Baku, Azerbaijan - Part Two

27th - 30th November 2010

Arriving back in a taxi that sped most of the way at around 140/150km per hour we got to Baku in good time, we said goodbye to Michelle on the metro and then after lunch, spent the best part of three hours in an internet café while I uploaded photos, updated the blog and painfully opted out of a long running orange contract. We managed to get hold of our host for the next few days and arranged to crash at his a day earlier than planned. Toby sounded so Scottish that both Djalma and I were confused, we were sure he was German – it turned out that he had lived in Scotland for several years and had perfected his Northern drawl perfectly. We went out for a drink, he and his Azeri girlfriend (beautiful, educated and generally well informed, life is so unfair) to a birthday party and Djalma and I to Adam's Sports Bar. The first beer went down in record time and second helped an incredible Thali selection down nicely, it was the best English curry I've ever had, delicious. We had a third beer and talked about New Zealand's educational system and how to resolve it's problems – nothing like putting the world to rights (especially about things I know next to nothing about).

From Baku and Mud Volcanoes

We met up with Tobias (yes Mike actual name) and his lady in a recently opened Irish bar and had another drink for the Scottish ex pat whose birthday it was. Another stop at another bar and then we headed home in the wee hours of the morning.
The next day, Sunday, we slept until the early afternoon, a much needed slumber before heading out to a Georgian restaurant where we sat and played cards until early evening. Killing some time in an internet café looking up stuff about India and sending emails we we met up with Toby for a Guinness and then went back to his place to read a bit more.

The next day we managed to sleep until 10 minutes before the Iranian embassy was due to open – so much for getting there on time – we hurried out the house stopping only to chow down a little breakfast and then spent the next hour sorting photos, forms and fees to get our precious visas. Leaving the nice embassy staff behind we posted cards to the UK and strolled along the Bulvar enjoying the warm sunshine and bright blue skies over the Caspian. We stopped for a coffee in a big shopping centre that had a big balcony overlooking the sea and soaked up some much needed rays before heading back to Adam's Sports Bar for some more of their excellent curry. Abstaining from booze this time round our curries went down very nicely all by themselves, an incredible chickpea masala and paneer with creamed spinach to make up for all the döner kebabs we've been eating. We spent a few hours on a neighbouring wifi connection where I managed to speak to my darling wife and then book a last minute ticket home.

I left for the U.K. the next day waving good bye to Djalma, who I couldn't hug enough at the airport, and heading home to friends and family. Djalma stayed on in Azerbaijan and travelled south over the border into Iran. Naturally he hasn't written anything so we're posting his emails to me as a compromise.