Ch 42: Days 6-7: Olympic Complex in a Dirt Road Town

16 kms, Sept 2, 2012

It's pouring down rain as he heads to catch my minibus to the next town up the road--but it's still an enjoyable, lively atmosphere as they wait for the minibus to fill up.

In Masalli, he's dropped off right in the middle of a bustling, muddy market area. This feels a bit more like your standard Azerbaijani city. Beyond the market he finds a plaza and a a stately government building, then heads on to wander the residential neighborhoods.

Here the houses are typically quite large with metal roofs and, as in Georgia, many have a little garden next to it. If there's a car parked in front it will more likely be an antique Soviet Lada... and the roads are mainly dirt.

What does look very much out of place in all these towns is a large, brand new "Olympic Complex" at the edge of pretty much every large town. It seems the government had the ambition of have Azerbaijan host the Olympic games--and I guess they thought that by building an Olympic complex in each town this would impress the IOC... just as long as they don't actually visit these towns and find that most of them have no hotels--hardly any restaurants and mostly dirt roads!

He also notices somewhat of a rarity here in Azerbaijan: a mosque being built. Much different from Middle Eastern mosques, it has a very short minaret, a large porch and tiled roof.

A lot of big mosques are being built around Africa, the Balkans etc and wonder, why not here?

One clue might be in the fact that much mosque building around the world is funded by Saudi Arabia... an Azerbaijan is Shi'a Muslim country... Saudi Arabia definitely has no interest in sponsoring a Shi'a mosque!

he finally finds a nice place to grab a pizza, then continue on my way.

Singing for the Potato Vendors

He takes a minibus a little further, and then just hops off as they pass through a random town Goytepe, just to see what he'll find. He walks towards what it seems is the center of town, but it turns out he's walking away from town... and by the time he realizes it, he doesn't feel like walking back... so he continues on down the road to see what's next. He reaches a police checkpoint, and they are pretty curious about this foreigner walking down the road carrying a guitar, but finally let him continue on as the Traveler explains he just wants to enjoy the scenery...

Mainly farmland along here, and along the road are a whole row of vendors selling sacks of potatoes and vegetables. A couple fellows spot the guitar and ask him to entertain them. One of them is very eager to give the guitar a try. He works on it for a bit, then runs off with it. The other fellow sees the Traveler's nervous reaction and reassure him that that the fellow is just going to show off his skills to another vendor.

While the Traveler chills out for a bit, they try to communicate the best they can. The fellow tells him that he's "Roma" Probably referring to Gypsy Roma people... and he says the vegetables aren't his--he's just paid by the farmers to sit here and sell it. It does seem to be a popular way of doing shopping here in this area, as a lot of cars stop, haggle a bit and then head off with a load of potatoes and vegetables.

It doesn't seem like the Traveler is having any luck stopping any collective transport, so he finally decides to walk on a bit further, where he waves down a car (regular cars work as sort of collective taxis here) and is taken to the next town.

Having dinner with a Pilot

It takes a little while to reach the heart of Celilabad, as it's a ways off the highway, down a long shady road until the Traveler starts to wonder if there is a center to this town....

Finally he reaches the ever present large park/plaza, where he's promptly greeted by a young fellow who speaks excellent English. The fellow is excited to see a tourist coming to visit his town.

"I've never seen a foreigner here in Celilabad!" he exclaims.

He invites the Traveler for chai (along with a plate of slices of Snickers bars--an "Azerbaijani treat"!), and they get to talking about life in Azerbaijan. Elnur is not just your average citizen, he's actually a pilot for the national airline, a brilliant young fellow, with a good grasp of what's really going on in his country. He said he was actually accepted to take a course of studies in the United States, but by the time he got his visa it was too late. I guess that explains why so many here look to Russia for opportunities, rather than looking west.

Elnur invites the Traveler to his parent's home for dinner, and he accepts, so they head over to a nearby Soviet era apartment block--where their apartment is small but well maintained and nicely decorated. Here he joins Elnur and his parents at the kitchen table for his first typical Azerbaijani dinner of meat and vegetable stew. Followed is a short concert as the Traveler sings a couple of heartfelt songs for his hosts.

He knows he'll never forget the hospitality shown to him here by Elnur and his family in Celilabad.

Day 7: Park under Construction

8.9 kms, Sept 3, 2012

His next town right up the road, Bilasuvar, still hasn't had its plaza park finished, so after wandering up and down its quiet streets, until he reaches the arch gateway at the entrance and decide to just do a quick parkbench concert there.

by a young fellow who works at a nearby hardware shop who, despite the language barrier, is eager to communicate. The boy brings up the topic of religion for the first time--trying to tell the Traveler about Islam. All other people he's talked to have avoided the topic--quite different from, say, Morocco, where many people love to take advantage of the change to talk about their faith with a foreigner. This is the only time here in Azerbaijan that he has this experience.

Getting to Salyanis a bit of a challenge. He waves down a minibus asking if he's going there and he says yes...but the Traveler get suspicious when there's no one else on board--wisely he asks the fare and it turns out the driver was planning to charge a taxi fare! The Traveler quickly gets off and goes back to wait for the real minibus.

It's getting late as they approach Salyan, but he's determined to give it a least a quick tour/parkbench session. Luckily he soon find a little plaza that will suite his purposes, and he does a quick walk around the town center that never really feels very cohesive.

Azerbaijan doesn't have many of those big Soviet style neighborhood with long, boxy apartment buildings. It's all pretty much single family houses that aren't very fancy--but certainly sturdy and suitable for a family.

He knows there's more to see here--there's supposed to be a big river around here somewhere... but figures he'd better not push his luck... he heads back to the highway where he hops aboard a collective taxi to Baku.