J112 – 4/8/2006

Continuous rain and 18°Celsius (44°C yesterday), 60% humidity (25% yesterday)

It goes without saying that the drop in temperature and the penetrating humidity has us feeling frozen.  Serge, as is often the case in these unpleasant moments, showed great patience and finished the stage joking with Jean-Marc and Benjamin.  When you have spent almost 10H30 in the rain and your feet are ice cold and soaking wet it’s best to keep smiling.

We encountered two more police stations where we had to register.  It makes ten stations that we have stopped at since we arrived.  They were put in place in 1998 to fight the opium traffic from Afghanistan and everyone has to be registered, even the Turkmens.

Administrative logic doesn’t always follow: when you have a tourist visa (the transit visit is good  for only 3 days), you have to register with a tourist bureau within 3 days of your arrival in the country.  Troubles start when the head of the tourist bureau decides not to stamp your papers.  Even Bakhtiyar doesn’t understand it.

As you no doubt have understood, Turkmenistan is a country where there is a certain number of different enthnic groups.  In the 13% of minorities, there are Russians, Armenians, Uzbeks, Kurds and Turks from Azerbaijan.  

Traditions are kept alive primarily in small towns.  Today Bakhtiyar gave us good luck charms: pendants made of two triangles of camel wool.  They are now hanging from the rear view mirrors of our vehicles because they will ward off the evil eye.

Tonight we are staying in Repetek, at a restaurant for truckers.  To our surprise, we were asked to sign a guest book where, since 1988, all the tourists who have gone through have glued their photos, drawn a map of their itinerary and written a short note.  Most of the time they are “cyclos,” as they call themselves, from Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, China, Australia.  We through about Sébastien, whom we met in Turkey.  Maybe he will go throught here.

The evening was spent in a very congenial atmosphere; on the television DVD clips of Uzbek music really made us want to dance.  Oraz, then Bakhtiyar, as well as the daughter of the restaurant’s owner, threw themselves into a demonstration of a traditional dance, which Laure did her best to imitate.