A mid morning departure. Down the hill then we turned
to the east again to have a look at a gorge. Drove to the village and
turned around. The landscape here is very attractive and interesting.
The little village had it's own milk tanker!!
We just got passed the point where we had entered the
road when a vehicle overtook. A few corners later and outside a
building he waved us down at a military roadblock setup just for us. They asked us to park across
the road in their entrance. Only
a short stop here. The two young militar one of which was the only
guy with english, both looked at me in the eyes and spoke to me. I
was quiet surprised. John had lots of jokes with them while waiting
for our passports to be checked. All good and off we went.
Back
on the main road we turned south and drove into Quchen to buy some
food. We stopped just in the city limits and there were half a dozen
different shops selling dried fruit, yogurt, cheeses etc. Bought
some raisins, apricots, walnuts and almonds in their shell. A young
lady befriended us, practicing her english. She mostly talked to John.
She wanted us to go and have an ice cream. She kept asking people
where to go or where was a restaurant open ( being Ramadan). So we
walked with her, but she went too far so we asked her to wait there
and we’d go get the car, which we did. John had also noticed a guy
in a car watching us on the street who wold not respond to his
greetings. This time bringing the backpack with our passports, we continued with our new friend.
Finally
she was told the shop behind us. It was locked, but opened for us. We
were ushered in and downstairs where we chatted with her and the
proprietor. We had a huge helping of ice cream each. Finally it was
time to leave. Upstairs where she paid the proprietor said
something about the guys on the street who then came to the door. It
was unlocked for them and our friend tried to push past them
unsuccessfully. They said "police".
A
police raid on an ice cream shop! Not sure if they were following us or her.
They looked at our passports and said we could go but we said no we’d
wait for our friend. She did not have ID on her. The proprietor was
very worried and said he may be shut down; I guess not licensed to
serve food during Ramadan. Finally she left and us with her. But
outside the door when I asked was she OK, she said no and turned
around and went back to argue with the cops. She and the cops asked
us to leave. We
are still puzzled.
Takes two people to milk a sheep!!
We
found a place to change the oil and finter in our vehicle. Also we were able to have the vehicle wached thoroughly (important because it is illegal to have a dirty car in Turmenistan). Finally we left town heading for the border.
A very busy road but once we turned off to Bajgiran there was no
traffic.
Camped about 20km’s south of the border on the old
abandoned highway. A lovely camp and only one motor-bike passed us.
185km
185km