Azerbaijan: Baku-Aktau, Kazakhstan Ferry

We boarded the Hassan Aliyev at about 4pm on Thursday and arrive at 1pm on Friday.  

Michel's Land Cruiser and our bikes

The crew was waiting for us to arrive to set set sail.  We were asked if we wanted to “upgrade” to where the Michel and Marilou are staying, it would cost (only) 15 Manat.  At this point, we said sure and moved on.  We were showed to our rooms and promised to get some tea later as this came with the 15 Manat.

We were off and had to pay 15 Euro for a room upgrade

The rooms were nothing less than glamorous.  There was a sweet smell of urine, body odor, diesel and vodka all mixed together.  We did get fresh sheets and blankets which we kindly accepted but quickly moved aside to set up our sleeping bags.

Our upgraded cabin

We decided to wander around the ship to check it out.  We found some of the crew at the back of the ship bbq’ing dinner.  They offered us a quick bite of some chicken kebap then wanted us to take pictures of them.

The crew bbq'ing

Sleep came early and morning also.  As promised, one of the crew men found us to get us our tea and bread.  We were quickly coming to the Kazakhstan shoreline, and we could start to see Aktau in the distance.  

Arrived in port, Kazakhstan flags flying high

Without any delays, we entered port and docked.  Then the waiting began…