This week I spent two days in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. I’ve visited a few times previously and am fascinated by the changes in the city brought about by the development of oil reserves in the Caspian Sea. I don’t think all the changes good, but overall I hope that the impact is positive.
I’m always struck by how pleasant the people there are. And also by how smart and particularly well educated the people I have the opportunity to work with are (a higher standard than I’m used to in the “west”). And it is always interesting (and important) to me to learn more about different cultures. This week I was struck the preparations for Novrus – the biggest annual holiday in Azerbaijan and many of the surrounding countries such as Iran, Georgia etc.
This trip was so short that I had no time to explore and take photographs – such a pity as the city is such a rich store of images. What views I had were restricted to looking out of a bus or Land cruiser window. There are so many things that I’d like to spend time capturing visually.
- Little old ladies in headscarves out at dawn sweeping doorways and pavements with twig brooms.
- Old soviet trucks with huge leaf springs trundling everywhere
- Ladas competing for road space with BMW police cars
- Groups of dark grey suited men peering into the engines of broken down Ladas!!
- Little shops and stalls selling fruit, motor oil etc at the roadside
- Big satellite dishes betraying dwellings in the most unlikely of places
- Pictures of the president (or the old president – I’m not sure) everywhere
- Pipelines – a legacy from soviet days – crisscrossing the land above ground
- Manic driving (you don’t dare risk crossings – they get ignored)
- Smiling, well dressed and shiny clean kids leaving schools
(you can see more photos of baku here - I can't say I'm too impressed with any of them though!)
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