Caucasus | yowyowyow

Azerbaijan Directory

Posted on 19. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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Ups: 1. Beautiful and diverse sceneries. Caucasian mountains and desert almost too close together. 21st century city (Baku..), millennia old villages. Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian monuments. And some freaky natural phenomena (including the Shahdag hotel bathroom).
2. Nice and welcoming people: mountain people are hospitable and incredibly nice.
3. Outside Baku most things are cheap. Over [...]

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Mud Volcanoes

Posted on 19. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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First thing’s first. Look at the pictures. Looks dull? It’s GREAT! We spent there about an hour and were not bored for a minute.
To get to the mud volcanoes we took bus 105 (to Qobustan) which leaves from Ash-Neft bus stop. It’s a small round-about with some bus stops. Bus #5 goes there, starting [...]

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Caspian Ferry

Posted on 17. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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There are 2 possible destinations for the ferry, Tutkmenbashi- Turkmenistan, Akatau- Kazakhstan. both tickets sold at the same place. the kasa (tickets sales booth) is nside the port. walk along the boulevard to the north from the Icheshahir (old city) untill you get to the construction site. bypass that from the left, just walk on [...]

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Flashes of Fabuluse Nature

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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After a week of travel in human sorroundings, towns, villages and crowded Marshutkas, we kind of forgot some of what travel in nature was about. but nature gave us a reminder.
Camping underneath the village of Illisu we were getting ready for the night’s sleep as we noticed sporadic flashes of light on the nearby hill. [...]

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Sheki-Illisu-Baku

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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The Marshutka to Qax (1.60AZN, 2hr, Sheki avtovagzal, very crowded, 13:40) was awful. click here for the story. from the Qax avtovagzal we took the Illisu bus (0.30AZN, less than an hour, last one at 17:00). a small store in the middle of the village sells basic grocereies and has an extremely slow internet connection [...]

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Xinaliq-Lahich-Sheki

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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After 3 days of bad weather we droped our hopes to continue our trek from Xinaliq to Lahich via Babadag. leaving Xinaliq was fairily easy. some cars usually wait at the “junction” (where the toad curves up towards the village center). these cars are waiting for passengers. paying passengers. we’ve been asked 10AZN each. payed [...]

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A simple gesture

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by yoyo.

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A sad story. taking a Marshutka from Qebele to Qax the 3 of us crunched with 2 locals into the 4 seats in the back. we could only understand some of what he said, mostly the swares and curses. we guessed he wanted us to get up and let him sit.
You could probably find rude [...]

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Laza-Xinaliq Trek

Posted on 28. Jun, 2009 by yoyo.

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Thinking there was only 1 bus from Quba (read Guba) to Qusar (read Gusar) at 8:00 we got up early and took it (0.4AZN, 20 minutes, probably quite often). arriving in Qusar we discovered the only bus to Kuzun (read Kuzun) leaves at 16:00. after being questioned by the police once more, 4th time, we [...]

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Xinaliq Ateshgah

Posted on 28. Jun, 2009 by yoyo.

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The following is a step-by-step travel log to get to the natural fire-vent outside Xinaliq.
The road starts next to 2 no-entry signs beside the road (red circle with a vertical white square). it is on the way from Laza to Xinaliq, just before the military post. from Xinaliq, pass the post, keep to the main road [...]

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Azerbaijan- Arrival and organizing

Posted on 28. Jun, 2009 by yoyo.

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At last we arrived in Azerbaijan. taking yet another night train (Tbilisi-Baku, 44.8GEL 2nd class, 15 hr, leaves at 17:00) we woke up in Baku. after a short trip to the Uzbek embassy and back (Sunday, it was closed!) we started looking for cheap accomodations in Baku. anything from hotel Araz to appartment renting failed [...]