Excelsior Hotel Baku

The relief to enter the harbor at Baku and then to actually dock and not anchor-off as we half expected was fantastic. We could finally get off the boat!<br><br>The actual process of getting off took seemingly hours of course and we were through to the Customs in Baku.<br><br>Fun and games ensued with Pete in particular taking the brunt of the wrath of a couple of 'Jobs-worth' officials with lots of ...

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 ...

... the time we got to Baku as the amount of dirt and fumes you inhaled. Good practice for china! We couldn't see eachother at some places. I silly enough had to go for a "pee stop" and got chased by a dog who got chased by his owner, whilst I was running back to my bike as fast as I could trying to zip up my pants I thought, this must look really funny, and yes when I reached my bike the guys I was cycling with were in stitches on the ground...ok boys very funny, lets find me a ...

... would find them a bit slow physically, which is the continual problem we have. The tours that we want to do because of the physicality of them, usually have younger people that we don't have as much in common with. Have the evening meal at the elegant garden restaurant at the hotel, DP having good lamb cutlet kebabi, with chips, and MP the hot yoghurt soup, as the borsch was finished. Only problem was that it was lukewarm ...

... generous Georgian hospitality. After explaining my situation in a rather jokey manor, I got two of the boys to point NZ out to me on a small globe he had for sale. They were close, looking all around Australia, but not under it. I was on my bike about to ride the 20km to the hotel they'd directed me to when the shop owner got me to follow him 50 m up the road to his house and said you must stay here tonight. His mate Gorcha, then came in from the shop across the road ...

... Soviets. The Soviets then split Azerbaijan in two, keeping the oil rich north and giving the south to Iran. In 1991, Armenia fought a war and also claimed a fair chunk of Azerbaijan. Our guide was very passionate about all this lost land as are most Azeris. Of the 32 million population of Azerbaijan only 8 million live in what is now officially Azerbaijan. Poor planning and inefficiency saw the Soviets turn Baku into the most polluted coastline in the ...

Day 1 - More Burberry caps than women   After 7 months of being grounded in England , Mr &amp; Mrs R's were twitching like a butterfly in a net.   Azerbaijan has long held a romantic attraction for all the usual perverse reasons that we go anywhere.   And Englands' World Cup Qualifier game was the perfect opportunity to head deep into Central Asia.  Mr &amp; Mrs R scoured the ...

... sure!" Without even having exchanged names, we were off to Western Azerbaijan for a day trip. Rovshan was a funny guy. Full of life and swinging his hands in the air to the music as we zipped down the horribly pot holed highway to Simaxi. "Hey Rovshan, don't you wear a seat belt?" I asked after he'd pointed out a cliff side where he'd driven off a year before, which hospitalized him for months. "Bah! Why? If something is meant to happen, it will happen." he rationalized. A true ...