Azerbaijan

Arun needed to be in Azerbaijan for work, and it turned into a great opportunity to see an incredibly unique country. The flight we took was miserable since it arrived into Baki at 5:30 in the morning. By the time we got to the hotel we were exhausted (and Arun was supposed to be at work that very day.) The one great thing, however, is that early morning lighting is a photographer's dream and I was able to take some great shots from our hotel window. You can see the Caspian Sea and the gorgeous scenary.

We learned a lot about the unique history in Azerbaijan. They have had so many influences- at one point under Alexander the Great... then briefly Mongolian rule... then came the Turks followed by the Iranians and of course most recently Soviet rule until their Independence in 1991. The architecture, the people, the language and the food all reflect these myriad influences. For instance- their language used to be written in Arabic script but Azeri words. Now their language is most similar to Turkish and they utilize Latin script.

The food we found there was Turkish-Arabic-Georgian-and pretty much everything in between. Their entire economy seems to be based off of the abundance of oil and natural gas in the country and BP has an enormous presence. This means an enormous number of British ex-pats and so, of course, we found great Indian food as well! (Arun's eating some GREAT chicken pakoras and lassi.)

One of the more shocking things we learned is that the Azeri Monat is worth more than the US dollar. It was surprisingly expensive in Azerbaijan, and it made me appreciate how affordable Ukraine is relatively speaking!

Of the 4 million people in the country, 2 million live in Baki and there has been a large influx from the countryside into Baki for livelihood opportunities.

The first thing to see in Baki is the Old City. It is surrounded by walls that date back to the 12th Century and one of the most important landmarks of the city is the Maiden Tower. I got to do a lot more sightseeing than Arun who was hard at work, but I tried not to make him too jealous!

That's it for now, I will be adding more blog entries about Azerbaijan, and for those of you who have been missing my Kodakgallery editions, I'll be sending a link out soon (and I'll post it here as well!)