... from Kyiv

Due to many circumstances and without any real trying (and I guess that is how it usually works), I have rather suddenly ended up in Ukraine. Kyiv is going to be my base for the next year.

I have not seen too much of Kyiv yet, only few streets around the place I live and work but I need to say the following…
Make-up: I am fairly confident to say that girls do not wear as much make-up as we think.
Short skirts: I have seen girls wearing skirts but they are usually knee height, and pants seem preferred (it is only -7 here).
There are many old women on the streets, I was bit suprised about that.
Some other observations are:

• There is a homeless man sleeping on the staircase outside my door. The coridor is warm. (update - he is no longer there, it is the next day afternoon and i finally managed to convert .docx to doc and can upload this post)
• There are the same metro cars in Kyiv metro as the ones we used to have (or still have) in Prague (Mitishinskiy mashinostroitelniy zavod).
• It is sunny and nice snow lying outside on the streets.
• People definitely do not seem to notice me, I think no matter what I can easily pass for Ukrainian (till I take the map out of my bag or open my mouth). Marta, maybe you are just too pretty :P.
• Today I gave instructions about where the metro station Arsenalna is (how cool is that!). I must look like a local even though just 5min back I was enquiring about how to get to my place from Arsenalna :D.
• There is this huge supermarket close to my place... and there is at least 50m long freezer full of different kind of shrimps. The prices are very similar to Czech food prices.
• Passport control at the airport sucks.
• I am in my bed, watching TV in Russian... the Murders in Midsumner (or whatever the spelling is).
• I withdrew some money (not all ATMs work) and I managed to run out of them fairly quickly. So I already have a debt! (update - I already paid it back)
• I have a sim card and credit on it (yep, the debt)! (update - former debt)
• I am sleepy and hungry (very hungry). (update - had two meals since and yummy cakes)
• Oh, and today I wore my fancy pants to work (bought two pairs before leaving for Ukraine as my usual clothing – jeans etc. – would probably be rather inappropriate).
• My boss is Georgian, there is Canadian Indian co-worker and the rest are Ukrainians. Our office may move soon to another location.
• The prices of accommodation are dropping, but my flat was rented yet during the peak prices.
• I had a meeting with one of my colleagues at 6.30 pm ytoday. At 5.30pm she called me, which scared me as I thought she changed the time of meeting. Well, she did not change the time of meeting, my office computer was an our late.
• I have visited an alternative club (where writers, musicians etc. meet) where they were celebrating old new year. The place was crowded with constant pushing flow of people entering and leaving. There was a programme going on... at the beginning some people were reciting. I could only judge by the way their voice and expressions were set (oh, and I understood „k*rva“). But then there were two amazing groups of young musicians. One was more based on violin, harmonique and different kind of flutes... the other one was more based on violin and cimbalom. But they had one thing in common, by playing national songs, or xmas carols, or simply live melodies, they made the crowd move and sing along and that was awesome.

Laos

After several days in Luang Prabang we are back to Vientianne. It was quite an experience, I am surprised how many things can happen in just a few days. The best part was being called by UNV to Laos for an interview, I definitely was never less prepared and I definitely was never in such a cool place while being interviewed. Also our bagpacks disappeared for one day..., stand by flight followed, 11 hour bus ride... and finally (another) foot massage.

Laos

Vientiane is beautiful! We are here for few hours yet, but the little we have seen really made me like the city a lot. It is extremely cozy... although it rains...
Anyways, felt like saying since i had the chance now...

A message for you

Dear Guest,

Kindly be informed that all the telephone lines will be cutting off starting from 10:30am to 3:00pm today due to the governments need for checking all the underground telephone lines, should you need to make any urgent call, please, contact to the reception, we regret for any inconvience cause.

Thank you so much for your kind understanding.

The management of .. hotel.

Global brands

The locals mainly do not know the global brands. I offered one colleague of mine Tik Tak and he has never seen it before. Another colleague was telling us, all excited, that he learnt from his friend in Thailand about coffee brands – like cappuccino (well, close). So that is fairly intriguing…

Make-up

Girls were special „make-up“ that is traditional and probably is both for decoration and sun protection. They use this special powder that has yellowish colour and they make different shapes, usually big circles on their cheeks with it; sometimes they paint on their noses, chins or foreheads too.

Home cinema...

In the evening, there are few open "cafes", they have those tiny children chairs for their guests to use. The owner will have a TV on with evening programme and you will get to watch with tens of others the TV. Something like a home cinema shared with all the neighbours.

To get a business...

Some of the marketing that hotels do are as follows. You are working in your foreign company / NGO and suddenly there is a door bell ringing. Once you open a high number of people marches in. In our case they were nine. They walk through the office, smile on everyone and go to the central area of the office. They are hotel representatives – they give you their business cards that hold titles such as assistant director, associate director, managing director, head director, Japanese director etc., they give you a fancy cake and request if you could accommodate your expats in their hotel. Strangely enough they do not come with a cheaper price offer thus you do not even think of changing the hotel where you (as an expat) live already, ... then they leave the office with smiles on, you eat the cake and the day goes on. And you wait for them to come next month again...

Housing

A foreigner cannot rent a house without the house owner getting a special permission. As getting the permission is quite a hassle, as well as the owner must keep track about you, staying in a rented house / apartment is not really an option. Many thus rent rooms in hotels or guest houses.

Communication means

The communication is fairly difficult. The international mobile operators do not work here, there is only one mobile operator and it is necessary to buy their sim card in order to use your cell phone. Unfortunately the sim card costs usd 2500, so many people tend to rent a phone. I understood that certain people know how to „clone“ the card, so more users can use one. Thus sometimes you get accidentally phone calls that are meant for someone else.

There is only one internet provider, when that stops working, there is no internet in the whole country.

Fuel

There are restrictions on fuel. Each driver is entitled to 6 galons of fuel for three days. Taxi drivers thus use the gas cillinder to run their cars and they sell their fuel for high prices at the black markets to any one who needs it.

Cars

There are not that many cars running on the streets in Y and if so, they are rather old and falling apart. As I understood, it is very expensive to own a car. New car can be bought from some 350 000 usd, the old ones will cost around 30 000 usd. There are tuk tuks running, motos, bikes with sidecars and sort of pickups that serve as buses. And the streets in the capital are fairly good.

Pagodas

MM is a Buddhist country thus there are golden pagodas to be found in many places. The Pagodas are rising above the city and give out “golden glitter” to the surrounding air as the night comes by. One of the most beautiful ones is Shwedagon pagoda. We had a view of it from our hotel, unfortunately I did not have time to go and see it.

The city

I did not get a chance to see the poorest areas of the city. Most of the buildings in the richer quarters as well as in the center were old British colonial houses. Some repaired, some falling apart, but each and every one had this special air around it. One would give anything to see how the city used to look. There are no skyscrapers, no „branded“ coffee shops or fast food restaurants. Center is a mix of small houses, little businesses, food markets and stalls. There are not that many people in the streets, although the population of MM is fairly high.

The first feelings...

I arrived to Y in the morning. As I was landing I saw many little sheds cramped around the airport. It was very likely one of the poor areas of the city. To my surprise though, the drive from the airport to the city was going through streets that were green and very clean. The grass was cut, many times flower beds were arranged in the middle or around the streets. Another interesting part was that few meters away from the street there were wall or fences that divided the street from the living areas. The people that were passing by were dressed either traditionally (something like lungi – long skirts) or in western clothes and there were no beggars to be seen. Somehow this city breathed of “positive poverty” - the green, the tidiness, no extreme poverty to be seen – the city was really giving some hope. I did not expect this.

Safari II.

We had a minibus for the two of us and our driver. The roof of the minibus gets to be lifted so we could stand up and watch the nature and animals freely. And what we saw was amazing... gazellas, lions, elephants, giraffes, antilopes, monkeys, buffaloes, zebras, emus,... and a turtle!

SAFARI for 5 Euro in Kenya

When coming to Kenya I would never dare to think I will manage to go for Safari. Firstly, I thought there will be no time, since the training is from 8.30am to 6pm each day. Secondly, I assumed the price shall be so high, I will not be able to afford it. But sometimes the life decides otherwise.

When receiveing the training programme, I have noticed we have two days off - Friday and Saturday. There was some programme organized but I thought I could try to check how much would Safari do and in case try to go there.

The most amazing Safari in Kenya is supposedly Masai Mara, except all warned me that it takes some 8 hours on road one direction. I talked to my collegue here, a guy from Slovakia if he would like to join me, so that in case I do not go alone. The lady who was to help us arrange did not really respond, so I decided I will sms the Kenyan guy whom I met on the plane, as he offered to arrange the Safari for me through some Travel Agency he knows.

Well and as it worked out, he has booked for us a semi-luxurious tent with build in new bathrooms by Talek river in Masai Mara. The drive was to take some 5-6 hours one way, which was fine. But most importantly, he insisted he will fund the whole trip no matter how much I have insisted upon paying our costs.

To be honest I could not really believe it, so I kept on expecting what is gonna happen or what my go wrong. But by 7am on Friday this Safari minibus comes with a driver and we set on a trip. The road went quite fast as we kept on talking on all possible subjects. Early past midday we made it to Masai Mara. And within some hour we made it to our place where we were to stay over the night. It felt like little oasis, the place was incredible. The place is like a garden and each tent is separated by trees.

We got lunch and by 4pm were ready to go on the safari.
The end of first part for now.

Travelling to Kenya

Actually the trip to Kenya, although long was pretty unsual.
I flew to Vienna first with tiny plane, I thought such planes are used only in Indonesia. So that was rather an unpleasant surprise.

I boarded the plane to fly to Cairo at 3pm. I was sitting next to one African lady who was pretty loud with expressing all inconveniencies as well as highlights from her travelling. This way we have learnt (why flying Egyptian airlines) how outrageous it is that there is no alcohol available and that she is really getting thirsty! :o)

There were quite few male flight attendants and one started to joke with me, ... being flushed to the toilet, ... but that was all to turn out great as suddenly the flight attendants comes to my place and asks me to go to the back. When I come he serves me 1st class deserts and invites me to visit his IT business while waiting for my flight in Cairo.

As I need a visa, I stayed with my new African friend and we were joined by one more Kenyan man. They both spent lots of time talking which spared me the effort and I could just listen and do nothing. The African lady managed to find out that there is a bar serving alcohol available at the airport and she insisted upon inviting us.

I agreed to get a whisky. I forgot my alcohol pad which I need on Sunday nights, so I used this whisky, poured it on the napkin and was ready for my weekly activity. :o))

Boarding plane to Kenya was good, my Kenyan "friend" who has invited me for food in Cairo airport also managed to arrange me three seats to sleep on at the plane, so that was great. Getting up at 5am was thus slightly easier.

I got picked up by the NGO staff. We were driven to this land that this NGO owns. After seeing it in the morning, I call it the kingdom inside of the republic. It is incredible. Place located on a hill will little vilas scattered all over the place, flowers, blossoming trees, cut bushes... no more to say to that...

And I am soooo sleepy.

Some collect stamps...

I think I have not yet mentioned that as some collect stamps, my passion is collecting "driving car in different countries". I find it simply amazing to have a chance to sit in a car in a new country and try their roads...

I drove jeep in Thailand... it was the first time for me to drive on the other side of the road. It is not easy, especially when one keeps on turning windshield wipers instead of indicators :o).

Hand-over Ceremony

Traditional dance performed by girls from Aceh.

Near to Phratong Island.

Indonesia

In order to get to Meulaboh in West Aceh, you need to fly with cessna. I thought no one will get me on that excuse for a plane. But so far that flight was the best I have ever experienced. Only a shame I could not try to sit in the co-pilot's seat.

Some of the views from Thailand

Home again

Yesterday night I made it home from Dhaka. The trip was quite cool. We were to fly from Dhaka to Bahrain at 5am and I guess due to me being a girl, me and my collegue, got new boarding passes and ushered to the 1st class. Being foreigners probably meant that we were in 1st class and not business class were the rest of women and their partners were seated.

I pretended to sleep for some time... amaaaaaaaaazing amount of space for my long legs... and woke up just as our plane for approaching Dubai. I looked out of my window to see the city but the plam islands were on the other side so I slipped between the seats on the other side to see them... that was amazing view. I got to hear about it so many times and it was great to finally see it. The sun was out and no clouds around, thus the whole Saudi Arabia, or rather the sand, was clearly visible from the plane. Later we had the view of Israel, Cyprus, Turkey and finally Greece, where we landed before our final flight to Prauge.

Whenever I land in Prague with Czech airlines the first thing I hear is the Vltava symphony, the most beautiful piece of music ever created...

Hena

Hena is big in Bangladesh, both for men and women... Men die their hair, beards and nails mainly... women on the other hand paint palms, top of their fingers as well as nails, top of hands and feet... It is interesting to see how "make-up" can differ in each country.

The South Trip

Yesterday morning we departed to south. Gradually we could see how the amount of land under water was growing. The south was the most affected area and still is. The padi fields (rice fields) are pretty much non-existent any longer. There are people on boats all around, bamboo stick bridges are built to pass from houses to roads over the marsh lands.

We have been on the road for less than two hours when we approached the Padma (Ganges) river. Another really cool river if you ask me. Here there are no brigdes yet, there is thus ferry system (with Dannish boats from 1986). A bridge is planned to be build here starting from next year.

After two more hours we arrived at one boarding school. A great welcome was awating us. There was also this girl performing a tribal dance and it was amazing. She was really extremely skillfull and you could see the elegance in every move. Coming to this, I was very surprised to realize that the Bengal people do not have movement in blood. I used to hear about Latin Americans that as soon as they move one is thrilled watching them, as they are born to dance. I somehow expected the same about Bengal people. Many girls dancing though proved me wrong. The performace was nice but that was it. Thus seeing this girl made a real difference.

Anyways, after few hours we left for another place where we were to spend the night. It was the last school to visit during our trip here. Yet, the school outstanded all the previous ones in welcoming and the evening programme.

As we entered the gate, heavy rain was falling down and the sun set so it was complete darkness. We were asked to leave the car and suddenly could hear drums. There were girls and boys lined up with machetes, marching to the sound of the drums as we were walking between the two lines of students. On the side of the path there were more children performing traditional work, like fishing, milking a cow and boat racing.

The astonishing part was when we approached this "statue of liberty" as the principal called it. I came closer and saw three statues and could not believe that they actually were three real boys completely covered with mud. They were so still that in the night for a bit I could not tell if they are alive. It was amazing but I wonder how would I feel waiting for half an hour in rain all covered with mud. Amazing.

The evening programme was great as well. As the children tried to introduce to us as many tribal differences as possible through dances as well as little theather plays. All kids were laughing and seemed to have good fun.

As the night progressed, the rain became heavier as well as the wind got much stronger. A storm was coming, which eventually left several trees dropped down, several electricity posts were damaged and the whole campus (as well as the region) was without electricity. As we were told, if the storm continues and the waves hit the river, it is impossible to pass the Padma river on a ferry and we would have to go somewhere up north to use a brigde over the river. Fortunately, the rain eased as well as the wind and we made it safely to Dhaka the very next day.

Paharpur

Paharpur, the biggest buddhist monastery south of Himalaya. There was one Bengal family and us... usually lot more tourist come but probably due to Ramadan the place was deserted and we could enjoy the peacefullness of the place... and climb around as much as possible :o).

Eid celebrations

End of Ramadan means that a week of holidays comes. Most families thus try to get reunited. It is estimated that 8 million people left the capital city, Dhaka, to travel to villages to visit relatives. Now it is pleasure to drive in Dhaka as the city is empty :o)))

Eid streets

Eid mubarak was heard all over tonight. We went out to eat with our Czech friends. Funnily enough we ended up eating at Pizza Hut (all other restaurants in the area were closed?!) and those who have been to developing countries do understanding that rather rich locals go to such places. That is why the eating turned into watching all the made up girls with stunning make-ups and expensive saries as well as men being all dressed up in their national clothes. Surprisingly enough the streets that usually were full of poor locals and riksha drivers completely changed and were filled with rather rich Bengali driving their expensive cars and enjoying the Eid with their friends. To be entirely honest i would have loved to just sit at some spot unnoticed and watch all what is going on. This is the side of Bangladesh that does not really get to be revealed much... the suffering, beggars, rikshas, that is what usually seems so typical for Bangladesh.

Alcohol

There is very strict policy about alcohol in Bangladesh. Once in a while police breaks into rich Bengali house and if alcohol is found there the family can be enjailed for more than 5 years. Sometimes the family may be asked to pay 8million of local currency for each member of the family to ensure they shall be released after 5 years from jail and not after 10 or 15 years. It is quite interesting to see such tough rules whilst during Ramadan one sees some restaurants open and even some people eat out visibly, as well as those of other religion who is not really restricted to eat out nor asked to follow the fast.

Rab-1

I was introduced tonight to Rab-1. And to be honest was quite surprised something like this exists here. There is no real government right now. I understood that the two female leaders of the two most popular political parties are in jail... and right now there is this temporary government which is supposed to lead the country to democratic elections and stabilize the country a bit. There is actually some sort of martial law over the country. And now back to Rab-1. Those are cars that carry soldiers who can kill anyone if they decide that the person is doing something wrong. They cannot kill foreigners but they can kill without a need to ask permission any Bengali on the spot...

The West Trip

Early in the morning we left for Joypurhat in the west. At one point we got into a line of tructs that has hardly moved. After some waiting our driver decided to overtake the line of the trucks and buses on the left (fortunately the drivers were very organized and left quite some space free there). When we approached the front of the line, the problem there seemed to be a broken road for some 100m where cars could pass only in one line. And thus the police was controlling the traffic. We have lost some 3hours in this jam. As we passed the narrow place and continued on the road, which was full of holes, I have counted that there were 570 trucks lined in the cue in the opposite direction. The trip usually takes 4 hours. It took us 8. We have arrived at night to another school where we were to stay the night. The accommodation is usually very good as foreigners usually do get the best available.

The next day we were on the road again visitting some more schools and were to come at night to the same school. The room was very nice but at some point I realized that there are way too many mosquitoes in the room and there was no mosquito net. I tried to kill some but realized that the three metres long was is covered by some 50 mosquitoes and I have no way to kill them all. Especially since I do not like to kill them. So through sms I managed to move to my collegues room where three more guys were staying. Fortunately I got my room and the two other guys went to sleep into a living room.

I get shivers imagining what would happen if I stayed in my room and turned off the light...

The Norht Trip I.

7. 10. 2007
During ealry morning we have left for north region. The best part of this trip so far. For several hours were going norht in a van. Passed the Mymensignh city, as well as Havan national park. We were passing through forests, there were cotton fields, flooded fields, pedi (rice) fields and tens and tens of little villages filled with hundreds of people. The road was cramped. One truck was passing after another as well as row of buses was heading down south to Dhaka.

We have continued as far as possible by our van. At some point though the road become more of a path and cars could not access it. That is where motorbikes were waiting for us (with drivers) and we were to continue to our destination on them. In one word - AWESOME. I loved it. I was holding the driver with one hand and taking photos with the other. The path is narrow, you pass lots of little bridges, the air blows around and is refreshing. Simply amazing. Twice we had to get off the motorbike and cross a river on a small boat. When we arrived at the boarding school, we were 1km away from Indian border.

Dhaka area

4. 10. 2007
After some work programme in the morning which included some more visits to local schools we have visited the local bazar - Bongo bazar. It could be also called Bongo sauna, if you ask me. It is a huge place with hundreds of little stands and narrow paths where all sort of clothes can be bought for ridiculously low price. The clothes that are sold there are of great quality as they were intended for export but due to some slight many times unnoticible damage they did not pass the high quality check. T-shirt for half US dollar, shirts for 2 US dollars etc. can be found there.

Coming from a football country, it is funny to see little boys running around in the field playing cricket :o)).

Tribes and names

There are many tribes that speak local dialects. Many children thus do not speak Bangla. Most of the time when someone mentions a surname you straight away know what tribe he comes from. The locals of course may tell also by the look or accent of the locals.

One tribe I recognize a bit. That is the Garo tribe, they live in the north and most of them are on the Indian side of the border. The Garo tribe comes from Tibet (some 800 year ago) and they still have some traces in their nature that make them rather different from other local people. The very positive aspect of Garo people is that they are organized and on time. :o)

There is eg. one tribe in the North West called Santal. Then if your name is Marandi, Hembrom, Soren, Murmu, Kisku, Chorea, Tudu or Baski, you are from this tribve. On the other hand there are some other, probably smaller tribes, which means that your names is the name of the tribe such as Tripura or Chakma (these tribes come form the Chittagong area).

Garbage

Actually, I was thinking that there is hardly any garbage vissible along the way. Few years back it was forbidden to use plastic bags as the huge number of them kept on plugging up the canalization. Another reason for not much garbage in the streets is that everything has its price here. Plastic bottles, cans, the leaves of pineapple (for rugs), the skin of pineapple (for buttons)... simply everything can be resued and thus all kinds of rubbish are being collected which probably leaves the countryside look quite clean...

Railways

There are new railway tracks being build. But the reason why I want to mention the rail here is that they build broad and narrow gauge tracks together thus avoid the necessity to reload trains that would have broad gauge instead of narrow. So when you look at the track you will see three rails. How cool is that :o)

Roads and paths

Most of the roads and paths are about a meter higher above the surrounding fields thus if lucky at least the roads are saved from the floods. But that is not a rule and there are lots of heavily broken roads.

Riksha

One of the most frequent mean of transport is riksha. There are estimation that there are over million riksha men in Dhaka. It seems a lot. On the other hand there are rikshas anywhere you look. I have tried riksha yesterday for a short distance and I was happy it was the first day when the weather was nice and mildly cold.

The men bike everyday. You seem sometimes up to 4 people on a riksha and when they have a little carrige instead then they carry even 12 people. There are two extreme types of weather. Hot or rain. When it is hot, you see sweat running down the face of the men, their jaws are clenched, their muscles are outlined agains the clothes as they make a move at a time. During rain, many of them cover their heads with plastic bag, their clothes are soaked, the roads are slippery.

One wrong move, a slight touch of a car, and the wheels of riksha get twisted and the riksha falls down. Just yesterday I witnessed an accident. One riksha man turned on to a round and a car behind him did not manage to stop. The riksha straight away collapsed and a small girl with her grandma rolled out of it. The girl was obviously in shock but it seemed that excpet several scratches she was not seriously injured.

Fruits

there are banana fields, pineapple fields, as well as sugar cane and others. When the fruits are about to be ripe, they are cut off and brought to a local market from where most of it is send to Dhaka by truck. The fruits are brought to the local market by risha men. You will see tens of guys, young or old, driving riksha with a huge load. All this makes one think what work had to be done before a banana was put one´s plate.

Rice

The colour of the countryside is green. It is the kind of vivid green that shines in the sun. And the green is everywhere. If you wonder what it is then those are the "padi" fileds (fields were rice is grown). I have seen the rice fields on photos but have never seen them in a real life. It is incredible. And I never knew that rice grows pretty much like wheat. Although the fields are filled with water I managed to get a stem with rice. :o)

The interesting part is that when you plant the rice, the little plant will grow pretty much on one spot and will become very bushy. So that is when the work comes, as you need to take the separate parts of the rice and plant them elswhere in the field, where they will again become very bushy and you will again have to replant some of them to a free place on a field.

Eventually the rice appears and the leaves turn yellow. Then once you harvest the rice you need to beat out the rice away from the stems. Then you steamboil the rice to remove the cover of the rice. And I guess only after that is the stage when you can sell the rice. This is how I understood the process...

I met one lady who used to work on a rice field. She said the water was reaching up to their chest sometimes while the worst was working during the winter time.

Brahmaputra

I would have never dreamt that once I shall be crossing Brahmaputra river (in Bangladesh the river goes by the name of Jamuna). Brahmaputra is a river about what we have studied when we were in basic school and it is incredible to see such river. The bridge at the place where we crossed is around 5km long. The other bank of the river is not visible from where you start. No wonder Bangladesh suffers from so many floods annually.

Tourists

There seem to be no tourists at all. We have wondered the country a little and so far I have met 10 foreigners. 5 in the plane to Chittagong, they all seem as either businessmen or NGO workers. 3 of them in a hotel, again NGO workers and the 2 other were also working here.

I guess the reason is that there are other rather entertaining areas in Bangladesh where tourists might be found as well as we have quite few times entered areas where special authorization is required so I guess tourists might pick other places to go to.

The East Trip II.

Second day we have travelled to the north of Chittagong. We have visited several schools there. It is strange that seeing how poor the people are always makes me sad. There are things done to improve at least some condition in the lives of people, not all, of course. But the process is way too slow. And in Bangladesh there are way too many people. Imagine that Bangladesh has population nearing 150 million of people. Then you have a country like Iceland whose size is slightly smaller and the population is 300 thousand people.

The schools in this region are way worse than what I was about to see in the other parts of the country. At one place, the school was dark and the students could hardly see. And no electricity ALTHOUGH the electricity is available in this area and the school should have the money from sponzors or the organization to be able to pay for it. It is just the will to make it available there...

Anyways, the day passed by fast. It was hot which makes everything more tiring. By 5pm we have reached the airport and were heading back to Dhaka. The plane was an hour late. As we learnt the plane that we were to use broke down and new plane flew in from Dhaka. I was very happy to land. :o))

There are lots of bricks being made in Bangladesh. You can tell already from a distance by a tall chimney that indicates the place of brick production...

The incredible part is that as soon as you have holes in a road they use bricks to repair the roads. It looks really cool... Grey road with red patches... :o)

The East Trip I.

2. 10. 2007
As a regular monitor trip, three people from our organization has departed on a trip to Bangladesh. The project we run in this country is supporting the education of Bengal children. Since there are number of students sponzored in quite few schools, the first trip in the country was going eastwards.

Arriving on Sunday early morning to Dhaka, we had one day to relax a bit and do the few of compulsory visits and yet the very next early morning we headed again towards the airport. We took the domestic flight, with domestic plane to domestic destination of Chittagong. The second largest city of Banlgadesh.

The van that was awaiting us at the airport set for a three hour trip to the Hill Tracts. Expect for the completely new scenery of the country, the constant buzz and movement anywhere you look, the first really exciting moment (although I was extremely excited to land as well) was when we were crossing the river on a ferry with all those riksha men, trucks, locals and little students. The trip continued till we have reached our first school. It is a boarding school up on a hill, thus unaffected by flood. We have been greeted really warmly, got flowers, songs and dances were performed as well as we have a chance to watch the kids during classes.

The first visit pretty much set our minds on track of what has to be done and changed.

After local meal WHICH (to my utter dismay) has never really changed since and we are being constantly served exactly the same food at every new place, has been that time new and very tasty. Yet then I could not wait to try some other local specialities. Ilish... Ilish... Ilish... at each place, with excitement in the hosts eyes we are always told ... Ilish ... you know... Ilish is the national fish here.

In the afternoon we set on a long trip towards south. Using a shortcut we were to pass through some resctricted areas in the region of Bandarban which required a police authorization. Not sure why but at some point we were stopped and had to wait for confirmation from HQ, which meant half hour delay since the communication thanks to the hilly area did not work.

Anyways, continuing down south we have reached Cox´s Bazar. It was before 7pm when we arrived at one village school. The children were waiting there for us the whole day (whatever one might think). Btw, Bengal children are tiny. Some start school around the age of four...

The procedure at each schools usually looks the same... the difference is created by the teacher, the building (if there is any), the supply or no supply of electricity, the school equipment if any... etc...

The night was amazing though, as on our way away from the school we have stopped at the Bay of Bengal. Cox´s Bazar lies on a beach which is supposedly the longest beach in the world. Taking shoes off and feeling the sea was amazing... especially since this October is very hot in Bangladesh.

After a dinner we headed back to Chittagong. Arrived by midnight and seeing the hotel room was one of the most beautiful views ever. Although it was shabby and probably with lots of little animals hiding around...

Btw, no tigers, no sharks, nor other animals were around at the beach (the response to my sms).

I give 10 brand shirts for a service

... very quality and good looking shirts...

Making friends with lizards also brings sorrow to your life. Yesterday when in a bathroom I noticed something lying on the ground. It was a lizard.... hmm... it was a dead lizard. (this is the sad part)

The shirts goes to the one who will come and take the lizard away from the bathroom...

Bangladeshi news - 6

I live on the first floor of a brick colonial-looking guest house. I live here alone. My collegues live downstairs. It is beautiful place. Comfortable place and till yesterday if felt I am the only one living here.

Yesteday night I was proved wrong. I have a little zoo here but fortunately no cocroaches (yet). But to put it straight, there are animals I like to live with and animals I dont like to live with.

I have one inhabitant here who is a tiny 3cm long lizard. I dont mind living with him. He is cute and mostly stays on a wall away from me. I have my territory, he has his territory and we are both happy.

Then there are the rest of the animals who I do not like to share the appartment with. Mosquitoes and all sorts of insect. I dont like insect. And I kill insect (I apologize for hurting feelings of those who defend insect rights). But since I always have to look away when I kill, I need a big thing to kill the insect with. Yuck.

Now few tips. Pet bottle serves as a great weapon. And believe it or not, it is possible to kill a flying mosquito with it! I tried twice and both time it worked. Not sure if I only knocked them unconscious... as the second hit after the mosquito lies on its back on a ground is fatal.

When outside of city there are 6 types of transportation on the road... rikshas, threewheelers, jeeps, vans, trucks and buses. Vans and jeeps are boring... the rest is incredibly colourful.

Bangladeshi news - 5

Bangladeshi men are born with antisuicidal gene, otherwise I find no other explanation how they can survive the car driving every day.

I have experienced some crazy driving. I cant believe it can get even crazier. Many times there are milimetres dividing us from other transportation, other people. And both the people and the transportation are during the "encounter" somehow left unharmed. The two splendind views were, 5 rikshas next to each other on a road... all going in the same direction and no space on either side of the road to pass. The second situation was bit more disturbing three buses next to each other, passing one another, going in the direction toward us.

The drivers here are double crazy but incredibly skilled...

Bangladeshi news - 3

Looking into the faces of Bangladeshi men, it is bit surprising to find traces of chinese descendents, as well as arabic, persian and turk. It creates an interesting mixture of faces. Women have extremely beautiful smile. (As long as they do not chew phan)

Siwa trip - full of activity :o)

Dahab...

A trip to Luxor :o)

Abu Simbel and Philae temple

Asuan

Asuan - the second day

Few hours of sleep passed and at 3am we had a wake up call. The trip was to start very early. We come down, get our breakfast box (wow :o), and three of us get to this one minibus. We get few more people along the way and I am happy there will be not many tourists at our today’s destination, which is Abu Simbel.

Yep, I admit it was a silly thought. Within 20 min we stop on a road and there are already several big buses and we are standing there and waiting for more to come. The point is simple, we will have a guarding convoy with us and thus all the buses will come to Abu Simbel at once. Thank god, this was off season. Thus we ended up only with some 20big buses and 20 minibuses. (We were told that in high season there are approx. 60 buses and during one specific day, when the sun hits the face of the Ramses statue inside of the temple, the 22nd (resp. 21) October there were 1,5mil people last year!).

We arrived past 7 at Abu Simbel, the place itself was magnificent from the very beginning. It was sunrise, there was the huge Nile with rocky banks and as if little fjords… hmm… and there were actually also several huge tourist boats with some more hundreds of tourists on it! (Fortunately they actually left the very time to go back to Aswan).

So we took the walk to Abu Simbel temples. There were two temples awaiting us. One built for Ramssese II. himself, the other one, smaller one, for his beautiful and beloved wife Nefertari, both dating to the 13th century BC. The temples should have commemorated the victory in the battle of Kadesh, and also were to impress and show the power of Ramssese to the neighbouring Nubians.

In 1964, the temples were moved from its original position to some 290km south of Aswan, as Aswan High Dam was to be build in that area, which meant the complex of the two temples would be flooded by the emerging artificial reservoir Lake Nasser.

The inside carving of the smaller temple could be view here.

A little after 9 we left Abu Simbel and drove some 3 hours back to Aswan. Our first stop was the Aswan High Dam. It is 111m high and nearly 4km long. Well, hmm… dam :o). The trip continued to Philae temple. We paid entrance, got on a boat and were brought to the island where the Philae temple is situated. In 1977, the temple has been moved from its original position on Philae Island to nearby Island of Agilika due to the Aswan High Dam which raised the waters of the Nile.

The temple was built during the 3rd century BC and was dedicated to the goddess Isis. The Vestibule of Nectanebos I served as the entrance to the Island of Philae. The original stairways leading to the vestibule were unfortunately washed away by the Nile and out of its original 14 columns only 6 remained till now. The complex further consists of the Temple of Emperor Hadrian, Temple of Hathor, Trajan’s Kiosk and other. Pilgrims from all over Mediterranean would come to Philae Island to worship the goddess of Isis.

Most of the sights built on the island date to the 26th Dynasty or the Roman Period, although they are predominantly of Roman style. The construction on the island took over 800 years. The temples were closed by Justinian in the year 550 AD after some 4000 years of worshipping of the pagan gods.

The island was incredibly colourful with all the flowers and the trees and was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It was also one before the last stop. We ended up going to see one incomplete obelisk in Aswan. But I was not allowed to get in with my “fake” student ID. Well, your loss :P.

We arrived back to our hotel after 3pm. Later we stopped to get some food on our way back to the railway station and were on the train back to Cairo at 6pm.

Asuan - the first day

We left for Asuan on Thursday night. My bus from work was late that day by 45min, I did not pack for the trip the previous day and so coming home I had 40min to get ready. I am a slow packer, although I pack 3 t-shirts and couple of underwear. So in a way we were running late... BUT (hihi)… I discovered that there is one metro station actually 3min from our place and so we don’t have to walk 15min to Dokki station, as we always did before. Thus we were 15min “early” for the train :o).

The best part came right after, it was 8pm in the night, I did not have proper sleep the past several days (6.30am each morning is early!) and there was the sleeping train waiting for us…!!! And yes, it is the best travel on the train that i have ever had! We left on time, after 8pm and made it to Asuan the next morning past 9pm. Loooong sleep, good sleep.

By the train station we were caught by one young Nubian guy, offering us a ride in felluca (a boat), and at the end we ended up going to our hotel by boat instead of walking. Though since there was no wind, it took us over an hour to get to our hotel instead of 10 min walk. But nonetheless, the boat trip passed extremely fast and we got to enjoy the sight and slight movement of the nile river with lots of felluca passing by and big tourist boats parked (?) everywhere by the banks in double or triple rows.

After settling down at the hotel, our first trip lead to the market street of Asuan. This place is famous especially for its heaps of little shops with spices of all colours, teas and of course the usual clothes, scarfs and little statues and other silly things. I am ashamed to say that 500m of the street we have passed in over 1 hour! Surprisingly we actually shopped a lot, which is not only for me, quite unusual. :o)

Past three we met our felluca boy. He was to bring us to the numerous islands and sights that were on the Nile or on the other bank of it. Altogether we spent some 5 hours on his boat, due to no wind. Few times he and his friends had to paddle to get us somewhere. And still I was not bored, I sank my feet in the water to cool down a bit and enjoyed the light breeze, and calmness of the place.

First stop was at the Kitchner island. The UK honorary consul has established a botanical garden on this little island. I really liked that place, very nice and silent, with lots of flowers and tall palm trees. Another place to simply sit and do nothing.

Our second stop, after cruising zig zag over the nile was the right bank of the river. There is the Simeon monastery, or rather say the ruins of it, to be found. We walked for some 15min to reach the ruins, we walked around and ... well, we saw the ruins :o))... The other sight, the Mausoleum of Aga Khan was closed down recently, so except the desert, the camels and the green islands, there was nothing else to be seen.

Back on board, we headed for the Elefantine island. That is the biggest island in Asuan, has some big ruins of a temple and at the other edge there is the Nubian village. There are over 5000 people living in the village. The main activities of the Nubian people are running fellucas, farming, tourism, they actually "charge" tourists for entering and being shown around the Nubian village.

The village itself is very colourful. We saw mothers hanging out with their children, their hands busy with making plaits to the little girls, little children playing in a mud, some asking for bakshish and youth lazying around in the heat of the day. (Dody quote) We were offered to visit the Nubian house, I was offered to get my hands coloured with Hena, but we were in rush, so we skipped all this and just wandered around. The village is a cocktail of the beauties and uglies, where the colourful walls and finely painted windows danced together with the dirty abandoned mud walls. You will see turquoise, yellows, bright green, daring red lighting up the drab background of egyptian dust (Dody quote).

The visit has not lasted more than 20min, but we have still managed to miss the sunset on the Nile river...

As the boat drew back to the bank, we have passed the tombs on the west bank of the river. It was too hot and not much left to visit those.

During the night, we were sent to one local egyptian restaurant. It was supposed to be close by but we still managed to miss it and ended up at the pizza place by the railway station... hmm... great choice :o)).

The Pyramids...

I made it to Giza with Dody on Saturday. The drive was the best, especially the part when one of the guides stopped our car and as an answer to my dismissive look he says I am a government worker, lady. Mubarak will come to Pyramids today, they will close the place from 3pm. It is a christmas day... Sometimes one really wonders what to think. I am afraid to find out what shall they come up with the next time.

There are lots of stories, and lots of misuse of poor naive tourists. I am afraid we are not used to be told so many lies within such a short time and with such persuation that the local guides are capable of.


The weather was hot, but the place was quite empty, I expected lot more tourist to be around but there were hardly any. So that turned out to be enjoyable.

Mersamatrouah

Exactly a week after my arrival to Egypt, Jana made it to Cairo too. We picked her up at the airport and got dropped at my place by 4am. I quickly did some packing and by 5.3oam, Jana and me were stepping at the Ramses train station. At 6.30am we were off with some other aiesecers and trainees for a conference to Mersamatrouah.









The train ride was loooooong. Already 6 hours on train, after sleepless night sounded horrible. 6 hours turned to 8, "welcome to egypt". Walking would be faster. :o)










Mersamatrouh, paradise for trainees, hell for aiesecers. Mersamatrouah, a sleepy town on the north coast of Egypt, with blue blue sea and white sandy and rocky beaches. Place full of sea resorts, where mainly Egyptian come for tourism. Hehe, though I bet even Egyptian come seldom, due to the endless ride from Cairo. :P

Trainees agenda:
sleeping on Thursday afternoon,
some more sleep at night interrupted by the 4am arrival of the rest of the trainees.
Friday morning plenary,
later on some discussions and sessions.
Afternoon swimming with 5am lunch break,
some more swimming,
truth or dare game at night and some mini session.
Saturday morning trip,
some more swimming and hanging out
closing plenary,
trip back home.
In other words - t o u g h w o r k :P










AIESECers agenda:
Thursday, work till after midnight.
Friday, work till after midnight.
Saturday, work, closing plenary, hopefully early (11pm) arrival to home town.
No swimming, no parties, just envious looks.

I left Mersamatrouah on Saturday morning to come to Alexandria. The trip took not even 4 hours on the bus, I got dropped by one aiesecer at the centre by the sea and spent few hours hanging around in Alexandria. I got a company of two Egyptian girls, who spent over an hour talking to me while walking to the Alexandrian library which was 10min of walking distance from where we met :o)). The conversation was interesting, as well as all the things I found out. It helped me to make a clearer picture of how the girls in Egypt think and live. Hmm.










I met with few friends later on and joined them to visit few more places in Alexandria. We went to one excavation place (Serapeum) where the old Alexandrian library used to be and where the Pompey's pillar, a granite column which was erected by the Roman emperor Diocletian in 3rd century AD, can be found.













Later we have also visited the Catacombs. In Alexandria, there were many archaeological treasures gathered, as the treasures were either used to decorate new temples, or were prepared for transportation to other parts of the Roman Empire.

Coptic Cairo

On Saturday (the second weekend day, I simply cant get used to it) we did a trip to Coptic Cairo.

Coptic Cairo is the oldest part of Cairo, dating to some 6th century BC. The area used to be predominantly Christian, thus over 20 churches were build there. With the time only 5 churches remained, along with the earliest mosque that has ever been built in Egypt and the Egypt's oldest synagogue, Ben Ezra, that has been built after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD.

In this part of Cairo you can also find the Coptic cemetary and the Greek St. George church. One of the most famous churches is the Hanging church (el-Muallaqa) which is built on top of the Roman fort.

We ended the day with seeing the Sufi Dance in the Citadel of Islamic Cairo.

Sufi dance

The egyptian men

My theory goes this way: by evolution, arabic men will have the head turning 360 degrees on their neck in 100 years . It shall be more convenient for them to watch the passing by women.

If you like attention, you will love Egypt. Every single man will turn to look at you, will tell some compliment to you, in better cases will try to touch you. This works for any European woman, no matter what her looks are. This also works for any Egyptian man no matter what his age is.

As my flatmate said about older men and their turning heads: That is the only body part that still works.

Not to be completely positive I will search for some other qualities of Egyptian men. :o)

The first impressions

Od malicka jsem zvykla vidat a slychat o Egypte. A moje prvni predstavy se od toho, jak vypada Egypt, respektive Kahira, relativne dost lisi. Hlavni duvod je, ze i presto, ze je Egypt arabska zeme, ja jsem proste i tak predpokladala, ze kolem uvidim Egyptany. Vliv Arabu, ci muslimskeho sveta v teto oblasti je nepopiratelny a ac jsem to vsechno vedela, stejne me mrzi, ze kolem sebe zkratka vidim vic arabsky vypadajici lidi nez egyptsky.

Prvni dojem byl, ze jsem zpatky v Azerbajdazanu, az na to, ze se mesto trochu lisi. I nadale je clovek vystaven pohledum chlapu kolem a tentokrat dokonce i pokrikuji ve velkem. To se mi pred tim v Baku skoro vubec nestavalo. Zaver z toho je takovy, ze mi chlapi v Egypte lezou krkem hned od prvniho dne a ne az od nekolikateho tydne. Takze uz jsem zpatky k delani kschichtu, kdyz me nekdo oslovi a vymysleni nadavek na komplimenty, ktere dostavam. Nekdy se mi to povede, tak dobre, ze se musim smat... takze to budu muset trochu pribrzdit :o)).

Trip to Kutná hora...

The town of Kutná Hora owes its origin to the silver mines, the existence of which can be traced back to the first part of the 13th century. The city developed with great rapidity, and at the outbreak of the Hussite Wars, early in the 15th century, was next to Prague the most important in Bohemia, having become the favourite residence of several of the Czech kings.

In 1995 Kutná Hora was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.




Me with one of the locals :o).


If you ever wondered what happens to tourists that misbehave in the Czech republic... here is the answer... ;o).


Supposedly, there are bones of approx. 40 000 people to be found in Kostnice. [The chapel Kostnice was built at the end of the 14th century and its current appearance is the result of Baroque reconstruction carried out by Santini-Aichl in the early 18th century. Unique skeletal decorations of the interior are probably the work of woodcarver František Rint. Remarkable masterpieces include a massive chandelier, a cross, chalices, a monstrance or Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms creating this unique ossuary – a reminder of the transience of human life and the inevitability of death..]


There were also times of great sorrow... Farid has found the body of Turkish soldier (the skull in the right bottom corner).

Karlštejn castle

Tuesday trip was made to Karlštejn castle. The castle has been built in Gothic style in 1348 during the rule of the most famous Czech King and Roman Emperor Charles IV. The place was to store the royal treasures (coronation jewels and holy relics of Roman Empire, as well as Czech coronation jewels). One of the most famous parts of the castle is the Chapel of the Holy Cross whose walls are decorated by gemstones embeded in gold-plated parget.

The Laugavegur walk in Iceland...

There is one very famous 4day walk in Iceland called the Laugavegurinn (hope I spelled it right). It starts in the beautiful area of Landmannalaugar and leads to Thorsmork. The nature is breathtaking but the weather can be very cruel. Month before we did the walk, some Israeli guy though warned about the worsening weather, decided to walk alone the first day walk (of some 10km), the weather changed suddenly and he never made it. He died some 100m away from the hutt.

For those who are not careful Iceland can be very cruel, but it is probably the most beautiful country I have seen. The nature differs in all aspects and each day of the walk brought totally new countryside. I travelled through whole Iceland with my friends, doing some short trips or the ring road trip around whole Iceland and would so recommend visiting this place!

Sudden decisions are the best decisions :o)

It´s been a while since I have posted something here... but I guess another travelling adventure thus gives me an opportunity to continue some writing :o)).

More then a month ago my dad asked me .... "so where are you gonna be for New Year´s Eve?" I said honestly "I don´t know yet." The next day I agreed to go to Rome :o), two days later had my air ticket. I like these sudden decisions the most, as one can´t think too much and there is suddenly something new ahead :o).

I left a day after xmas Eve, on the 25th (for those who don´t know, in Czech republic we do not celebrate the 25th at all, our important day is the 24th Eve - I explain this as I was accused of not being nice to my family if I want to leave them on the 25th :o)).

I came to the airport at 10,30, with the flight planned on the 12. The sun was shining, I was excited and the 11 hour approached... the screen with departures suddenly showed DELAYED to my flight... (only to my flight!). Hmm.. I thought, I did good to worry to fly with Smartwings :o)... since then it was announced each hour "wait for more news next hour". I love such announcements, they really say everything.
Later I learnt the plane was broken and they were repairing it. Nice. I always dreamt to fly in just repaired plane.

I was not bored at all at the airport, it was sunny, I had good book and I finally got to relax, without hearing "come and wash the dishes", "what about dusting", "could you mop the floor, please". And at 3pm we were boarding, we were boarding a plane of Czech Airlines (hurraaayyy!) who rented the aircraft to Smartwings. :o)

You might thing I talk bit too much about leaving Prague, but the weather in Italy was so bad, that I hardly visited anything, so I have to prolong the post this way. ;)

We have landed safely, with a stop-over in Milano ;). And by 7pm I was in a flat of my friend, happy to be there. (I am not sure, but I think my flight to New Zealand took shorter time than this one to Italy :o).

Rome is really beautiful city. I was not thinking I will say this about some other city really, as I always have this unfortunate thing to compare everything with Prague. Can´t help it. And I must admit that I did not really like Paris, suprisingly.
But Rome was really charming city. Especially in the evening, with all the organge lightning, old buildings, ruins... very nice :o).



I visited only few places and I have not been on time for most of others... as in the morning it rained hard and thus I did not feel like going and in the afternoon (after lunch) when we came to buy an entry ticket, the offices were already closed (Italians!)...

But anyway, I spent there 10 days, I relaxed a lot there, got to sleep till 11am pretty much every day and I will never forget the way I celebrated the New Year´s Eve . :o)

The life of IDPs

That is where the used water from the drainage ends up in Imishli IDP camp.

Lack of employment opportunites made some men return to the
traditional production of bricks to earn for their living.

A place where this woman has lived for the past 12 years, sometimes
she shares it with hens.

The life of the Internally Displaced Peoples.

A kitchen that is used by several families at the IDP camp in the town Ali Bayramli.

One of the IDP camps close to town Imishli.

Another IDP camp which is built inside of a cow shed (Kolchoz) close to Imishli.

12 years of loosing hope... !!

Though the story is long, please, make time to read it!

A story with no end. Conflict that has escalated some 14 years ago, followed by ceasefire accord that has been signed 11 years ago left over 800 000 people without homes; people that had to be internally displaced due to a war that took place in their homeland. The territory that has been occupied does not include solely Nagorno Karabakh region but also 6 other regions that surround NK. The whole occupied territory without NK accounts to 15% of the total territory of Azerbaijan! A territory that no Azerbaijani person has visited for more than 11 years.

"Even Hitler when he occupied The Czech republic, left the people to live in their homes and did not clean up the whole occupied territory of all the locals like it happened in Azerbaijan!" I was told.

Due to the conflict Azerbaijan was "blessed" with number of humanitarian and relief organizations that came to the country to help overcome the impacts of war; mainly, to support the IDPs (Internally displaced person) to cope with their new unbearable lifes.

Years have passed. The humanitarian organizations have slowly started to change their scope of work; focusing on development assistance instead of humanitarian and relief aid. Quite a logical step... at least it would seem like it if there would be no more IDPs living in cow sheds and holes digged in ground. Some organizations work on rehabilitation of the houses which were freed, the problem is that the area has no infrastructure any longer so even if the IDP moves home, he cannot live there, as there is no work, no food, no means for life.

Though everyone still hopes. IDPs hope to get back to their homeland and government hopes the occupied territory will be freed. Days past and turn into years. And it seems pointless to build new homes for the homeless people as there might come a moment when they all will get to go where they have come from. And so people wait, some in dorms, some in newly build houses, some in brick sheds, some in cow sheds, some in digged out holes... However, the government made a promise that by the end of this year, all the IDP camps will dissapear.

I got the opportunity to visit the Fisuli region. It is to the south from NK and borders with Iran. This region is from 80% occupied. The IDP camps can be found already few kilometers away from the buffer zone. Most of the IDPs do come from the Fisuli region, so their home is so close but so far away.

I understood that it is forbidden to visit the IDP camps, but since it is just before the parliament elections, the rules eased up a bit and thus the visits are somehow possible.

My first stop was in Ali Bayramli. The dorm houses are full of IDPs. Each family has one room where they live and usually share one tiny kitchen that is placed at each floor. As I entered all the people turned up and started to complain and show me the conditions in which they live. The walls and ceilings are slowly rottening, leaving the rooms damp which makes it hard to breathe, wooden floors are falling apart, balconies should be forbidden to use as they don't seem to want to last much longer. And all the people trapped inside are loosing their hope.

Most of the men are unemployed having no possibility to feed their families. Some men at least repaired the room in which their family lives, other families where they have no possibility of doing so simply live in rotten walls covered with carpets. Women cook and bake their own bread while carrying around their little babies. What a situation to born a child to. But there is no other choice.

From Ali Bayramli we headed further eastwards. Close to the city of Imishli we visited first IDP camp; hundreds of little sheds cramped next to each other build out of clay bricks and reed. When passing by we could see most of the men simply sitting around, drinking their teas. I am afraid some of the men do that every single day. There is also no work for them.
Though some did find a way, they run a shop, or make clay bricks and sell them and hope for no rain as the rain can melt their several day work back into mud.

The trip continued to Imishli. There are few block of houses that are settled by IDPs as well as sheds right across the street from the houses. Seems the "lucky" ones get the house.

As soon as I took my first photo I became the star. I could not make a step without having ten little children running behind me. As soon as I focused my camera some little kid would jump into my view to be on the picture. When I decided to take photo of the bunch of them, I would need to make a step backwards to fit them all in the picture but in that moment those at the back would run up front to be closer to the camera. :o)

Later I was taken by one old woman to come and see her place. Her face was so wrinkled and so exhausted it was unbearable to look at her. She was alone living in two room flat. First thing I spotted was that there was endless amount of mosquitoes everywhere. I hardly could stand there and listen as I was constantly annoyed by the little beasts. But then I got stunned, the room that she showed me used as kitchen and storage room did not have any floor, there were only big rocks placed next to each other. The walls were also rotten and the toilet was just two wooden doors attached to a wall. The place was horrible but her being an old woman of 76 years old, she could hardly change it herself. The other room was less horrible but the mosquitoes managed to prevent the woman to rest for days.

There were no showers in other flats or sheds on that matter. So there would be common showers for I guess hundreds of people and common toilets. The drainage was an open discharge (koryto) where would be a still water full of garbage. The used water had no where to flow off and created a little lake 5 meters away from the common showers, next to the shed camp.

The area around the houses is full of garbage. That is what disappointed me the most. People have really poor conditions to live but they would use windows as bins. Already little children would throw covers of their biscuits on the ground. I could not believe that the people there do not realize that it is in their power to at least keep the place clean and improve somewhat the conditions of living! Their children play every single day around the streets full of garbage, close to the still water of the drainage.

I was invited to talk to three young girls there. One of them spoke some Russian and was telling me she is to be married soon and that she will move to Baku, away from that place. She hated the rainy weather there as well as the life itself. Well I hope she will be happy in Baku.

We left Imishli at night. Still having the next day to see some more of the IDP camps.
In the morning we arrived to an area where people live in cow sheds (kolxoz). They have their little tents build in the sheds and sometimes share them with cows or some other animals. They have some electricity, but the water supply is only from one hose some 100 meters away from the camp where they need to come with barrels that they fill and carry back home. These people have been living in the cow sheds for 12 YEARS! They have one tent where the whole family lives, they born new children there, care for old invalid grandparents. A life one cannot imagine.

There has been one young woman carrying around her 4 year daughter that has never yet managed to make a single step. She cannot walk. The woman was devastated, she even visited the local administration saying she should have rather died by some Armenian bullet than live a life like that. The answer was that if she wishes, she can be transported across the buffer zone anytime.

The worst was though that anywhere I appeared with my camera, being a foreigner there, I brought so much hope to those people. They think that foreigners can do so much, change so much and I was heartbroken knowing that I cannot do more than write a story about what I saw. If the government wishes for them to stay the way they are what can be done to persuade them to change the approach? Majority of Azerbaijani people have never seen a single IDP camp. I am afraid that IDPs have slowly been forgotten.

My last visit was bit happier. We went to a camp where new houses were built by one of the international NGO. Each family had a little house, though no matter if the family consisted of 2 or 8 people, and a little garden. The conditions were so much better than in the previous places but the people were still suffering. They suffered remembering what life they led before they were displaced! Life that might for some of them never come back.

I was waiting to leave when this man comes to me. He looked bit shabby, face all wrinkled and instead of starting his speech in Azerbaijani he talks to me in Spanish! I could hardly believe it. I replied him, really stunned and I found out he studied Spanish and Russian at the University and now he is a teacher at the local school. He was saying how much he misses having the opportunity to speak Spanish. He was so excited that before I left the camp he sent his granddaughter to cut me some roses from his garden. Roses that he grew himself.

One thing I will never forget about the visits. The places where people lived were hopeless, many of the people felt totally worthless as they could not work (some were teachers, historians, artists etc.) but one thing they never lost and that was their hospitability. I do not remember getting so many kisses from women around me like I got in the camps. Warm kisses for the hope that I brought to their lives.

Parliament elections...

There are parliament elections on the 6th of November. Everyone's goal (I guess except for the government) is to have democratic elections. Thousands of dollars go on election education and rights of voters. There are tens of NGOs that have elections education in their programmes (well also because the donors right now give grants for these projects).

The political scene in Azerbaijan (which is claimed to be democratic) devides pretty much only into two parts... those pro-governmental and those in opposition. There have been two meetings/ demonstrations organized by the opposition already this month, both ended up with the police running into the people and beating them up. So much for democracy.

The surnames

There is quite a surprising similarity with Iceland. The surnames. Guys might use regular names and surnames like Asif Kerimov but some like to prefer instead of their regular surname, which they do have (unlike Icelanders), the name of their dad and add the word son. So they might at the end call themselves eg. Rasim Fuadoglu. ("oglu" being in Azeri "son").

New homes...

In the last two weeks I already moved twice... Our office had to move to a new location... that ment that I also had to move, as I lived at the premises of the organization. My boss promised me to help me find a flat but as I needed to move out sooner than expected my collegue and friend Aynura agreed that I can live with her for some time. After a week at her place I moved to a new flat where I will stay till the end.

Two flats, two huge differences! At Aynura's there were three of us staying. Aynura, her sister and me. It was not that far away from the center. It was house with access galleries (pavlacovy dum) and already the stairs to our flat although from iron were worn out with holes in it. The flat had one little tiny kitchen with one even tinier bathroom (with the deadly gas burner) and one room where we all stayed. I was sleeping on the floor and it was sooo comfortable. The two sisters were so nice and from the very beginning I felt there like at home!

After a week I moved to a second place which was in the center of the city. It was more suitable for my work, as I had to visit a lot of organizations and thus could easily walk from the flat. BUT I even wonder if I can call my new accommodation a flat. It is huuuge. When Geof, my boss, was showing it to me, I could hardly close my mouth how astounded I was. The place is huge, there are even three greek pillars inside. I live on a 7th floor with great view over the see and I am so getting used to it... Good that I have only a week left, otherwise I would never want to move out. :o)

Hot water

If you want to run a hot water in old houses in Baku, there is still necessity to turn on gas and put it on fire with a match in order to heat the water in the boiler. At my previous flat I had a regular shower, but then I moved and there was this huuuge gas burner that was to be turned on. My friend showed me how to use it and although I do have experience with gas burners, we used to have it at home, I never really fancied using it.

On one morning I am at home and I want to take a shower. I turn on the gas, wee bit only, as I was told to (plus it makes sense) and I put on fire a long bit of newspapers, cause the match is too short and one can get burnt more easily. I put the burning newspapers to the gas burner and set it on fire... I watch it also to make sure I am putting the newspapers to the right place... oups... this huuuuuuuuuuuuge flame comes out of the burner... it pretty much goes all over my face and I get very nice depilation of my hand which I used to set on the fire... I run to the mirror to make sure that I did not set on fire my hair... everything seems in place, nothing is burning... but my heart beats extremely fast, my hand is bit burnt and I only confirmed to myself that I do not like gas burners... Ok, the process is the following first put the burning newspapers to the gas burner and THEN slowly turn the gas on... Then you spare yourself a nice tan in your face! :o)

Women crave to visit Prague... men already did.

Very nice thing happens every time I say I come from Prague. In that moment eyes of the person I speak to start to sparkle and the words that come out of his/her mouth are always the same: "I always wanted to visit Prague!" ... "Zlata Praha..." ... "I heard Prague is so beautiful...". I hear those words quite often no matter the country I am in... but in Azerbaijan you can tell that the words about my city come from their heart. You can tell that visitting Prague has really been their dream... and now after the regime changed in Azerbaijan most of them know that they will not see Prague any longer. Going to Prague is too expensive. And the recently established straight flight from Baku to Prague is like laughing to their faces.

I met a girl and she tells me how she loves Czech. That it is her favourite country. I was of course flattered by her words but to be honest I thought that she might be exagerating a wee bit with the excitement ... but suddenly she continues... "I even started to learn Czech language ... mluvim cesky...". In that moment I was really stunned! Those are the moments that I am really proud to be Czech.

But she is not the first one speaking Czech. I actually met already 3 people that studied Czech at the University (although this particular girl studies Czech in her free time!).

There were few other answers to my saying I am from Czech. Several older men answered me... yeah, yeah, I have been to the Czech Republic. We went there with the army in 1968! Those were very surprising words when I heard them the first time. But all the men recall Czech with nice memories, as most of them were just young men who might not have made it to Prague and would meet at the villages with Czechs and talk and actually make friends!

One of them told me that he was in Prague and that he was in a tank and was ordered to shoot... but he did not and went to jail for it later. I did not know what to think about his words... but he would describe the place, know the bridges and it all seemed very truthfull... I have no reason to doubt him and I even chose not to. We are all people, why would we want to kill each other!?

So many people know about Czechoslovakia, so many people know bits from our history... so many have heart of Jan "Gus" (Hus) or others... and in those moments I am bit ashamed cause to be honest how much did I know about Azerbaijan?! Not a single thing except for where it lies on the map... And see... I fly to Azerbaijan and I find here such great fans of my country! Thank you...

Heading down south...

I have only few weeks left and I still have not seen so many places. So for my next trip I chose to see the south of Azerbaijan. The areas of Lankaran, Masalli and Lerik. Areas that again sooo differ from other parts of Azerbaijan. The south is predominantly populated by Talish people and probably some 80% of people would be speaking Talish, especially in the villages in these regions.

The southern regions were for quite some time overlooked where the development aid was concerned. The main reason is probably the fact that in early 90s the region tried to create the independent Talish-Mugam republic. They managed to hold on for few weeks only and then the government put a stop to it. Since then the area was sort of out of favour.

The roads down south improved a lot recently. Also the supply of electricity have been better and better in the recent years. Though in winter time they get approximately 4 hours of electricity per day but noone knows when it is gonna come. And the areas do get snow there.
Along the roads you have so many people selling fruits and vegetables. This time you can buy potatoes, cucumbers, but also the granat apples, grapes, apples, pears and some other fruits that I do not know even know. Lankaran is also know for its tea plantations.

I went with a friend, Aynura, from work. We left on Friday evening and arrived in Lankaran around 9pm. The night we spent with one american family that lives in that area. The family has three little kids so it was really pleasant to be with them.

We left the next morning to see some more of Lankaran. First we visited the Lankaran market. One can of course buy anything there but for me the most incredible part was watching the local people. I took several photos and since I have a digital camera I always showed the photo to the person. And once I even got warm hug and two kisses. It is incredible how the locals perceive the camera and sort of appreciate that it is them that you take photo of!!

Lankaran is also famous for another reason. I understood that there is quite a high number of schizophrenic people, especially among the young men. I do not know the reason.

Our trip continued even more south, towards Astara (city that lies on the border with Iran). First we stopped in a picnic area Xanbulan where is this incredible pretty lake hidden in the forests. We walked along watching few women fish there. The area was so peacefull and calm that we did not even feel like leaving! After the lake we continued south and got to a village called Pensar in the Astara rayonu where you can find the Yanar Bulag, the burning water! The water contains some gases and you can just set it on fire! :o) And what is even better, you can touch the burning water and it won't burn you!!

The architecture of the houses and structure of the villages in these south regions totally differs from those that I have been to so far. The houses have more space around themselves, they are many times these cute little square houses set along green forested mountains. This view is the same along the roads from Masalli to Astara. But the scenery changes when you turn to go to Lerik which lies to the west from Lankaran. The terrain becomes more hilly and more green. And the area gets much more rain. I guess quite cool conditions for growing ganja (marihuana). Actually in 90s they started to grow it in this region as there was no law that prevented a business like that ;o). (One would expect that they would grow ganja in the city of Ganja! :o)

The road to Lerik is a mountain road, so one turn after another. We stopped for a lunch in the close by restaurant that was built in the forest right next to a waterfall. Our lunch was of incredible size as usual. Some vegetables, cheeses, bread as a starter. Then the traditional dish Levengi - roasted chicken with special spices and nuts filling. Then came another round of boiled chicken and only after that they brought shashlik and fried potatoes. We were three to eat all this. After we rolled back to the car I was allowed to drive (according to my skills) to Lerik. Aynura trusted me but the driver next to me was extremely nervous. He did say that I drive well, but he was constantly holding his hand on the hand brake, along with not allowing me to change the speed with the gear stick and with constantly telling me "medlenno" (slowly) :o))). Hehehehe. But I had such a great time!!!

In Lerik we stopped only to get a guide that would take us along the area. Lerik is actually famous by a person who died there some years ago reaching the age of 165. And he is definitely not the only person that reached his 100s. There are quite few people like that. One person explained that he hardly eats vegetables and that he lives so long thanks to the regular shots of vodka. :o)))

The road itself to Lerik is spectacular. The Azeri president was travelling to Lerik recently and that is why the road got a totally new coat. Sad thing was that two days after the visit this huuuge bullock of the size of a house dropped on the road and crashed it (but I have not seen the road being damaged so they did repair it thankfully and did not wait for the next visit of the president!) ;o)))

Getting on the track to see a few villages further away from Lerik, the road got considerably worse and we were going quite slowly. I appreciated it as the nature was so brilliant. Green green hills and pictoresque little villages set on the hill sides. This area is definitely one of my favourite. Actually twice we asked the driver with Aynura if we can walk and so the driver would be going slowly behind us as we with Aynura enjoyed walking along the road.

We stayed in the same house for the night where we had the lunch. So beautiful fresh air, green trees and the bubbling of the river flowing by (and no mobile signal ;o)).

The next day we actually managed to get out of bed only around 10. So after a good breakfast we pretty much headed back to Baku. With few little stops to finish my photo collection. We covered more than 800km during the three days.

The other side of Baku!

Stereotypes, traditions, that is sooo strong in Azerbaijan. Men in suits, polished shoes, slow walk, discussions on very important topics... nothing out of ordinary is really possible. When I did something unusual I heard so many times "eto nekrasivo" ("this is not nice").
Many times people feel like doing something (eg. sit on grass in a park) but they don't do it as someone else might see them do it. The brains are so limited by what is allowed and appropriate to do and other things simply won't work.

To give a nice example. I was passing the main street with my two Czech friends, they were both after few weeks travel around Azerbaijan, their hair shaved, but beard growing happily, old "tired" t-shirts, sweaty cause of the heat, shorts, walking boots and big bags on their backs. And the reaction of Azeris was to turn their heads, point fingers at them, laugh openly... I could not believe it... hihihi

Well and finally my point. Last few mornings I got up earlier to go for a walk to the sea and to my surprise I see there people running, sitting on benches and doing sit-ups, people walking, playing football, even with bare chest and in shorts!! I was so surprised, but very positively!
I saw even a dad to run there with his two little kids, a girl and a boy! I saw so many old men running there too! All the other young ones seem to be boxers ;o).

I guess at least in the mornings unusual things are allowed :o) cause all the important people are still asleep! :o))

Donkeys

Donkeys are very important animals here :o). I would actually not expect to find them here. I always connected donkeys with Greece but I never really thought in what other countries they will be used. Poor little ones. :o)


Except for Baku, the center of the city, (and I have not been to Ganja, the second biggest city in Azerbaijan) you get to see donkeys everywhere. They are used to carry heavy loads or they serve as personal transport :o)). And when donkeys have nothing to do, they just wonder around the towns by themselves, or they are left waiting by the roads.

I asked my friend if donkeys are used for some other things as well... I was told that yes, especially in villages where there are no other ways how to do it... :o(((

Shaki

Finally I got to travel up north (if we won't count Tbilisi ;o). I was told that there are big mountains, as in the Shaki region there is the beginning of the Greater Caucasus (well, in my opinion it is more like Caucasus in Diapers as it is still really tiny! To all those who got this joke I will bring a candy.)

We left Baku on Friday night. We hired a long distance taxi again. Our driver was quite a happy chap as he constantly laughed and talked, and as well-raised man he would also look at us when talking. I did not entirely appreciate that as sometimes he would also use his hands to explain things... the combination of not looking up front while not holding the steering wheel is not my favourite. :o)
He told us one joke: "Tourist asks a driver - 'how long does it take to get to Shaki?' The driver answers - 'it depends, the more money you give me, the faster we will arrive.' " We negotiated the price for 120 000 Manat. I guess it was a lot of money as the driver was speeding most of the way from 100 - 140 km/hour! Once or twice he had to slow down "a little" in order not to hit the cow or geese that decided to pass the road. I am quite certain that one goose did not sleep well over the night and that her meat will be quite hard when being eaten if she has to undergo such stressful situations every time she decides to pass the road.

Very surprisingly we arrived unharmed but much older to Kish, a village 5 min away from Shaki. We stayed at a homestay which will soon be a "home-hostel". The young woman that lives there speaks English and is responsible for taking care of the newly reconstructed Albanian church in the village. Together with her husband's mother and sister they would make us breakfast each morning. The husband offered himself as our driver and thus spent most of the time with us.



Saturday morning we decided to visit Qax and Ilisu. We passed Qax on the way to Ilisu, a tiny village to the north east of Qax. The road goes along a river through a valley created by beautiful forested mountains and you arrive in a village that is fascinating as it still preserves the traditional way of life. Old houses hidden behind stone walls, narrow cubblestone streets where you get to wander and absorb the atmospere. Old grandmas sit in front of their houses while having the offspring run around. Once in a while there would be a donkey joining you to walk along, while a cow would suspiciously watch you pass by... The village of Ilisu, once being the capital of an autonomous sultanate in 18th century, has a square brick watch tower, Sumuggala, guarding it. There are also remnants of older tower, Qalaja, on the hill just beside the village.

We returned to Qax where we visited a local museum. When leaving the building we heard men's choir that was undoubtedly inside of the adjoint Georgian church. We even entered the church to find only two men and several women inside that gathered there for the afternoon mass. All singing, knowing the text by heart, following the priest.


After a good yummy lunch (why there is only three main meals per day??) we visited also the remnants of old Albanian church, Qum. Remnants which are to be found in someone's garden as it seems. :o) Qum will be soon renovated with the help of the US Embassy.

In the afternoon we returned to Shaki. The driver brought us to the Xan Saray (Khan's Palace). It is only a small palace that has two floors and 6 rooms that are shown to tourists. But as it is newly renovated, the place is simply breathtaking. In the palace you find the famous shebeke windows which are made as jigsaw of fragments of coloured glass and hand-shaped wooden pieces. The little pool in front of the palace reflects on the windows and creates colorful shapes of light on the floor. All the walls and ceilings are carved and hand-painted.



When leaving the Xan Saray we stopped at the close buy "tourist attraction" - shooting at a target. That was sooo cooool (jako u nas na poutich). I managed to hit the ten!! :o))) (as the only one!) . After some half hour we continued walking back to the city. We stopped to have a tea at Karavan Saray (a place where all the caravans with merchants would come and stay for the night). I managed to recharge my batteries, hihih, in the camera and than we continued to stroll around the city. For the dinner we returned to Karavan Saray and the evening we spent in cayxana drinking tea and smoking water pipe. Well I gladly skipped the water pipe.

The next day we were considering to come and see Gelersen Gorasen. This fortress was to guard Shaki, a rich market centre, that connected Dagestan and Caucasian commercial routes. Becoming richer and more powerful, the Shaki leader Haji Chelabi decided to oppose to the ruling Persians in the 18th century. The Persian Shah sent his soldiers to find out who is the one to have the arrogance to deny Persian sovereignty over the land and Chelabi answered "Gelersen Gorasen" (come and see). The fortress survived the Persian attack.
Shaki itself some 30 years later suffered from a major flooding and most of the houses got washed away. Thus the city center got moved to its present position close to the second fortress, Nukha.

On Sunday morning, as some group of Germans stayed at the same place as we did, we got up quite late to get the access to bathroom and such and so after finishing the breakfast we went to see the Albanian church, we wondered around Kish but did not have the time to come and see "Come and See". Before leaving altogether for Baku we only stopped for a little while in Marxal, nature resort close by, had a lunch in Shaki and headed back home.

The rare black caviar from the Caspian Sea

Going to Azerbaijan means it is very likely that you will bring a can of caviar with you back home. There is the fish sturgeon to be found in the Caspian sea from which black caviar is produced. There is one single company that produces caviar (along with other fish products) in Azerbaijan, the Capsian fish. It is a private company of the president, I was told. Caviar would be sold only in big stores for outrages prices. This Caspian caviar is also being exported all over the world for the price of 1200USD/1kg.

Now for all the caviar lovers with empty pocket. Although it is forbidden to fish the sturgeon for personal or business use, there are some that break the law, of course. Hence, there is cheaper caviar being smuggled to the local markets. One can buy caviar from cca 25USD/100g. But there is always the threat of buying bad product so you might want to have locals recommend you some place where to go shopping. Thank god I am not a fan of caviar and thus I am saved of all the inconveniences connected with buying one single tiny little can which is emptied within no time if you put a healthy layer of caviar on a slice of bread. :o)))

Clubs for entertainment...

There is this one British guy, I will call him Nemo. Nemo came to Azerbaijan some 10 years ago, he is very active, over-energetic, bursting with ideas and most unusally he is also implementing the ideas. Nemo runs several businesses but seems to have also incredible amount of free time. Some while ago he thought of the idea to establish language clubs in Baku. By now there is American, Spanish, Italian, French and German clubs. All of them are run by native speakers and anyone can join in. The participants of course talk/or try to talk in the respective language and can discuss anything, usually matters that are somehow connected to the culture that the language has ties with.

There is also one more unusual club, called the Thursday club, where anyone who is coming to Azerbaijan - tourists, expats, interns, or simply Azeris can join in, meet new people, discuss anything of interest, plan trips together or organize some other events etc. I go to this club and it is fun as different people show up each time and it is quite nice to chat with them.

This is also Nemo's idea to post in the newspapers in order to help out long lost interns who come only for a few months to Azerbaijan. ;o)

The shoes...

I wonder why did I not think of this topic before... as it distracts me sooo much :o)))). There is this huuuge trend for some years now that Azerbaijani guys wear shoes with looooong curved up tips. I expect they like it but I find it soooo horrible :o))). I do not want to offend anyone, but I just had to write about it.

I guess you can also distinguish your friends by shoes... all my friends eg. wear normal "european" shoes, hihih ... there must be something about that!

Druzhba ... beyond the grave!

Druzhba (=a friendship) a word that you might hear quite often in Azerbaijan... Druzhba is considered to be a very strong here, all the men are proud of the bond that is created among them. Girls cannot really understand that. If you talk to Azeri men they are extremely proud to have such true friendship with so many male friends. They can anytime anyplace rely on any of their friends. The men walk together during evenings, drink tea, discuss imporant issues, play nardi (backgammon), you see and hear about the ties everywhere...

I had several talks on this issue and so many guys were so extremely excited when talking about it and I thought... wow... this is something... Well, I am afraid nothing is as it seems. The longer I am here, the more I am sure of it.

Men here like to talk a lot, like to talk a lot about things they did, about what others said about them, about what they did (although they did not do it), about how many true friends they have etc. At the end you find out the reality is much more sad. If I did not have few quite good male friends I would never think the way I do now, cause the everyday male acquitances keep on stuffing me with all the "real stuff" which proves to be nonsense as soon as I mention it somewhere further.

It seems to me that all the men listed in their mobile phones could be claimed to be the best friends. When you see the men encounter on the street they will either shake their hands (those are friends or acquitances) or they will kiss on cheeks (those are considered closer friends). They drop few words then leave and it is hard to know what goes through their had as many times walking with one of the man I would hear some gossips about the person we just met (although they just planted two kisses on his cheek!). Azeris are hot blooded, everything they do they seem to be doing wholeheartedly, love in one moment and hate in another. They will start to fight in a street out of any reason that the tradition might bring. Many times they promise things... but with the promise it stays (skutek utek). Sometimes I wonder how close they can become if their "given word" does not really mean anything. They do so many things just becuase this is HOW it should be, the honesty and openess seems to be missing!!

It is extremely hard to describe the feelings I have and I am afraid I did not manage to describe it too well :o(. But I am quite sure of it though I would sincerely like to be wrong about it ...

Olya is in Baku...

Last year I attended a conference in Sarayevo; conference that had nothing to do with AIESEC. There I met a Russian delegation which was accommodated at the same hotel as I was. I became friends with them straight away and with few I have stayed in contact.
Olya has been one of them. I have not seen her since Sarayevo... though we have had so many plans to see each other in Praha or Samara (where Olya is from) and see... we get to meet in Baku!

Russian or Azeri...

15 countries united in one, the Soviet Union. Each country having one official language (and probably hundreds of dialects) but having another language that united them all. The Russian language. I always thought that great. Look how many children manage to speak some foreign language in Czech rep. - hardly any; and many times it is also the case of even grown ups. And in the Soviet Union so many people knew two languages already from the cradle (as it seems) :o).

In Baku it is easy for me to talk in Russian with everyone; I am always told ... oups, just wrote it in Russian ... "all Bakinci (Baku inhabitants) speak Russian". And that is really convenient. Many people speak Russian even outside of the capital. But of course after the split this ability is slowly dissapearing. Young people learn English (and have same results as the Czech ones - meaning cannot really speak at all) and they cannot speak Russian any longer. What a SHAME! You all know how important languages are and the Soviet Union (no matter if people liked the country or not) managed to have bilingual nation from their baby age.

And the situation now is the following. People mainly speak Azeri among themselves. But some speak Russian; those are the people that were studying in Russian language. Other Azeris usually respect it and speak Russian with them. Funny situation is when you have three people speaking together among which one is Russian educated - their conversation would be in two languages, the two would address each other in Azeri and the third one would comment in Russian. And all understand each other.

And of course, Russian is written in Azbuka (Russian alphabet) unlike nowadays Azeri. During Soviet times Azeri would be written in cyrilic as well and in 90s it was changed for latin letters (as it was before the Soviet Union). The country thus faced a serious problem to translate documentaion, books, signs in the streets, etc. into the latin Azeri. The change of the written language had though another result as well - some percentage of Azeri population simply does not read Azeri any longer. That usually accounts for older people that were used to cyrilic and do not handle the new strange letters.

Tbilisi, the "Hot water" city

Sudden decisions seem to be the best decisions. A friend of mine paid a visit to Georgie when she came last time to Baku. I refused going with her for two reasons - 1, my visa to Azerbaijan were only single entry ($40) and I would have to pay another $80 to get multiple; 2, I needed Georgian visa. Hence, I was not considering going to Tbilisi. BUT :o) my new visa obtained thanks to the Save the Children are multiple & for free and second, I found out that Goergia does not require visa from Czechs (EU) during the summer months!! And so 2 weeks ago I started to plan visitting Tbilisi and this weekend I already managed to see the city with my own eyes!!

I went with a friend by train. We left on Friday night so to arrive on Saturday morning. The ride was great except for damn 3 hours at the borders, first Azeri and then Georgian. There are a lot of Azeri going to Tbilisi while trying to smuggle things accross the border and the process looks likewise when going back from Tbilisi to Baku, this time having Georgian people on board instead. And if one thinks about it, all this happens for years already - every single time when the train passes the borders (at least once every day) there are pretty much the same people on the train and I bet there are also the same customs officers at the borders ... as if they could not have come to some sort of agreement to speed up the process.

Nevermind, so instead at 10 we made it to Tbilisi at 1, thankfully Tbilisi is one hour behind, so we came at 12 Georgian time. Got dropped by a Georgian friend at a hotel, hotel which we did not have to pay for as the owners were his relatives. Very unexpected, very convenient
but very akward as well.



Our first trip was to Jvari Monastery, some 30min away from Tbilisi. It is situated on a cliff while overlooking the Mtskheta village and offering great views of the surrounding mountains. Jvari, built in the 7th century, is one of the oldest churches in Gergia and it is functioning till now.

From Jvari we descended to Mtskheta. It is not more than a sleepy village by now lying on the confluence of two rivers, Mktvari (Kura in Azeri) and Aragvi. Mtskheta used to be the capital city of Georgia for some 500 years in pre-Christian times. In the center of the village you will find the Svetitskhoveli Church, thought by some as the most beautiful church of Georgia, built in 11th century.

After an extraordinary dinner in an outside restaurant placed along a little stream, while tasting different kinds of Georian specialities, we returned to Tbilisi. We took a stroll around the Old Town/Kala with number of churches around, remnants of city walls, colourful houses and plenty of cafes. The Old Town is being slowly rebuilt and very neat little streets are emmerging here and there. We stopped for a beer at a beer restaurant, opened only some month ago, with real brewery inside of the place, thus having the possibility to taste "fresh" beer :o). I am afraid that the beer here is as disgusting as everywhere else (my appologies to beer lovers), though of course Czech beer is still the least evil one :o)). After the restaurant we called it the night, although I could not resist taking few more photos of the night Tbilisi.



I will rather not mention the night as I shall feel sorry for myself :o) so while skipping that I will take us to some 11am on Sunday. Dima (our Georgian friend) picked us up at that time and we continued to wander around the old streets with the aim to make it to Rustaveli Avenue. I had the feeling that all the buildings you might want to see in a city, you will definitely find on this Avenue. First to see is the so called Children's Palace (former Russian viceroy's residence), next to the building of the Parliament. A modern building of the Plaza Cinema, hotel Tbilisi (Marriott), close with the Kashveti church emmerge further along the Avenue. The cars are not allowed to this street during Sundays so one gets to have nice views from the middle of the street (though the reflex of looking for a car coming is still there :o))). There is also the Opera house, Mitropane Laridze Soda Foutain, Academy of Science and other sights to be seen.

We ended up in a little Chinese restaurant for a lunch and returned through other streets to our hotel to fetch the car. As we still had some time left, Dima took us to a newly built church high up on a hill above the center of Tbilisi. Really an impressive building packed with people as it was a holiday that day.



There is another extraordinary sight to be seen on the hill facing Tbilisi, the Kartlis Deda Statue. This metal mother statue is holding a tea-cup to welcome friends and a sword to scare off the enemies. Some distance away from the statue there are the impressive ruins of Narikala Castle very well visible from the center of the city. I guess it is good to mention that Tbilisi is placed in a valley surrounded by hills :o).

The day ended by a visit to a Turtle lake within the woods that border with Tbilisi. The lake is a place where people like to go for a run, or to simply relax or have a swim, again with excellent views of the city.

At 6 we had a train back, and even with "the usual" three hour delay at the borders, we made it slightly after 9 to Baku. So I was sitting at my office with only some 40min delay ;o).

Xinaliq... the almost lost village

Xinaliq is a remote village situated high up in The Greater Caucasus mountains (around 2250m). The name Xinaliq means "The land where hena grows" as the mountains surrounding Xinaliq turn organge-brown during the sunset and sunrise. The village is very unsual as the people that live there have distinct origin (they are not Turkish), they speak their own language which differs from all other Caucasus languages (although they do know Azeri or Russian), have their own habbits and culture that is unique in Azerbaijan.

It is believed that there are some connections between this ethnic group and Scandinavia. Not only here, but also in Qobustan traces have been found that suggests so (Thor Heyerdahl has been visiting these places on numerous occasions).

And of course since the first time that I have heard (well read about it in Lonely planet) about the village I longed to visit it. And finally I had the chance.
I went with my sister and Ilja and except for them we met another 3 Czechs in the streets of Baku that decided to join us for the trip. So this unusual Czech group, together with one Azeri friend, headed to Xinaliq for two unique days!

We got up yet during the night hours (to be precise at 5.45am :o), to leave soon. We met at Baku "bus station", found a marshrutka that was going to Quba (city two hours north from Baku), filled the 7 remaining places in the bus (lucky us) and thus left straight away for Quba. The drive was ok, the weather was still cool due to early morning, and we made it before 10 to our destination.

At the Quba bus stop we searched for possibility to rent a jeep to go to Xinaliq. The roads are BAD so no other transportation (except for horse or your own legs) would make it there. Our Azeri friend managed to get us a good deal, we all placed ourselves in one cool old green Niva jeep (7 is the magic number as it seems) and left for Xinaliq.

The road is fine the first half hour, one passes little villages on the way, bumps regularly into restaurants / chaykhanas (tea houses), there are also tourist resorts being built there (hmm). First part of the road the jeep goes through thick forest, with green hills that further create sort of a gorge. The jeep follows a river the whole way. Here is also the part where the road gets extremely bumpy and one has to hold the seat with one hand, the jar by the ceiling with second hand, and take photos with the third hand... When reaching the place where the river splits into Alik and Xinaliq rivers, the nature again totally changes, there are brown more flat hills around, that very much reminded me of Iceland (for those who have been to Iceland :o).
As we got to this valley, we stopped at a village called Cek, that is where the driver is from. He arranged a dinner for us to be done when we return from Xinaliq and so we could continue with the pleasant feeling of shashlik waiting for us.
We slowly left the mountain road to enter a gravel desert, some sort of a big river basin surrounded by the "Hena" mountains. That is the last part of the road.

We entered Xinaliq and saw tens of little kids running around. As soon as we emmerged with cameras they were all ready to be photographed... I felt bit strange as when trying to imagine that someone would come to my place and start taking photos of me... but the people I guess must be used to it by now. I always asked if I can take photos as it was really cool to see the women in their everyday life... and they would smile and say thank you after each photo we took. We wondered through the streets, silently admiring the houses, the people, the mountains, it all looked simply incredible to us.

There are two mosques to be seen in Xinaliq, one from 12th and the other from 15th century. The people were supposed to be devoted followers of Zarathushtra, before becoming Christians in 4th century and later, in 7th century, converting to Islam. Several ancient cemeteries are to be found on the surrounding hills of Xinaliq.

We left the village some time later to stop at the river basin and have some food before continuing back to the village Cek. There we were ushered inside the house and got to sit at one room and play domino while waiting for the food. We got traditional shashlik, some vegetables and melons and at the end had to refuse the second course of boiled meat, as noone seemed to have any space left in our stomachs. We spent the night on the floor sleeping next to each other and the next day, after a yummy breakfast with home made cheese and honey, we returned to Quba.

The trip was brilliant and if anyone makes it to Azerbaijan I highly recommend visiting this place. I have not described the people, nor the houses, nor their behaviour... I am afraid that all has to be experienced. (Or meet me one night, give me few hours and I will try to describe it in words.) :o))

How did it all start...

I think the very first impulse came from my friend Dasa... some years ago :o) she was writing her diploma thesis on Mexico and went to Mexico and I thought then ... ONCE when I will be writing my thesis (I never doubted I will write them about some country) I will also go to that country! And there the idea was planted.

Few years of University lectures passed, a necessary nuisance for each aiesecer, and I got to the point of actually starting to consider writing my diploma thesis. That was also the time when I chose my minor, Developing studies, and so I was only a step away to deciding that I want to write about some developing country. Next was my "knowledge" of Russian that needed quite some dusting and the region was thus pretty much determined.

I fancied the countries in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, these three particularly)... but suddenly I received an email from a friend from Azerbaijan who was telling me about a forum that is taking place in Baku and where I could apply. I was lucky to be selected among the participants and so thought... since I go to Baku, they do speak Russian there (well, I though they speak much more Russian than they actually do :o), I could try to contact few NGOs beforehand and ask for interview. That worked out, I met with some when being in Baku and one of them at the end offered me an internship.

And so the country that I was to write thesis about was chosen. I started to read more about the region, learnt more about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and was ready to come back in the summer to explore some more. It is really fascinating to be here... although of course it has few drawbacks (if you continue reading my blog you might sense what those are :o).

The NGO that offered me internship is called Save the Children. I have been working for them for 2 months now and I have some 2 to go. This of course gives me plenty of opportunities to learn more about the country, get to understand it a little and, of course, collect some information for my thesis. Except for that it is a brilliant possiblity for me to gain some working experience in non-governmental sector, not to mention the cultural impact ;o).

And as an old aiesecer I could not resist but to offer my services to Baxtiyar who is right now establishing AIESEC in Azerbaijan. And with reference to my age I can as well call myself ... the Senior Adviser, hihihi.

I would definitely pass for Azeri... ;o)

My sister is in Baku... :o)

Back to Nabran...

Last week I got to go to Nabran for three days again ... this time I was participating in a conference that was organized by one of our departments. The conference was devoted to one of the programmes that have been ending this month, so people that worked on the accomplishment of the programme the past two years in different regions had the opportunity to get together and relax a bit.

First day was thus arrival and afternoon and evening we spent in the pool and by the sea. Second day was the actual working day, but with a long lunch break to get to the sea again and in the evening, after a fancy dinner (well, all the meals were fancy :o) there was a disco. And the third day except for the departure was again more relaxing day.

The conference was organized in Atlant, a sea resort hotel. So the place was much more fancy than our previous place. But all the "comfort" was coming in the same package with tens of people all the time around you and with all the noise that loud music can make during the night/morning hours... so I was actually really looking forward to come back to Baku to rest a little.

Lada is the one...

The traffic is incredible in Baku, the streets are constantly full of cars ... with impatient drivers behind the wheel. They drive fast and if someone/something annoys them, they just blow their horn; the often, the longer, the better.

Pedestrians are one of the things in their way. Here they do not even pretend to stop, they just go... if you have courage and you jump in their way, they will just drive around you... they will simply not stop. There is green and red light for cars, if you as pedestrian want to pass the road and you wait for the cars in the parallel street to get green light, you are still not granted that you will pass the street as the cars that turn from the parallel street will not let you ...

And if you think there are a lot of Skodas on Czech roads, then you have never seen the amount of Ladas that are on Azeri roads. Where you look there are Ladas, all pretty much the same type. Some new, some old, some ancient (those hold together byt the willpower :o). When sitting in these (usually the taxis) you feel like holding the door and the seat and the roof to make sure everything stays together for the duration of the drive. (And you feel like putting a pillow under your but not to have it scratched from the road :o)).

But do not think there are no nice new cars around... on the contrary. If you fancy new cars and would want to see some newly released car on the street, come to Baku. This German tourist walks with Azeri friend in the streets of Baku and he notices this smashing car pass by... WOW, he thinks and asks his Azeri friend what car is it. The answer he gets, well that is the new version of mercedes of course! It seems Azeri people buy the new versions straight from the Auto Exhibitions :o).

Shashlik

Before:
You come to a restaurant and one of the meals they will always offer is shashlik. I first thought it is a name for some kind of meat that is done some kind of way... but it seems it is anything done one kind of way :o). So you take anything: any type of meat - fish, veal, lamb, or any type of vegetable - here it usually means tomato, pepper and aubergine (baklazan)... and then you stuck the meat, veggies on a stick and put it to gril using coal. And that is shashlik (well, at least how I understood it :o)).

After:

Have a look and choose...

I never saw it in Czech restaurants so here it caught my attention straight away. When you go to an average Azeri restaurant (the more expensive ones do it the "european" way) you usually never get a menu. You simply know what can be offered and if they do not have it they will tell you some other options.

After you order your meal, they bring this big tray where you can find a plate with different cheeses, plate with "priroda" (my name for vegetables/ greens/ grasses that Azeri love to eat here, eg. dill, chive, parsley - kopr, pazitka, petrzel) and some tomatoe or cucumbers, plate with fruits, bowl with pre-made salads, bowl with dovga (while boiling kefir you add "priroda" and make a very refreshing drink/soup), roasted potatoe, plate with bread etc. And you get to look and pick and since you are hungry, you pick several plates from the tray to cool down the hunger (in my case you stuff yourself so much that you cannot eat the actual meal when they bring it).

I really like this way although it is, of course, an excellent marketing strategy, as one would not order anything when seing it on the menu but as soon as you see it in real, you have this urge to get it... my case :o).

Petroglyphs and mud volcanoes in "Ravine land"

About 60km south-west from Baku is a village called Qobustan. It looks like any other village though has quite unusual surroundings. So of course a great place for a trip. Although maybe not too wise to go over lunchtime, one gets bit hot in the open sun. :o)

The first place that we visited were the mud volcanoes. They can be found some 15min away from Qobustan though the roads that lead there aren't really roads. As you reach the top of the hill this view suddenly opens. Tens of little volcanoes that constantly bubble and gurgle. It is really funny if you have along a person that gets easily frightened. Cause as soon as this "blub" sound comes up from the volcano, the person is likely to jump out of fright. Hihihi.

But so to continue, we headed back to the village and took another road that led us to a place known for its rock engravings. Firstly you are ushered to a small museum adjacent to the rock mountains. There you can see different stone objects, ceramics, tools etc. that were found in the caves around. Then you proceed to the rocks itself.

First to see is a huge stone called Gaval-Dashy which you can hit with another stone and it rings like a gong. Then a small path leads you to different caves where you get to see the petroglyphs. The engravings show people, animals, hunting scenes. Also the rocks itself have quite unusual shapes due to being weather-worn. The place is really amazing to visit.

By the time we finished this little circle around the caves and rocks, enjoyed the view from the mountain over the sea, we were too hot and too tired to spend more time there and so we headed back for the car and back to Baku (in search of air conditioning).

A way to travel...

Quite interesting thing happens when Azeri president or one of his family members decide to travel. In that moment there are police cars all along the route where he/they want to go in order to stop all the traffic on the particular road. You would not find a single car on the road in that moment (except those without drivers of course :o)). Then suddenly this fast fast group of secret police cars comes while encircling the car of the president and within seconds the cars are gone (I would give them ticket for speeding).

After the presidential convoy is gone, one can only see the huuuge huuuge cue of cars that were stopped and had to wait for the convoy to pass. So pretty much a great way of making traffic on the roads. :o)

But I heard it got much better now. As when the previous president (father of the current one) used to travel, they would stop the traffic for one whole hour on those roads which he would pass. What a way to travel!

Yanar Dag, the Fire mountain

Last Sunday we went to a beach on the Absheron peninsula. Around half hour away from Baku. We went together with two friends/ trainers that came to Baku for a seminar. The beach was excellent, we ordered a lot of food (well you order a normal amount that turns into huge amount) and thus were swimming in clean warm sea while stuffing our "little" stomachs.

Friedrich, one of the trainers, rented a car for the whole day... so that day actually started with visitting one of the food/everything open markets - The central market (the prices of the rental stands are rising here too, meaning soon there will be no market any longer :o((; reference to The city of Baku post ). We bought a lof of fruits and after that headed towards the beach. We also had a unique possibility to actually see baby hedgehogs!!! :o))) Isn't she cute?

We spent several hours at the beach, actually at a restaurant table to be precise. And then I got an idea to try to visit Yanar Dag. My collegue mentioned it and Yanar Dag was pretty much on the way to Baku. It is a Fire mouintan. According to some story a shepard accidently lit this mountain in 1950s and since then the mountain burns. It seems that some gas evaporates through the mountain and thus constantly feeds the fire.

Approximately 10m x 2m of the mountain is on fire. The sight is really unique as the mountain is pretty much sand and rocks and there is this constant fire that seems to be feeding on nothing ... but it still burns. :o) It looks as if the fire comes from within the rocks. It is not some overwhelming sight but extremely relaxing and fascinating.

The city of Baku

Unforunately, quite a sad topic to write about. Baku was one of the cities well known for its architecture and the way it was build. The city is partly on a hill and the sea wind really well ventilated the streets as all the houses were of smaller height. Excellent idea, though no more functioning...

Baku has unofficially over 3 million inhabitants. It has grown a lot due to the number of refugees and IDPs (Internally displaced person) moving into the city as well as due to the number of people from the regions who were coming to Baku with the hope of finding employment. That was the case for mainly young people from the regions.

In recent years started this boom of building cca 20 floor high appartment blocks all over Baku. There is no policy where and how to build. I heard there is no city architect, no law that actually coordinates the number of new buildings and places where to build them. Old houses and markets are dissapearing as the owners get offered incredibly high sums of money to sell the places. Another way is increasing the rents of places so that people cannot afford paying rent any longer and have to move out. Within no time the old buildings/parks/markets are teared down and in a few weeks there is more than 5 floors finished... The speed of building is incredible.

All this might not look as bad but to name the main problems, the city's ventilation is crippled, the new appartment houses are build too close to each other so in a case of earthquake or some other catastrophy, they shall be the cause of a domino effect.

And one real story... inhabitants of one old house came to talk to the workers that were building a new house right next to their home. They were interested how high is the building going to be. The worker answered, but the main message was, do not buy appartments in these houses. We are obligued to use cheap material and the less the better. In few years thus these buildings will necessarily fall down!