Adventures in Moscow and Baku (May 26th-June 2nd)

I arrived in Baku in the early afternoon on May 28th after almost 48 hours of traveling. Twenty of those hours were spent wandering aimlessly around the Moscow airport and sleeping like a bum on benches or when none were available, which was often the case, on the tile floor. It really was the closest I’d like to ever come to being homeless. My flight from Moscow to Baku was one I hope
(Dom Soviet)
never to have to make again. The flight was overbooked but all the passengers where crammed on anyway. Young children, of which there were PLENTY, were forced to sit on parents laps. The flight crew also seemed unconcerned about enough safety belts for the passengers. It was not a reassuring atmosphere. To top it off the turbulence was bad and the landing was very rocky. Needless to say I was very thankful to make it on the ground.
Lesson Number 1: a cheaper ticket is NOT a better deal. I will gladly pay an extra 300 dollars and fly a slightly more safety conscious airline and not lie alone huddled in the corner of a dark airport.
The taxi ride from the airport to Baku was one I will never forget. The Absheron peninsula, the little nose of Azerbaijan that peeks out into the Caspian Sea (or Lake, depending on who you ask and who wants the rights to the natural resources in it.) is one of the most environmentally degraded places on Earth. Decades of reckless oil excavation and chemical production has left the area a barren wasteland like something out of Mad Max. Unfortunately I do not have a picture but will try to get some when I go to Baku again.
Baku with a population of over 2 million people is the largest city in the Caucasus region and was the 3rd largest city in the Soviet Union. It has been a major oil exporting region since the turn of the last century and in the late 1910’s supplied the world with half of its oil. Oil is still of great importance in Baku and for all of Azerbaijan, in May an oil pipeline from the Caspian See to the Mediterranean Sea was completed. There are high hopes that revenues from the oil will improve living conditions in Azerbaijan. Only time will tell. I have my doubts.
Baku is an intriguing city. It is considered to be very European but I found it to be a far cry from Munich and other German cities. Perhaps the schöne deutsche Ordnung was missing! :) . Traffic signs and signals either don’t exist, don’t work or aren’t observed by drivers. The person with the loudest horn has the right of way. Pedestrians beware! Cars will not stop if you are in a cross- walk- in fact they are more likely to speed up beep their horn and then screech to a halt inches before hitting you. Seat belts are also seldom used if they are even installed in the cars at all. If you are riding in a taxi or walking on the street you are truly taking your life into your own hands.
There is no blending in here! Even on the first night I got stares from pretty much everyone on the street- especially the men. One thing is that I’m taller than most everyone, men and women. For the first time I can actually see over people in a crowd. Here I’m considered fair-skinned and light haired so I stick out everywhere. It also doesn’t help that I look totally lost and bewildered most of the time. It is a very odd feeling that I don’t know if I will ever really get used to.
One of the coolest things in Baku is the subway, which is, despite what is written about it in guidebooks, a perfectly safe, clean and efficient way of navigating the city. But there are few maps of the stops so you have to know where you are going. The stations are filled with absolutely beautiful mosaics. What I liked the most is that a little song played over the intercom before each stop. And every stop had its own little tune so you if you couldn’t understand the announcer then all you had to do was remember what song went with what stop. In one of the stations there is actually an escalator longer and steeper than the one in Marienplatz in Munich!
Baku is a boisterous and beautiful city. Most noteworthy is the Qız Qalası or the Maidens Tower. (See picture from first posting) There are several myths surrounding the name of the tower. The one I like the most is the one about a city ruler who fell in love with his daughter and wanted to marry her. She was torn between revulsion and daughterly duty so as a stalling tactic she had a tower built so she could see all of her father/husbands lands. Every time the tower was declared to be finished she had another storey built. Finally when it was completed she climbed to the top had a quick view of the lands and threw herself off into the Caspian See. What is interesting about this is that the tower is now a good distance from the water’s edge.
The Qız Qalsın is located in the beautiful walled old city. Within the city is the Shirvanasha’s palace. See pictures. I have to admit that I don’t really know what most of things in the palace are because I didn’t get a tour in English. I was just proud of myself for getting a student discounted ticket- and asking for it in Azeri. One of the grounds keepers tried to give me tour but it was clear that our language barrier was too great for much meaningful information exchange. I did understand when he asked for my phone number and then I politely left.
Along the water’s edge is a promenade where most of Baku strolls in the evenings. There are numerous vendors, a small amusement park, a zoo, photo op sites (including one with the Teletubbies!) and a myriad of tea houses. Which are mostly frequented by the male population. It is okay for women to go there if they are with a man but for woman to go alone is quite strange. There are also very few women out at after dark. One of the subway rides back to the hotel was very bizarre because there were only two or three women in the entire car filled with people. And of course all the men are staring at me because I’m a foreigner, it was uncanny. I don’t feel threatened at all, just unnerved.
The view from the promenade along the Caspian See is quite striking. The horizon is dotted with oil rigs and the city spreads out along the coast. The strong breezes coming off the water definitely have a petroleum tinge to them. Swimming is not recommended!!! There were several fishermen on the piers. I can’t imagine what they were hoping to catch.
Probably the most famous building in Baku is the Dom Soviet, which was the seat of the government during the Soviet Era. Now it is host to various companies and organizations. (picture)
While in Baku Eddie (that’s the guy who hired me and I will be replacing when he returns to the United States at the end of June) and I met with lots of different people from various NGO’s working in

(Oil Industry)
Azerbaijan. There is a wealth of things going on in the country. I’m still sorting through them all and looking at potential collaborators during my time here. Probably the highlight of my week in Baku was the AzETA (Azerbaijan English Teacher’s association) Concert. For International Children’s Day the organization put on a concert and some of Azerbaijan’s most popular musicians performed. It was fabulous and I got my first real taste of the very deep music and dance culture here.
On Friday morning we got a driver to Ganja and took the less direct but more scenic route through the mountains. I was about a six hour drive in very oppressive heat- and who was the idiot who wore black pants?!! But it was incredible to see the varied landscape. Outside of Baku is desert;not a tree to be seen. Then really as if out of nowhere appear the mountains and it becomes a bit greener. Where we stopped for lunch there were fabulous views of the greater Caucasus Mountains to the north. Driving down into the central plains towards Ganja you could begin to see the lesser Caucasus Mountains to the South. Amazing that so much ecological diversity is present in a country smaller than Maine! We arrived in Ganja, my new home, around 6:00 in the evening. More on Ganja to come.
Well that pretty much sums up week one. I’m playing catch up and will try to have week two up soon. Any questions or comments please post or send me an email!