Hotel Balion Baku

... perfect English, having he told us, recently returned from several years at London School of Economics! His mate then led us in his Merc at breakneck speed dodging the racing Porches and Ferrari's to a small hotel where we booked in and immediately demolished the mini-bars in both rooms. Off to bed at around 3 in the morning and hopefully ready to crack-on to Georgia in the morning.<br><br>Cheers, Rick.

... 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.

... egalement mon Brodway de Tachkent au coeur de la ville sovietique. Le karaoke en plein air, les voitures electriques entre les fontaines mais pour faire la difference tout de meme, un ;macdo. Et aussi beaucoup plus de pubs ecossais (faut absolument que j'aille les tester pour pouvoir en parler, c'est ca le boulot hein). La difference par rapport aux Stan egalement c'est la presence de la mer. En plus, ici son niveau augmente alors que celle de l'Aral ...

... the Maiden's Tower is closed on Mondays, so walk the main road to see it. Its present form is 12th century. The structure is impressive, a series of domed circular rooms with stairways in the walls, and a spiral staircase in the first floor, which was originally a ladder for defensive reasons. Some interesting exhibits on each floor, good views from the roof, including the impressively ornate building next door. The tower itself ...

... nicht losfahren... Hm, das Me** ist zwar nicht klein, ab** nicht so riesig, so dass wir eigentlich etwas haetten mitbekommen muessen, ab** bei uns war das Me** ruhig. Nun ja, am Freitag tat sich jedenfalls nichts... (und meine eine Flasche Cola blieb unangetastet, da ich sie **st trinken wollte, wenn das Schiff unt**wegs ist). Samstag morgen lagen wir imm** noch vor Ank**, ab** es gab die Auskunft, dass wir doch bald losfahren sollten. Und das haben ...

... me. After that it is down to the river to wash the dishes from the night before, wash ourselves, and then wash the pange we were wearing. There is an art in doing this so that you are never really naked. This is an interesting process as they flood the river with soap, they stand and fish in almost the same spot, and it is said that the illegal gold mining operations are filling the rivers and lakes in Suriname with mercury. The villagers also drink this water although ...

Villot, French traveller 1689 (..) City of Baku represents a lot of things noteworthy of full and deep attention of the tourist of all kinds: but without any doubt, unextinguasable fire is the unique phenomenon, attracting glances of travellers I. Berezin, 1842

... of 30 mosquitos buzzing over my head. They were all fat and plump from their Luc-Feast. One was spinning in circles on my night table, attempting to fly. "I think someone ate too much" I thought before swatting the *******. The resulting goo confirmed that he'd been responsible for one, or more, or the glowing red itchy sores on my body. My body was covered in huge itchy bites and I contorted into a violent scratching frenzy. I stood up to inspect the damage in my cracked ...