Hubbard Motorcycle Adventures

Today is the day that I, Dick Hubbard, 72 years young, ride a fully-laden motorbike right across Istanbul - one of the mega cities of the world. Less dramatically I could merely say we crossed the Bosphorus and moved from Asia to Europe. Take your pick dear reader! Actually it was a lot better than expected (or feared !). We leave the city of Bolu and hit the main Ankara to Istanbul motorway. It was “interesting “ riding this three lane  “go as fast as you can “ motorway. Riding next to the fast lane was a bit like riding alongside a rifle range and hearing the bullets go past next to you. I think some cars were doing 160 km per hour plus and only looked semi in control. My indicators and mirrors worked overtime.  However having got to Istanbul in one piece we found the traffic flowed better than expected. Then we come to the big and highly symbolic bridge  Europe! And just to prove it there was this fuzzy sign which reads “ welcome to Europe”. There were all the sights of a big city.

It is the second verse because almost to the day three years ago I did a blog post with the same heading as we entered Georgia en route from London to Cape Town. But back up a bit.  As we leave Baku we get this email from the Azerbaijan immigration authorities. I am still composing my reply.  We leave Baku early in the morning as it is a 575km day plus a border crossing. Thus was 11 hours with the normal border crossing stuff which you can do without after 9 hours riding. At the border crossing into Georgia something amazing happens. Out of the immigration booth next to us comes a rich baritone voice singing - word perfect - the Maori version of the New Zealand National anthem!  I kid you not! I nearly drop the bike with fright. Then  the voice stops singing and booms out that the immigration officer is a No 1 All Black fan who just loves his Rugby. We have a quick shouted discussion about who will win the Rugby World Cup. Clearly he wants a final between Georgia and New Zealand. A ve

Well let’s start by still being on the ferry. After breakfast I look at Maps.me on the cellphone to see where we are. We are just off the coast of Turkmenistan. Clearly the boat had sailed about 3.00 am in the morning - presumably after the Captains vodka had settled down. Then I look at the boat’s direction. We are not going to Baku! We are going to another place - a port 70 km south of Baku. And that is where we ended up. But relax  the President is always watching over us - ( read, watching us ) and  his photo is absolutely everywhere in Turkmenistan. I mean everywhere.    We arrive in Azerbaijan at about 3 pm.  So far, so good.  We go to passport control. We explain we are from New Zealand and don’t need a visa They say we do. And that dear reader  is where the fun and saga starts.  We get told they can solve the problem and issue a visa on the spot.  Sounds good.  The problem however is that the on line visa application requires the insertion of a copy of our passports. But the o

The old car in the hotel foyer with New Zealand sponsorship all over it. It belongs to three young Kiwis who are doing the Mongol rally which is driving old and cheap cars from Europe to Mongolia. Later another 6 Kiwis arrive.  It appears about 60 Kiwis are entered in the rally this year.  We have a great time talking to the six at the hotel and sharing stories and tips about travel in the region. Note to self - must persuade” Davies of Arrowtown” to enter  his car in the Mongol rally next year - it will easily pass the low value  and clapped out test by then!  Now  the last leg to the Caspian Sea    We leave Ashgabat on the crack of dawn, again to try to beat some of the late afternoon heat. And pass the famous book building.  I do feel like we have turned a new page in our journey !  The trip  takes us thru what is to be quite frankly 420 km of quite a lot of not a lot  We stop to get petrol. Doing the maths on the bowser price shows the petrol is New Zealand 20 cents per litre!  Ye

As predicted it was a long hot slog to get here. We leave Mary at 6.00 am to escape some of the heat. However our guide only goes at about 70 km per hour and we have to follow him. Big trucks all pass us  as do cars with the cars doing about 130 km per hour. So much for being a law abiding nation !  To make matters worse I have picked up a painful bladder infection. Let’s just say with sparing the details that being on a motorbike in 38 degree heat with a bladder infection is not at all comfortable. When the guide stops to show us an archeological site I am mich more interested in much more recent diggings and excavations !  However I think of England, remind myself that this is supposed to be enjoyable and we get to Ashgabat  What a surreal city ! To start with we are in a super plush giant hotel. It is dripping chandeliers and gold banistered marble staircases everywhere. But it is deserted. We are virtually the only guests. As Dianasays it is a bit like being on the Mary Celeste  W

And Mary is in Turkmenistan  This post is a week late and from Azerbaijan as we cannot blog in Turkmenistan.  We leave Bukhara bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7.00 am in the morning as we have to cross the Turkmenistan border which is 95 km down the road. There at the border we have to meet our Turkmenistan guide who will escort us the the city of Mary which is another 300 km away. Leaving Uzbekistan at the border was relatively easy and painless. Entering Turkmenistan was nearly a three hour process with a huge amount of paperwork associated with the bike. Along the way I got at least 12 dirrerent stamps on 8 pieces of paper form 9 different people. I apparent,y now have an Turkmenistan drivers licence but I have no idea which bit of paper it is. We also get full and complete bag search.  Like most countries they are very concerned about drones and they are completely banned. Having one seems to be up there with importing drugs    And talking  of being up there at one  stage I get us