It Flies Too!!

11. HAGIA SOPHIA TOUR WOW!!

We had breakfast at the Pizza Restaurant/Hotel. The bus for Istanbul was scheduled to leave at 9 A.M. We hiked down the hill through the field to the university entrance. We were told the bus would leave at 11 A.M. We both waited awhile. Than I decided to walk back to our room, and do some work on the computer. Awhile later Robert shows up saying that our watches are set an hour slow and the bus has left. However, there is another bus at 12:15 P.M. which will take us much closer to where we want to go.

After an hour plus drive, we arrive at the drop off. Robert started asking people if they spoke English. He found two people to help us. One of them was actually a student at the university near where we were staying in Sile, Turkey. He took us on the subway to a square where we could take the university bus back to Sile that night. Than he instructed us on how to take a cab to Hagia Sohpie and return to the square. The student is planning on attending the University of Pennsylvania. He said that many of his friends have studied there. He wants to study business and learn the stock market. (Such a coincidence. My university stock market and investments professor, who became my mentor in life, was also from Istanbul, Turkey.)

Hagia Sophia is the most famous landmark in Turkey. There was first a church at its location in 360 A.D. The present main structure was completed between 532 and 537 A.D. It was a Christian church until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks captured the city and made it a mosque. In 1935, it was opened to the public as a museum. There have been additions to the building to reinforce its integrity. The building has survived several earthquakes during its history.

With rented audio guide recording devices, Robert and I eagerly began our tour. Many of the outer buildings are now resting places for past rulers and their family members. The main structure inside is unchanged for the most part. It is massive on the inside with the audio tour having approximately 50 separate segments pointing out the details. Some of the painted and mosaic tiled features were erased or removed by the Muslims during its tenure as a mosque. However, much of the upper work remains in place as it was evidently too high to easily reach. A very worthwhile place to visit if you ever have a chance.

We returned to the designated square and waited for our bus. Many people come to this square and it center monument. It appeared that it was also a favorite place for demonstrations, etc. More police kept arriving with their lights flashing. Even a TV crew showed up, but it must have been rumor night or something as it was quieting down attendance-wise as night set in and we road back to our own Taj Mahal.

Match the Captions With The Photos:

-The Golden Arches East
-Make A Wish
-One of Many
-Weekend Project
-Anybody Home
-The Eternal Campground
-Patriarch of Robert's Church