Leaving Baku

Wow, Baku is expensive. A manat is worth around the same as a euro, but it doesn't seem to go as far. I've made six separate withdrawals from ATMs in 48 hours. After Uzbekistan, everything costs a shocking amount of money. You want to charge me $3 for tea? You thief! Going back to New York will take some adjusting.

It felt like a month since I'd met a fluent English speaker, so last night I dragged the two Japanese kids from our hostel to the local Irish pub/restaurant, Finnegans. Jackpot! The oil industry means tons of expats working in construction, and we got talking with an Irish architect and a bunch of Liverpudlian builders, all apparently called Danny. "There's no building happening in Liverpool now", Danny told us, "and we heard there was lots of work in Azerbaijan.". "I bet I know what your first thought was", I said. (In chorus) "Where the hell is Azerbaijan?"

We went to hear a live band at a gay bar where my Japanese friends danced and I got all the English conversation I could wish for. I can survive another week of talking to myself now. And I got a cultural experience to boot: a gay bar in a Muslim country is a new one for me.

Yesterday I just walked around a lot, enjoying the difference between the old town and the rapidly developing new city. There's a great promenade along the water, very striking in cloudy weather when the (oily) water, the seagulls and the distant smoky ships are all starkly black and white.

The old town here is quite lovely and well preserved. Wooden balconies covered in flowers hang over busy flagstones streets. It's a good place to stroll. On Thursday I had dinner in the old town with people from the hostel, one Japanese and one Turkish. We went to a caravanserei -- a sort of old travellers' inn with little stone rooms around a courtyard -- which is now converted into a good restaurant. Carpets and kilims covered the walls, and the rooms were lit by little gas fires and candlelight. A band played Azeri music, which sounded great to me but infuriated the Turk: he ranted (at great length) about how the Azeris are exceptional poets and musicians and how the tourist-quality music wasn't acceptable to his ears. Apparently the Azerbaijan Philharmonic is incredible, if you're in the neighborhood.

Today I visited the Shirvanshah's palace, a surprisingly big complex of mosques, mausoleums, galleries, etc, connected together with steep stone stairs. I played with some cats and sat in the plaza watching people go by. It was relaxed and easy.

And I drank a lot of tea. There's good chai in these parts.

In summary, Baku is a pleasant place to be. As the capital city, it's probably not at all representative of Azerbaijan, and I'm curious now about what Azeri people are like. I won't find out on this trip though. To Georgia!