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.