Operation Marmalade : Stage 2

Code name Shifting Sands or as it says in The Art Of Pilgrimage; This is a great moment, when you see, however distant, the goal of your wandering. The thing which has been living in your imagination suddenly becomes a part of the tangible world. (Freya Stark)


Greetings from a place I am sure is new to most people, namely Turkmenistan. Mum, Dad hi, actually as I am the birthday boy can I say hi to all my family, Sarah and the Vav clan, Soph and Emre, Justin, V and the prince...I would suggest a strong coffee to go with this entry and an extra cushion on the chair.

We last spoke as The Calypsoites prepared for the ferry across the Caspian, is there a song title in that? As previously explained the port is not the most up to date. “Never forget where you are” and “Hurry up to wait” were good anthems for this section of the trip. Getting up at a very early 2am we arrived at the port ready to board the 4am ferry...which we did a mere 7 hours later, not bad really. We were moving fast by local standards.

Operation "port sit-in"

Wherever I lay my hat, that's my home

Standards, a word that rather like time varies depending on where you are and our preconceptions of what is an acceptable standard for toilet facilities was to be challenged on the ferry as we were met by a torture machine out of the middle ages...which coincidently was about the time it was last cleaned! Not the sort of device to approach in flip-flops if you know what I mean. Travel, broadens the mind don’t you know!
So what of the time, like I said this was going fast by local standards...so fast in fact that as we were informed by the captain that we had another 15 hours on the boat, we docked. Nothing like a surprise bash on the cabin door by a failed Soviet shot putter cum cabin assistant, variety sort-of-female, to get you up and well set for a day of more hurrying up to wait. So we hurried off the boat at 5.30am to wait until 1pm for the final entry proceedings to be completed...in all a fast ferry crossing, result.

Calypso is in there, trust me!  Ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi

We were in Turkmenistan, a resource rich country that tolerates rather than encourages tourism, so rather like a rare species of bird we were observed and allowed passage. Max, the local guide met us at the port and as is always the case showed us that human friendliness survives even in the harshest of conditions...or does it flourish better there?

This is a country that has already won our hearts. Why? Well it is oven hot, lovely. It has camels that wander around all over the place, cool. The people are really friendly, brilliant. And it is a real thrill being here...we are well on our way, this is a country that you really can say of at the dinner party. “Anyway, there I was in Ashgabat..oh you don’t know where it is, well it is the capital of Turkmenistan...oh you don’t know where that is....well, let me tell you.....” Oh yes CJ the travel bore is back!

Cultural Calypso

Looking at things the Odyssey way...  or

Your name is on the list, you can come in

Few quotations that sort of match what we are doing...adventuring, stretching ourselves...experiencing, letting Odyssey help us expand our horizons. Aoife, for you...

Helen Keller, my heroine: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” Amen to that!
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” Thanks for setting up and running Odyssey Overland....we are experiencing the magic of it right now!

“So often we rob tomorrows memories by today’s economies” Yes let us budget but never forget where we are and what we are seeing....this is a trip of a lifetime!

Then lastly one that is ours to live by. “Man cannot discover new oceans until he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” And that is what we have done...the safety of our own home shores are far behind us...we are letting the shifting sands write our futures, with a little help and planning by the Odyssey Overland dream team, as we travel the globe in search of meaning and adventure....Ok CJ stop there, maybe a short siesta is in order...has the heat got to you?

OK, best if I sign off. Am going to try and send this from here, Ashgabat but international coms can be hard so will see what happens...if not, will leave as is, and add to as we go and send asap. Next step is the market, which I am told has been modernised, gas crater and the road through the desert to Uzbekistan and the wonderful Khanates of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand. Life does not really get much better.