19. THE LOVE BOAT ADVENTURE!!

The front desk was to contact the ferry ticket agency on Sunday morning at 9:00 AM to know if a ferry was sailing for Turkmenistan that day. We were up at 7 AM having great expectations. Yes, the ferry would sail today. Tickets would be sold starting at 11 AM. The hotel driver took us to the freight docks at 11 AM. We loaded our gear into the ambulance which had been parked there for a couple of days. We finally found the ticket office- not the attached shed we thought was it the other day. A guy shows up to establish and collect the fees for private vehicles being loaded - just two today. Robert deals with him while I am told to purchase a ticket from a lady at the front desk. The prices were acceptable based on the past experiences of others.

We were at the dock ready for boarding in a short time. No one really speaks much English if at all in most of the places we will be visiting here and going forward. Most people ask us all the time if we speak Russian. There are two Polish guys in the second vehicle that will make the trip along with the freight in the hold of the ship which mostly has railroad freight cars in it. We sit in the hot sun for hours. Finally at about 7:00 PM, we drive into the hold of the ship. After a cash tax of some time is paid, we can leave our vehicle, go back on the dock and board the ship via a stairway.

Once on board, our passports are taken for the remainder of the voyage just like with staying at the hotels in many of the countries we had visited on the drive thus far. A young guy asks us if we want the included standard cabin or the upgrade. We ask to see both. The "standard" is a small 4 bunk bed setup with the "bath" down the hall. He says the upgrade is $20 US more. He takes us to the upgrade. There is narrow sofa type seating (second bed) next to the hull and a small berth bed at 90 degrees. An electric fan is running on the built in desk. That's it for cooling. The cabin has a private bath. The guy starts taking somethings from the desk and a few pieces of cloths. (We soon realize that this is his private cabin, and he is renting it to us for $20 for the voyage.)

The shower has no head. It is just one of those hand wand deals with the head broken off. The hose part can be wired to the ceiling if you want overhead water. The man says we can't throw anything in the toilet including toilet paper. We ask how we clean ourselves. He said we just stand in the shower and use the hose from the broken shower head -"East meets West". I take a shower. There is a bar of soap at the sink which I use. Robert then showers and finishes just in time as the guy comes back and takes the soap with him for the night.

It is really hot in the cabin. The ship finally sets sale. I am hungry. We read that there was no food service, but all our stuff was in the ambulance, which now we find out we can't return to until we leave the ship the next day. Others have said that the cook will sometime fix you something if you ask. I go to find the cook. Helpers are in the hallway near the kitchen peeling potatoes and vegetables. Come back at 9PM.

We go to the kitchen at 9. The cook motions for us to go into the crew's mess. Some of the chairs have no backs on them anymore. Robert sits next to an open port hole window. The other side of that table has no ventilation at all. I take one of the chairs with no back and put it in line with the window behind Robert. The cook soon brings me my own small table to eat from. The meal is soup, a chicken leg, a pasta without sauce, bread and our choice of a beverage. I choose a large bottle of cold water for the two of us. I return the next morning for breakfast and have the same dining table.

We go forward at dusk on the bridge deck and speak with the night navigator and night watch person on duty. We never did know for sure who the captain was. We have tea with them and then retire for the night. All the cabin doors have a homemade hook like for a screen door that just sticks into the edge of the door for ventilation all night. I leave the port hole open for a little air that is coming in. Anybody can step through it on top of me as it is really large, but it is just that hot. I wake up a few hours later and can't sleep because of the heat.

We are on deck at sunup to shot a few photos of the sunrise. The ship drops anchor at about 11AM. The ship moves to the dock at about 1:30 PM. We are off the ship heading for customs at about two. There are only approximately 18-20 passengers total on the ship. It takes us until 7:30 PM before we are released from customs. All papers had to be signed in quadruplicate as there wasn't much that was computerized. Customs can do what they want in any country. Hopefully the process will be made faster in the future for others who want to visit.

So now it is almost dark, and we have to find a place to sleep for the night. Several maps were left in Chicago including the one for Turkmenistan. We are just guessing and trying to ask a couple of people along the way for the location of a hotel.

We hit our first police stop. The officer wants to see our papers. Robert just hands him the big pile he has been signing all afternoon. Robert says we are driving to Mongolia. The officer looks at us like we are a little well you know, hands the papers back and waves us on. We say "hotel hotel" and he points straight ahead....

Match the captions to the photos:

-In the event of an emergency....
-Sunset.
-Sunrise.
-Table for one.
-$20 Upgrade.
-Full speed ahead.
-Private bath.
-Superior Class wasn't available.
-"Coach".
-How van Gogh got his start.