Azerbaijan Travel Blogs, Travelogues and Travel Journals

All of my possessions, which at one time were spread throughout the bedroom, the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen and the hallway, are now neatly tucked away in three suitcases.  They are waiting me for me to drag them down three flights of stairs, load them into a taxi and check them in with the airlines.  Then I am gone – soon to be merely a memory here.I am leaving the country I have called home for the past two years to briefly return to the place that was my childhood h…

It was about last year at this time when I came across Lemon Barf Laundry Detergent at Tema Supermarket in Naxcivan, Azerbaijan.  First, I was amazed that science has progressed so far that what was once a pain to get out of clothes is now being used to cleaned it.  Second, I was disappointed to know that for all this time I have been barfing in the toilet like a sucker.  Third, I was shocked to know that Barf came in a powder.  I have barfed in many toilets across the wor…

People I met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: Julia (Russia)   Approaching Astara we got our first look at the Caspian Sea, as the bus trundled through the morning gloom. On the opposite side of the road were small mountains covered in trees, with the peaks shrouded in mist. The houses were also of a different design, with tiled slanted roofs and the whole scene didn't quite fit in with what we had come to expect from Iran. Sleepy eyed we stepped off the bus and into a wa…

Baku the CityBaku’s Hyder Ali Airport (everything is named after this dude and his son who is the present ruler) is situated about 45 minutes from the city.  I was picked up by a taxi arranged by my hosts and a taxi driver who spoke no English and had it not been for five words of Azeri I heard him speak, I could  have sworn that he was an interesting find for the Anthropologists of the world as the first driver who didn’t speak any language at all. The drive from the airpo…

Please, please, please, please, PLEASE, DO NOT tell me you are sorry to hear about he having this illness.  There is a difference between being disabled and living with a disability.I have Crohn's Disease.  There, I said it.  Do not worry it; I cannot give you Crohn's.  I have tried various ways to give this fun barrel of merriment to every jerk-wad I have met and every former girlfriend who has screwed me over.  I have tried to use the power of my mind to project the…

My friend Sarah recently gave me a sock puppet thingy as I travel alone a lot.  I do not know what exactly it is.  It has a blue tongue kind of like a blue tongue skink from Australian, it likes to drink vodka (actually too much vodka), and, unlike me, likes Hollywood blockbusters.  I have dubbed it Socko and I have discovered him to be a bit of jerk but oh well, better than traveling alone.

The one thing that I can say about almost every international trip I have taken is that my health has not always been in top form.  My first trip to Asia, I came down with a deep lower respiratory infection.  I was practically downing a bottle of cough syrup before taking off to make sure that my coughing would not hinder me on boarding the plane and entering China.  The infection lasted the entire time I was in the Land of the Giant Panda (Chengdu).  During my second trip…

I awoke at 6am, which is not really a bad thing as long as you did not drink a little too much and go to bed at 3am.  I still had things that I needed to pack and I guess my brain was thinking about that and decided to wake me at that time even though my alarm was set for 7.  I stumbled around my apartment in a daze partially from a hangover, partially from only getting three hours of sleep and partially because I had a lot of little things that I had to decide to keep or give away.…

Notice how I didn’t say that we entered Saray.  I still don’t know where Saray is.  However, the huge sign on the highway said that we were entering Novxani. I bet you (the reader) are thinking “wait, you’ve already been in Novxani!  You took a picture of a road, and the Caspian Sea and a giant eagle statue surrounded by garbage!” If you aren’t thinking that, refer back a few blog posts and you will see that Aqua Park was in Novxani and that we stayed there for abo…

Here are some thoughts and a bunch of photos from my time in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Baku, Azerbaijan - 2008

2007 was a great year. Set off from London in July in a Nissan Micra for Mongolia. Got there 35 days later, left the Micra in Mongolia for chairty and then had to try and find my way home. Went via Trans-sib to Moscow, had to get out contry asap due to visa. Failed - got detained. Got back 2 weeks late for work and 55 days after London. Completely eyeopening and rewarding experience, if not quite tiring. Lost my camera in Mongolia so lots of friends photos other than my phone :(

Cardiff to Baku via Prague. Wales drew 1-1.

I was in Ganca for a little more than two weeks in the beginning of June, teaching a class on journalism.

I woke up at 6am this morning to the sound of rain.  March Madness has begun and I needed to check the scores.  Aside from Duke losing, no major upsets.  I had to make sure that I had everything unplugged before leaving the apartment.  I used to pay a flat rate of 10 manat a month for electricity, then it became 12 manat, and then 20, and now they are regulating everyone’s use.  I am not going to take any chances while I am gone, so there will be no electric…