12inn Burvar Baku

... shouting and thumping of tables. I was delegated to go in to the Customs office and try to remove Pete before the guns came out! After more shouting and tearing of various triplicate forms, the Customs guys eventually processed the paperwork, demanded the usual seemingly random amounts of Dollars and let us through, complete with yet another wad of undecipherable stamped forms.<br><br>It wasn't over ...

... to stop her sliding off the oily deck into the sea. Fantastic. I have met a Russian lorry driver called Alexander, who has taught me to play Kazio. He thinks the crossing will take 3 days. I hope he's wrong but he has apparently done this journey many times.

... lost on the metro, but eventually got back to the Gordons. They had a few friends over and we spent all evening outside chatting and barbequeing. It was fantastic and we will all be reluctant to leave the land of real food, showers and beds.

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.

... par la fenetre surtout). La encore, les paysages caracteristique de la depression aralo-casipenne (la il y a des SR qui sursautent en disant "C'est quoi un paysage typique de la depression aralo-caspienne ?") ne pouvaient que me rappeler l'Asie centrale, avec les chameaux en moins. Pour discuter avec les gens c'est un peu plus complexe. En russe ca va. Mais en Ouzbek, entre les yeu les tcheu les tseu les cheu les seu les zeu qui se melangent, c'est pas ...

... than confuse them - costs us 20c. Back to the hotel for a sleep. See Jim and Dan, who are under the bus, and once again covered in oil and grease as they replace the whole set of springs this time. Out later for a walk to the railway and metro stations. Have dinner at the Qoc, a workers' eatery. Menu is pretty mysterious, and pay our 7 manat before eating. DP has the lamb cutlet kebabi, MP has the stew with a lamb shank in it ...

... ein Zollformular mussten wir ausfuellen! Land 120 **reicht, spaet** als **wartet. D** **ste Eindruck von Baku ist recht gut, Baku ist eine alte Stadt (die old walled city ist UNESCO Weltkultur**be) und und die Stadt sie so aus als ob in ihr gelebt wird (nicht wie die turkmenischen Staedte, die sich in kuenstliche und dahinvegeti**ende Haelften aufteilen). Das Hostel hi** kostet US$20, Hotels fangen ab US$100 an, das Oel treibt die Preise... Gruss Ralf

... her. We have been to the Old Town of Baku (Icheri Shahar), the Sea Front, the more modern Centre and have also fitted time in for a game of squash and some relaxing by the pool. You could walk into town but we have been catching taxis as it is fairly hot at the moment. Will update soon and put some photos on as well.

... It is obvious that the women play a very powerful role in many ways. They are in chargre of the day to day life in the village, the organization of school, the campaigning to bring in Peace Corps volunteers and the like. However the place is very sexually charged in the sense that every man has more than one wife (usually two and not usually in the same village). When the man arrives home, the woman is pleased to see him and drops everything to accomodate his ...

... country but staying in the old ferry to Turkmenistan which was now a raunchy hotel on the Caspian would make for the worse night of my travels, read on! -- Azerbaijan Assault It was 11pm when the Azeri border police entered the cabin of my train where I had been sleeping. The wily Azeri border police were notorious for their extortion of money from passengers crossing into the country. I opened the cabin door and saw the unsmiling foursome of cammo clad officers with wide ...