Baku Palace Guesthouse

... br><br>We were stopped at the port entrance by a surly guard and led into another office, this one turned out to be the Ferry Company office, where we were charged another wad of dollars, this time for our transport. It turned out that the $90 we each paid at the other side of the sea was for the passenger and they now wanted another $90 for each bike and $300 for the Landy! Oh, and to add insult, $12 ...

Well, it's taken all day, but we've made it onto the boat. This is one dodgy affair. Happily the few other passengers on this filthy freighter are mostly British, travelling around the world on motorbikes. Everything is filthy, and there is nothing but Molly's ...

Chris didn't feel great, so Damien and I went into town to investigate the ferry, and while we were relieved to discover there was one the next day, we were surprised to find they were after over $600 for the privilege. We got a bit separated ...

Spent the day in Baku and met up with the Gordons in the early evening. We had showers! I was disappointed to find that most of my tan was ingrained dirt. Graeme took us out for a curry and few beers and we returned to sleep in beds! Chris and I shared a double bed, but he only hugged me once in his sleep. It was a special moment.

... 16% of its territory and must support some 600,000 internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous, and the government has been accused of authoritarianism. Although the poverty rate has been reduced in recent years, the promise of widespread wealth from development of Azerbaijan's energy sector remains largely unfulfilled. https://www.cia.gov/library ...

... photos of pretty limestone structures, particularly intricately carved portals. Run into the Explore group we met in Saki, plus the others in our group on the tour. Exit to the new town. Take photos of the concert hall nearby, the ornate Science academy, pretty parks against the Old City walls. Drop down into the commercial area for change, then back up to the recommended L'Aparte restaurant, very swish inside, Olde Worlde decor ...

... slightly down hill so I was able to blast through it like a bullet down a barrel. That shaved 20 k off the trip &amp; allowed me to reach the Samsun Otobus terminal in time to catch the 5 pm bus straight back. There was different staff behind the desk this time and, typically, they tried to charge more than double for the same trip last time. By now I knew enough Turkish to put up a good argument &amp; got the trip for 25YTL. It's starting to **** me now that everywhere ...

We arrive in Baku very early in the morning. Our driver from GTZ met us at the airport (poor guy - it was 4 o'clock in the morning!). We had a great week of meetings and even enjoyed a day off for International Women's Day (March 8) - a national holiday in Azerbaijan! Here are some pictures of Baku.

... open and b) to get through it in about five minutes. Thankfully our local guide was there to meet the eight of us and take us to the hotel. Baku is the Azeri capital and due to its huge oil and gas is home to many expats. This makes it modern and quite cosmopolitan. Oil has been found here since the 10th century; Marco Polo even brought oil from Azerbaijan to the rest of the world. This has seen many empires fight for this land, the most recent being ...

... the "hourly rate" for the rooms, I should have thought twice about staying there, I'd regret my decision to stay there the next day. After I checked in, I walked around to inspect the communal showers and toilets. Walking around, it looked as though the floors hadn't been washed since the ship was first moored, the toilets weren't any better. A cluster of flies buzzed over a seatless toilet. A splatter of brown matter decorated the urinal walls and puddles of water gathered in ...