7/30/14

 7/30/14

As it turned out, the Russian girl was actually super helpful and helped sort the whole thing out. So that was nice. Her boyfriend, who is from San Diego, was with her, and we all had a nice conversation. After that I had lunch with the two Iranian dudes and it about knocked me out since it was a pile of food. We went our separate ways and I just sat in a park and drank water for a little while hoping that whatever I had just eaten was legit. It was, so no worries of the gastrointestinal variety which is definitely a concern in anywhere that is not Western Europe/US/Australia. After that I visited the national library where the staff was very friendly, the architecture very decent, and the books very absent. There were card catalogs everywhere and I guess people got the books for you. I tried not to pass out after sitting down at a desk so I wrote a little bit in my paper journal. It was a nice place and the quiet, subdued academic atmosphere was a good contrast to the chaos of outside. It definitely smelled like what I imagine a reasonably well kept up ex-Soviet library with moderate usage and decent amount of self-respect would smell like. Kind of musty, but welcoming. After a while, I decided to get a move on and go to the Historical Museum, which I found after walking through some picturesque side streets. It was in some oil-boom mansion. Admission was 2 manat and you had to put on plastic shoe covers, one of which I destroyed trying to fit it around my shoe. It came off later in the museum but I'm pretty sure it's not actually a big deal. Since I tend to be highly suggestible in unknown areas, I paid an extra 10 manat for the english-speaking tour guide offered me. She was very nice, but she spoke quite quick and it was hard to get a question in. I did ask about Azerbaijan vs. Armenia, and got the straight party line--"They attacked because they hate us, etc. etc." but nothing substantial. She constantly referenced how historical Azerbaijan apparently included Armenia (seems likely, don't have time to do the research, but could also be revisionism) and how much of the historical stuff there was found in Armenia. I can't wait to see what the Armenians have to say. Anyway, she was very pleasant if not worth the extra 10 manat, especially considering the prevalence of english-language explanations. The stuff on oil and the wars with Russia/Iran were interesting as well. Overall a good museum. I then went onward to the "Maiden Tower", whose purpose is still unknown. Either defensive tower (but no good windows/interior rooms, so seems unlikely), temple, observatory, or a combination of the latter two (which I buy because apparently the windows are strategically placed to match up with the sun on important days. Also it has cool views of Baku. 

A tiny book for tiny people?!?!

The street

 

Century-old oil boom mansion that houses the history museum.

Looking out over the old city to the very new city from the Maiden's Tower

I got back to the hostel and met these two Israeli dudes who were staying there and we quickly got to talking about military service. They were not fans of it, to say the least, and I sensed that there was some awkwardness, but in the end it's not worth worrying about letting awkwardness get in the way of learning. But they were nice enough dudes, and after sustaining a classic random bloody nose I went out to dinner with them and the Russian/American couple, who live in Kazakhstan. We went to this place where you could get these pizza like things that had sheep's tail meat but since I wasn't scared I too ate one and found it to be pretty tasty. The meat is all in tiny chunks so it's not like there's an actual tail on it or anything, but even if there was it's not like you're eating brains or intestines or something actually weird. I think they're called "Lachkmajun" and they're cheap and tasty so that was good. After that we all walked to Bulvar at night which was a highly worthwhile experience--you can see everything all lit up and get some nice pics and look at all the people strolling about, from bigtime oil wealth to street sweepers.

En route to the Bulvar

After coming back, I did have a moment of panic about train tickets after talking with the Russian/American pair and learning they can be hard to come by. The hostel assured me earlier (or perhaps I misunderstood) that this was not the case; that buying day-of was fine. Just in case, I got up earlier and went to the train station---and sure enough, they were sold out of all classes. Of course, I should have booked online a week earlier, but I let it fall through the cracks. As soon as I got back, I went online, and sure enough, I was able to grab a single platskart (3rd class) spot. This will suck as far as moving all my dadgum luggage goes but at least I can take the train and save on accommodation. Lesson learned: THE BAKU-TBILISI NIGHT TRAIN SELLS OUT VERY QUICKLY. IF YOU WANT TICKETS, BOOK THEM ASAP ONLINE THROUGH THE AZERBAIJANI RAILWAYS, and who cares if their website/registration system is crap. Make it happen. Georgia doesn't offer online booking for their trains as far as I can tell (and according to posts on some forums) so that will be another adventure for another day. All I know is that I should probably stock up on food/adult beverages for the long 3rd class train ride.

I bit the bullet and paid the 60 manat to have one of the hostel people drive me to the Qobustan (almost Qdobastan). You can travel cheap, you can save time, or you can do a lot of activities, but you can only have two of those three, and I'm choosing the latter two since my trip is funded and since I want to learn about historical things of cultura  The mud volcanoes did not disappoint--I fear I may have annoyed my driver by staying so long but they were pretty gnarly. They ranged from little bubbles in the ground to massive mounds with an opening at the top of roughly 2 yards' diameter at the widest point. Most were anthill like things that gurgled and burped periodically and had small openings at the top, or they were like mini-volcanoes with a foot-wide hole at the top that would occasionally make a kerplop noise. Overall, a fascinating place of geological flatulence and highly worthwhile. Oh, also there's a pond with bubbles and it rained a drop or two briefly which I figure is somewhat rare in these parts. After that, we went to the petroglyphs, where there was a good museum about human development in the area until roman times (with more modern fare in the gift shop--I regret not buying the DVD about the growth of oil in Azerbaijan). The glyphs themselves were highly underwelming, but the boulder landscape was pretty cool. I didn't even find the roman glyph of some fame (maybe it was numbered 119? But it was too hard to really tell) so that was pretty meh. We didn't stop at the "James Bond" oil field (I'm not sure the driver knew about it) but you could see everything from the highway and nothing really stood out as being particularly awesome. We did stop at a Mosque which was very nice; it was located right outside the city on the main highway and is well worth a visit. It had the tomb of a famous imam and some unbelievable interior decorating. I returned to the hostel and after sitting for a bit tried the carpet museum--I was told it was closed for renovation, but I'm pretty sure I could have just walked into the displays and no one would have bothered me (there was construction going on).

Mud volcano stuff

A note about Azeri highways--they are straight up interstates, where lanes are merely suggestions and on/off ramps virtually non-existent. Many times we just cruised with the dashed line in the middle of the car's axis, and when we got back on the highway after the mud volcanoes we simply drove up to the highway, drove across, drove into the median (a hundred yards wide or so, with buildings), and merged on the other side like it was a 4 way intersection. True craziness. It's definitely not grade-separated, and people treat it just like you might treat a major intersection at home, only there are no traffic lights and people just move out as the traffic flow suits them--e.g. a legit move is to block one or two lanes as you ease out, assuming other traffic will merge. I've noticed a bunch of places where stop lights seem pretty optional--but the chaos somehow works itself out. It's all done on right of way and there's no real effort to engineer traffic patters (no jug handles, few flyovers, etc. etc.). If my camera battery hadn't died, I'd have taken pictures of the two or three Ladas we saw questing towards the city (where they highway seamlessly turns into a major boulevard) that were literally full to the brim of cantaloupes or other melons--they entire backseat to the roof and all spaces in between such as the area behind the rear headrests was full. Also, VIPs on the highway mean a police escort which will literally force traffic out of your way, or so we discovered when we were forced into the other lane so that some black SUV could fly past. So that's that.