The Road Less Traveled....

[ECOCKS]

So, I find myself back out in the hinterlands of the globe.......

While there has been occasional talk of the "-stans" as well as Georgia on the board, I don't recall many comments about one of the lesser-known former states, Azerbaijan.

I arrived about 3 weeks ago and find it both the same and different.

We're hosting Eurovision next month so I thought I would trot out some observations.

Visually, some things are immediately apparent.

The buildings are switching over their facades to the lighter tan with brown trim which many will quickly understand as "Middle Eastern". It's a welcome change from that black, gray and generally dreary, look of the Central European housing and government buildings many here are used to from travel in Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia. Overall, I find the center is cleaner and more attractive then Kyiv, Kharkiv or Odessa but the outer areas are a but more haphazard and you can apply the word squalor more often. Parts of the city remind me of Thunderdome in the Mad Max series.

The women are a bit more constrained in their fashion sense. Lots and lots of basic black here. At least the full head-to-toe garb is largely foregone (at least in the capital) and the head scarves used (maybe I see two dozen a day, a few more on weekends) are mostly well-selected, designer patterns. I see one, maybe two fully-covered women a day here.

The overall impression of the women's appearance is a bit disconcerting. Lots of black hair, bit longer-waisted and shorter-coupled (longer torsos, shorter legs) and it seems fair to comment that the average uh....upper regions are a bit "larger" and more rounded. Skin tone is a little darker, bone structure is almost American-Indian in appearance (cheekbones and nose). Really, it looks like a big family reunion when you walk through the plazas on the weekends.

Taxi drivers still jack the rates but there are honest meters in the purple, London-style cabs. That can work against you when you hit probkiy though since the meters tick on the time interval as well as mileage.

There are the same attempts to mimic western consumer institutions. The "malls" are all boutique concentrations where "normal" Azeri don't shop and most only wander around, looking. KFC is here and there are a couple of McDonalds, but finding a good pizza place is a never-ending quest. Fortunately, I found a great one three blocks from my apartment which is an almost perfect distance to walk to sharpen your appetite and then walk back to settle it after you finish. Prices ar high though - a pizza for two here runs about $15 to 23 depending on your toppings. It's not a cheap city.

There are more pubs here, at least a dozen, maybe half again that many, yet they are smaller on average than the Golden Gate or O'Brien's in Kyiv. Most seem to have determined that to call yourself a pub you have to have at least one billiards table and have given over some precious floor-space to positioning one in the middle of the main room. Unlike Kyiv, the pubs here do get younger, local couples but, as usual, single women seem to often be prostitutes looking for something to do. Oh, in the pubs is the only place I have noticed a couple of women smoking. You never see them doing so on the streets. PDA (kissing, fondling, etc.) seems unheard of and one person told me it is not only frowned upon but there are some laws on the books about it that can result in fines.

It sure isn't Saudi though. Women drive. They have bank accounts. They wear skirts. They drink. They walk alone on the streets. You can talk to them and they talk to you without hesitation.

Economically, the place seems to have much more focus, largely thanks to the oil industry and the spin-off effect on the economy. BP, Halliburton, KBR, etc. are all here. The place has far more high-end hotels than Kyiv. Fairmont, Hyatt, Marriott, Radisson. Hilton, etc.

Wages are higher and my prediction is that there will be a housing bubble bursting in the next three years. There are tons of empty apartments sitting around and continuing construction on dozens more. Unless the government has some sort of housing program in mind to evict the existing apartment-dwellers and credit them somehow on the purchase of newer places, there will be an epic glut soon. It reminds me of Kyiv, seven years ago.

Unlike Kyiv, or even Ukraine, they are fortunate to have some economic expansion underway. The oil industry is still expanding. Fields are being enlarged, terminal facilities, office buildings and logistical infrastructure are being built. And built wisely and properly it seems. The city is trying to finish up their preparations for Eurovision and streets have been resurfaced, police are being trained and things seem to be generally more progressive than Ukraine.

Speaking of police, they are much more visible here. Patrols actually move around residential areas, traffic police don't seem to be bothering people with useless stops to collect on-the-spot bribes, etc. It's still clearly a one party operation but the top seems a bit more benevolent than Russia or Ukraine.

Oh, the whole Muslim thing. The women are approachable and from the several couples I have met, seem unconcerned with dating Christians. Most here are Shia and thus a bit more tolerant than the press and others might have you believe of the Muslim world in general.

Last thing, Baku is considered one of the Top Ten places in the world for after-hours night life. Not your normal Middle Eastern country.

I've done a photo session on my apartment for friends and family back home. Not sure if it needs to be posted. If you want it PM me but really it looks exactly like Ukraine.

More later when I get my photos together on life in the Center and out around the fringes......

[The Natural]

Interesting. So why are you there? For the song contest or for something else? Anyway, be good and safe.

[ECOCKS]

Interesting. So why are you there? For the song contest or for something else? Anyway, be good and safe.

Teaching Business and Technical English for the next year (at least) to oil and gas operations and management personnel, doing academic prep for foreign students trying to get to the west for university bachelors and masters degrees and, basically, enjoying the world we live in outside "the comfort zone".

Who knows? Maybe I'll open another restaurant. I am planning on visiting a buddy who opened a BBQ joint in Bishkek in a couple of months.

[ECOCKS]

Word to the wise for travel in the FSU....GET A TETANUS SHOT/BOOSTER!

[TheTraveler]

interesting report, ed!  thanks for sharing!

[Anotherkiwi]

Word to the wise for travel in the FSU....GET A TETANUS SHOT/BOOSTER!

Bitten by a rabid dog?  Or attacked by a student who didn't realise that she can't buy a diploma from a Western teacher?

[Muzh]

Bitten by a rabid dog?  Or attacked by a student who didn't realise that she can't buy a diploma from a Western teacher?

Actually, that is very sane advice. Regardless if you are traveling or not.

[Vasilisa]

The women are a bit more constrained in their fashion sense. Lots and lots of basic black here.

I'd say that the feature of most nations in our FSU south.
I remember that a fashion historian Aleksander Vasiliev once mentioned that Georgian fashion is  also dark:pale skin, but black hair, black clothes and one or 2  expensive rings with big stones on their fingers.
I've met women from Chechnya, also wear a lot of black and black "hair bands".

[Vasilisa]

Word to the wise for travel in the FSU....GET A TETANUS SHOT/BOOSTER!

That's a good  advice for everybody, actually, in the US they have raccoons and a lot of wild animals wandering around coming out at night to steal food from trash cans.

[Gator]

Being bitten by an animal is a concern; however, the more likely method of transmission is getting an open wound (cut, puncture, scratch, etc.) outdoors where animals frequent, especially if in contact with soil however minimal 
 
Good advice to get inoculated.   

[ECOCKS]

I was walking down the street at 5:45am (before sunrise) and walked into one of those steel posts they hammered into the sidewalk in a vain attempt at keeping the cars from driving/parking there. The top was like a fine circular saw blade from the hammering.

Ruined a pair of pants, cut an 11 cm gash on my inside thigh and bled all over some poor guy's taxi.

[Hammer2722]

I was walking down the street at 5:45am (before sunrise) and walked into one of those steel posts they hammered into the sidewalk in a vain attempt at keeping the cars from driving/parking there. The top was like a fine circular saw blade from the hammering.

Ruined a pair of pants, cut an 11 cm gash on my inside thigh and bled all over some poor guy's taxi.

Ouch!!!! Hope everything is ok? Yes, definitely need a tetanus shot.

[chivo]

I've been meaning to ask, why didn't you go back to Ukraine? Was it ever discussed? And finally, why did you choose Azerbaijan?

[ECOCKS]

The Ukraine economy is more depressed than the US. People can believe the government propaganda if they wish, but my relatives and friends are unanimous that things are steadily worsening for both expats and locals. The IMF is turning off the financing tap, European political and financial support is drying up and the Yankyurkovich government is bringing on boycotts of their escalating Football 2012 debacle. Even the Kyiv Post has been discussing the possibility of shutting down as prices go up while ad dollars and wages are dropping...forget mortgages the country itself is upside down.

In Azerbaijan, the oil and gas industry is propping up the economy for now. This has made them a little island of stability even though the boom period is definitely over and the market here is in a mature state. While jobs are not really plentiful due to an enforced visa regime, they pay reasonably well and appear to be holding steady through the next year or two.

Corporate work mostly, some individual students hoping for western education and there are ample local teachers working the lower half of the curriculum so most work is mid to high-end.

[Gator]

The Ukraine economy is more depressed than the US.

Given the financial situation in Europe, it probably will get worse in Ukraine.

[ECOCKS]

Given the financial situation in Europe, it probably will get worse in Ukraine.

I have absolutely no doubt on this subject.

Euro 2012 will be a disaster.

There will be a few hotels and restaurants available (not rooms or meals, the entire business) at bargain basement rates in a few months as the impact of this failure becomes more visible.

It's possible it could prove a tipping point for the people but those moments have come and gone before.

With no incoming infrastructure monies or capital for modernization of the existing run-down factories and other industrial facilities, they're toast.

Even four years ago I had hopes they could pull up out of their dive but government thought they could play too close to the line and when the credit bust hit and housing/construction tanked the cracks in the wall began widening.

[Slumba]

When there are huge re-alignments , it is the folks on the periphery that feel it the most. If an empire crumbles, the people in the capitol city may feel it, but they are not left destitute. 

This is why NYC and WashDC are still going like ganagbusters while other places are looking more run-down.  Same thing happened in every other mini-collapse, collapse, and mega-collapse - China, British Empire, you name it.

Unfortunately Ukraine is on the periphery.

[XMan]

The Ukraine economy is more depressed than the US. People can believe the government propaganda if they wish, but my relatives and friends are unanimous that things are steadily worsening for both expats and locals.

I hear the same from my friends in 3 different cities there.

[ECOCKS]

I hear the same from my friends in 3 different cities there.

Reality.....truth bites.

[JR]

Tetnus shot for one of the Stan States? It's called stepping on a rusty nail and the care you may or may not get. An ounce of prevention...