Baku, Azerbaijan

Why did I bother drying my riding gear out?  Thunder storms all night and we woke to rain this morning but we resolved that today was going to be a riding day.  The earlier we get to Baku the better.  We have to find the shipping agency and then arrange freight for the bike and tickets for ourselves for the Caspian Sea crossing.  We have a week before our five day transit visa for Turkmenistan commences - the more we eat into that five period of time the shorter period we have to transit that country.  It was either a five day transit visa or a tourist visa which required us to engage a guide for the duration of our stay. 

Clive Emery ( one of the guys we cross China with ) got a tourist visa and the guide cost a thousand pounds sterling ( $1,550 approx. ) plus costs.  We hope to save that by opting for a transit visa BUT it may backfire if we don't get on the ship in a reasonable time. 

Baku on the Caspian Sea is just two hundred and sixty kilometres away from Oguz.  A pleasant ride parallel to the mountain range.  The photographs haven't turned out to well in the rain but you get the idea.

Once again we just had to be wary of road conditions.  Good in spots and not so good in others - just being able to pick which spot is which.

All the street vendors were out in the rain trying to make a living.  The colourful round disks are pulped fruit, about dinner plate sized, which has set into a rubbery consistency.  Similar to our fruit wraps at home.  Pickled vegetables, honey, fruit and other produce.

 

  

Tomorrow we go to the Caspian Sea and start our quest to secure passage on board a ship.