Azerbaijan
Crossing the Iranian / Azeri border in Astara was just something else and I’m not talking about the bureaucracy..
Astara is a city divided between Iran and Azerbaijan. Both sides are occupied by Azeris but they are so different. Iranian Astara is crowded, people are spontaneous and enthusiastic and like anywhere in Iran the traffic is crazy. Azerbaijani Astara on the other hand had that typical post soviet feeling – the people are colder and more distant and a big motorcycle was no longer a big deal there. Which was a nice change – that is, not being the centre of attention all the time! The streets were empty and it felt like a ghost town. It took me a while to find someone on the street to ask for the nearest ATM. When I finally found one I rushed to the shops to purchase a long awaited beer 😉 and no, this is not what you’re thinking – I do not have an alcohol problem! At least I don’t think I do.
I was really hoping to camp near the beach again and finally go for a swim but I couldn’t find any suitable places along the coast. The sea was too close to the road and I wasn’t really sure if wild camping on the beach was legal there. I’m in Europe now – thing are different here, right?!
But I had a plan B – on the MapsMe map I found a camping ground in a national park near the Xanbulan Lake. Done! I prefer swimming in fresh water anyway 🙂
Once I arrived at my destination I was very disappointed. This wasn’t a camping ground but some sort of resort that was all locked up (Thanks MapsMe – again!). But the area was so peaceful and quiet that I didn’t think I would have any problems finding a place out of sight nearby. I followed the road around the lake and it seemed to be that all the dirt tracks going to the lake were barricaded. Except for one… where a youngish sort of man (well about my age hehehe) had set up a little fire and samovar (a thingy for making tea). At first he looked homeless, but after a closer look it clicked that it was some kind of basic tea bar near the road. I asked him if he can let me into the lake and if I’m allowed to camp there. He agreed and opened the gate.
I rode down the steep hill impatiently looking for the lake – according to my GPS I should’ve been right in the middle of the lake, but there wasn’t too much left of it 🙁
Quickly realising my chances of swimming were very thin, I set the tent up, cooked instant noodles, cracked my beer… and as I took my first sip of the “warm liquid” I thought to myself what I normally think in this situation, “Life is good!”. After such an intense time (long days of riding, meeting people and dealing with the traffic) in Iran all I needed was some peace and a beer!
Soon after that the man came down the hill. He opened his beer and asked me to join him at the picnic table, so I had a little chat to him. Turned out he lived in the village 2 km away, he’s got 3 kids and no job so he sells tea near the road but the summer season is over so there aren’t any customers at this time of the year. He opened another beer and became more talkative, then rushed up the hill to drive his car down. He opened the window and with a flirty look he said “Don’t worry about sleeping in the tent just sleep here in the back of my car”. And in that moment I realised that speaking Russian hadn’t done me any good, once again. I tapped my forehead and said go back to your wife and leave me alone. I grabbed my camera and went for a walk to cool down.
These sort of situations really do my head in – if I was a man it wouldn’t have happened, well most of the time I guess. I took some pictures of the dried up lake… according to this guy, two years ago the water was nearly up to the trees but since the lake had been turned into a water supply for two local towns, there wasn’t much water left.
I went back to my tent – my “uninvited suitor” was gone. Phew. I decided to watch some movies and chill in the tent.
At about midnight I heard voices and lights at the top of the hill. Damn… someone is coming down here! I quickly put my pants on and started thinking why the hell would anyone want to come here at this time of night. It must be that samovar man! No one else knew I was there. I could hear two men outside talking Azeri. They surrounded my tent and started flashing torches on it and I panicked big time but tried to think straight:
Where is my knife? In the pannier so forget about it!
What should I do if they start unzipping my tent? – Unzip the other door and run to the forest.
I don’t know how long they were hanging around my tent, maybe 15 minutes but it felt like forever… and finally the lights and voices started to fade way. Phew, they’re gone.
For the rest of the night I hardly slept – I had a lot of paranoia that they might return.
At 6 am I packed up and got out of there as fast as possible!
Maybe a little too fast…
This blog is slowly turning into an “International Police Review”. This time I was done for speeding and overtaking over an unbroken line. But I’ve worked out the system! Don’t admit you speak Russian and generally pretend you have no idea what’s going on and you won’t end up with a fine! Hahaha.
Baku
I’ve always wanted to see Baku and I’m so glad I finally did. A few weeks before, Sergey had contacted me via social media and offered to help in Azerbaijan, if I needed it. Well I needed a proper service! Chillie hadn’t visited a BMW dealer since we left Australia. Sergey helped me to arrange all that. Which you would think is not too difficult, but the fact is a lot of BMW dealers mostly service their cars and don’t have much experience with servicing their bikes. Turns out they didn’t have an oil filter in stock! Well, luckily I had a spare. When I asked them to do a major service, they asked “so exactly what do you want us to do?”, “Hmm, you know, all the major service stuff!” The guys were still looking at me without any clue. “Right, so could you please do all the computer diagnostics, check the valve clearance, check the bearings, air filter, change the oil and check anything else you can think off.”
The service took a couple of days but that’s ok – I got to explore Baku! And I really enjoyed the vibe of this city. The traffic was calm compared to the other capital cities I’d been to and the old city is stunning..
…it’s quite modern too!
Sergey booked me into the Old Baku Hostel – a great little hostel in the heart of the old town. Gee, after Iran you really appreciate the freedom (short sleeve clothing etc.) and cold beer (Ok. I will stop talking about beer now, because it’s just a normal thing from here on).
Two days later Sergey and his wife took me back to pick up Chillie. The mechanic said everything is fine and that they did everything I had asked for. I paid about $200 for the service. Well, they may not be experienced in bike servicing but surely they did a better job than if I’d done it myself 😉
I thanked Sergey for all his help, said goodbye and we all took a picture together.
Copper Village
When I asked Sergey what was a must see in Azerbaijan – keeping in mind that preferably I would like to do some off road he said “Go to Lahic”. And that was the highlight of my short stay in Azerbaijan for obvious reasons!
It was only about 10 km of off road and a great twisty climb up the mountain along the river. Perfect!
The lovely little village Lahic is one of the most ancient human settlements in Azerbaijan, it was built over 1000 years ago and it’s particularly famous for its coppersmiths who still have workshops there today. Lahic is also a fabulous place to checkout some traditional rural life.
For the night’s stay I headed to Sheki city which has plenty of history, but I didn’t really do any sightseeing. From the hostel I only walked to the nearest restaurant, cause all I could think about was food! B.T.W. you have to try Piti when you’re in Azerbaijan!
Unfortunately by this stage of my trip I was quite exhausted and had lost a bit of my mojo. I wished I had got to spend more time in Azerbaijan and all the other countries on this later stage, but I had commitments in Poland and I was on the run to get there on time.
In Numbers:
Duration: 5 days (6-10th September 2017)
Total km’s: 833km
The “Are We There Yet” World Tour is about more than just me seeing the world on a motorcycle. Throughout my journey I’m raising money for a young disabled child in Poland named Franek. Franek was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (weakness of the entire right side of the body) and he will require constant rehabilitation for the rest of his life. All the money raised will go directly to helping Franek and his family lead as normal a life as possible so please donate generously: www.gogetfunding.com/arewethereyet
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