-Azerbaijan-

Azerbaijan

1-14-2008 to 1-26-2008

I took the 6:15PM train from Tbilisi Georgia for Baku Azerbaijan. I shared a compartment with a few locals a couple men in their mid thirties and an old women in her mid 60s. They were all quite pleasant, and kind…which made the long train ride that much easier.

On the downside of the journey, there was the strange smells, loud snoring and the broken lock. The lock of our compartment was broken; literally the inside fell off. So at 4am when I needed to make a run for the toilet………I ran into a problem because the door was locked from the outside. At about 5:30am the old women woke up, and without hesitation pounded ferociously on the door until the train conductor woke up and came to the rescue by opening our door.

I arrived in Baku about 10am…a bit sleep deprived and unmotivated about the land before me. Baku……..at first glance is overwhelmingly unimpressive……the city itself is difficult to explain in words. It has all the ingredients of a rundown former soviet capital, but with the tacky glamour of quick money. The large gaudy buildings are surrounded by expensive hotels…and guarded by an absurd amount of police officers that patrol the streets by foot and in brand new BMWs. Oil of course is the fuel that drives this elegant slum, at one point in recent history Baku provided 52% of the world’s petrol.

Baku can almost seem charming at first glance, but a thorough examination of the city invites a theme of ugliness, poverty, and artificial joy brought by quick money and brutish exploitation. The countryside surrounding Baku is merely a black and brown oily wasteland of disastrous looking oil pumps and pipelines.

I met up with my host at around 12:30pm……spending the previous hours acquainting myself with the city, and planning my next move. My hosts in Baku were two American Fulbrighters. They were both highly intelligent and incredibly hospitable as well as quite pleasant to be around.

I ended up leaving my watch on a table in central Baku……..just one of many things I have lost on the road:
1-Fleace Pants
1-Nalgene bottle
1-Light weight rain jacket
1-Expensive G-Shock watch
1-Rechargable batteries
1-Travel pillow


Well………….. my time in Baku was relatively uneventful……..I spent most of my days studying Russian, visiting nearby historic sights, reading, tracking down Central Asian Visas, and trying desperately to find a ship that would take me across the Caspian Sea to Aktau Kazakhstan.

The latter turned out to be the most challenging. My Russian however was coming along nicely, I had visited all the local sites of interest, I had acquired both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Visas, But I had no luck finding a boat to Kazakhstan.

From my extensive research on the matter; I had found that there was in fact a cargo ferry that will take a few passengers from Baku to Aktau. The problem being that the ferry has no specific schedule, and only comes about once every 7-10 days.

My solution to this problem was to be the annoying American that hung out at the port all day. If I was persistent and made my presence known, my chances of missing the boat to Aktau were at most minimal. I went down to the port about 3-4 times a day while I was living in Baku…and for a long time had no luck. I would begin my daily inquiries by visiting the port’s ferry ticket office, and asking the woman in the office if the Aktau boat was coming……….she would always so no, and that I should come back tomorrow. I would then go down to the edge of the pier and spend about a half hour wandering around the port asking cops and customs officials if they knew anything about a boat leaving for Aktau Kazakhstan………..I would always get the answer no.

On January 26, I caught a break……..as I was jogging the 3.5 mile distance between the port and my host’s home,……I spotted a big ship at the port. It was a boat I had never seen before, which gave me a jolt of energy and a glimmer of hope. ( it was about 9:30am) I sprinted the rest of the way to the port and arrived at the ticket office smiling and out of breathe. The ticket lady simply smiled at me, and said she did not know if the boat in the dock was for Aktau. I quickly headed to the end of the pier, where the cops and customs officials(they all new me by now) greeted me with smiles and said “Aktau…. go buy a ticket”(all in Russian, I had been practicing my Russian everyday by talking to the cops at the port). With a smile from ear to ear I ran back to the ticket office and told the lady I wanted a ticket for the boat…….. She replied by saying that she had not received clarification that the boat in question was in fact heading to Aktau Kazakhstan. She told me to come back at 11am( it was 10am at the time)…….so with a burst of happiness, relief, and overpowering adrenaline I ran quickly down the frozen streets back to my host’s home. After arriving at the pad, I quickly grabbed my passport and cash, shed a few layers of clothing, and was soon back out the door at top speed heading excitingly toward the port.

I arrived at the port around 11am…and quickly presented my passport to the woman. The lady looked at me confused, and asked me where my bag was and why I was only wearing a T-shirt in such cold weather. She told me that the boat was leaving at noon, and that she would not sell me a ticket until I had my bag, and was ready. So my exercise continued! I sprinted at top speed the exhausting 3.5mile stretch back to the pad and frantically packed while I sent out my host to buy me some bread, water and snicker bars for my ferry trip. I managed to get this all done quickly and was back at the port, exhausted and sweating profusely by 11:50am.

I bought my ticket ($70)…..and made it though a very unpleasant customs search and interrogation by about 1:30pm.

{-Side note: Customs was tough because they gave me a lot of shit for having an Armenian Visa in my passport. It raised a bit of suspicion…….and invited a slough of ridiculous questions from the customs officials. This is because Armenia and Azerbaijan are still fighting over land……..they are technically still at war, but currently are in a state of cease fire.}

I was so exhausted from my half marathon that I immediately crashed in my cabin and awoke at around 6pm. I awoke from my slumber only to realize that the ship had not moved an inch, and was still docked at the port. The boat did not leave until 7:15pm……at last I was out of strange city of Baku and on my way to Kazakhstan.

A few disturbing thought lingered vaguely in the back of my mind as we departed Baku. One being that in October 2002 the other cargo/ferry ship that sails from Baku-Aktau enexpectingly sank during a mid voyage storm. Out of the 37 passengers aboard the ship, there were no survivors. The second lingering thought of uncertainty was the fact the Aktau may be the most dangerous city in Kazakhstan. I have read numerous reports of unhappy locals attacking tourists and foreign oil workers in Aktau…………………………

{side note: even though I found the city of Baku to be less than charming, I enjoyed my time there tremendously. I was constantly in good company and did not encounter any of Baku’s infamous ‘Dirty Cops’. In fact I found the police in Baku to be quite helpful and courteous to me during my stay.

My only problem was with the cab drivers……….one cab driver drove me around the city for about 20 minutes before taking me to my destination…….which happened to be about 300 meters from my initial location. After demanding a extortionate amount of money from me, I simply dropped about 4 dollars down on his seat and exited the cab. He was absolutely unrelentless however, and with frightening enthusiasm, demanded more money. After about 20min of arguing with the guy in broken Russian I was rescued by a friendly guard outside of the Uzbek embassy………..the cab driver really freaked me out, and intimidated the hell out of me.}

Old town Baku, Azerbaijan




The land outside of Baku:


Burning hillside: 30min outside of Baku……..it ignited in the 50s and has been on fire ever since, it is basically fueled by gasses leaking from the earth.



Zoroastrian fire temple, in existence since the 4th century, outside of Baku.