The Advance Party (by guest blogger Dave)

Today we, Phil and Dave the advance party, strike out for Baku in our secret mission to enter Azerbaijan without a valid visa, well, with a visa valid for the day after we were due to arrive thanks to the two of us being denied Turkmenistan visas for reasons unknown.  As we waved the truck goodbye, we looked at each other and hunched our shoulders. I thought I saw a tear in the corner of Phil’s eye.

During the planning of our mission we had identified 8 phases we would need to accomplish if we were to succeed.

Stage 1 Khiva to Urgench railway station.

With one small backpack each (in case we had to sleep rough) we set out from the west gate of Khiva to find a taxi, the usual bargaining process took place and after a short discussion the price of 20,000som was settled (just under $8 US).  A short but interesting drive to the station and stage 1 was completed.

Stage 2 A train journey from Urgench to Tashkent

The security officer looked at us and I felt sure we had been sprung but a second look at our passports and the wave of the hand and we were in. The locals were lining up on the platform and I felt sure that carriage 2 was directly opposite our seat, but no, we had to walk the full length of the train to find the compartment, which we shared with two local women and a little boy. 

After a good night's sleep on the top bunks in our compartment, we arrived refreshed in Tashkent. Stage 3 and 4 from the train station to airport passed without incident and our confidence was growing, but the next hurdle may see us undone.

   

Stage 5 Check in procedures

The flight to Baku is called, we are the first in the line, the woman behind the desk looked at me and asked to see my passport and reservation, then asked for my visa to Azerbaijan, I hesitated and then showed her a piece of paper and she seemed satisfied. We had our tickets and could leave the country.

Stage 6 Getting out of Uzbekistan (no pictures)

We now have to face three sets of officials; customs, immigration and security. The customs guys saw us coming and promptly went into a huddle interspersed by a few glances back towards us, there is obviously something going on. Two lanes, some distance apart are opened and Phil and I advance. I am asked a couple of questions regarding money especially USD and pass without too much drama. I get to the other side and assume Phil has passed and gone ahead. It turned out that he had been marched to room 211 and interrogated about his money, all $50USD and 3,000som of it.

Immigration was no issue and we are now officially in no man's land, we cannot turn back now. The last hurdle was the airport security check, all metal items removed please and while you are about it why not take off your shoes, watches, jewellery and anything else that may go “beep”. However we did pass the test and were now free to board our flight.

Stage 7 entering Azerbaijan without a valid visa

The air terminal in Baku is not big and before we knew it we were at the immigration desk, no time to get our story straight or think about a strategy. A stern looking lady officer beckoned me forward, my heart was beating loudly in my chest as I passed over the documents and waited. If we are turned back now we will have nowhere to go, we can only plead our case, but may have to suffer the hardships of sleeping on the airport floor until midnight when our visas become valid.

The lady officer shouted something that I could not interpret or, for that matter, hear a reply. The official stamp was then raised above both visa and passport but hovered there for what seemed like 10 minutes then  “BANG BANG” the required stamps were on the documents, I was in. Waiting for Phil hoping he would be given the more favorable treatment, I looked around, everything seemed normal, our mission is going well. We are now both in Azerbaijan, the host country of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. Mission accomplished.

Now that we are in the country we can relax and explore the many delights of the city and report our findings back to the group. We get a number of instructions from Odyssey Headquarters suggesting red wine and pasta at the Baku Plaza overlooking the Caspian Sea, a great piece of information I am sure we can use.

Baku is a town founded on oil and the style and opulence of the central city demonstrated this very effectively; no more so than by the Hilton Hotel on the sea shore. The town is safe and in the evening you can see many people with young families walking on the Caspian Sea shores until late at night. The gardens and boulevards on the foreshore are tended by any number of city workers sweeping, cleaning and manicuring the topiary trees within the gardens. We find a 400-year-old olive tree originally from Northern Italy and transplanted to Baku, for no other reason than, just because it can be.

The Caspian is not what it used to be, the smell and sheen of oil is all around you.

Our research takes us out into the countryside to visit the Fire Mountain and Fire Temple, driving through the oil fields to get to the sites. The fire mountain has been burning since the 5^th century and the site has been documented in many texts over that period. At Fire Mountain we meet and chat with a group of school children on a day trip from Baku.

The Fire Temple is a caravansari style building built over a burning gas seam. The flames erupt into the air in many places much like fire mountain. Because of the oil and gas fields nearby and the constant extraction, the fires have reduced considerably in size from an estimated 2 to 3 meters, back to the small fires we see today.

The villages outside of Baku are very much like those of Uzbekistan with subsistence farming being the way of life for those who do not work in the city.

The Butcher shop is advertising with the head of a beast on the curbside and sheep grazing beside the road.

The land around the oil fields has an apocalyptic look to it with bare ground and dark black and rusting structures reaching skywards and the constant rocking motion of the oil pumps in the background.

Returning to Baku after our countryside sojourn we finally find the Stadium that held the Eurovision song contest, it is a huge building big enough to hold a football game under cover. There are many new buildings being constructed along the waterfront and the newest of these is the carpet museum, designed to look like a roll of carpet.

We enjoyed our stay Baku but there are only so many things you can do and so much beer you can drink in Baku. We met some nice people at the hostel, Ayka our host, two Japanese students from London, Kizuki & Askia and Farhaud an Iranian living in Holland. We had a number of long and interesting discussions on the many issues facing the world, especially with Farhaud.

At last we received the text message saying the team had arrived in Baku port, were in customs and would be at the hotel in an hour. This was the news we had been waiting to hear and with hurried goodbyes to our new friends, Phil and I donned our backpacks and set out for the hotel.

The truck arrived at the hotel and we were waiting outside.  It was great to see all the team hanging out the windows shouting greetings at us, it was the feeling of a family reunited after a long absence.  We are one again and nestle back into that comfortable feeling of travelling with a group of people who just two months ago were strangers but are already old friends with a wealth of shared experiences and memories. Bring on Istanbul.