Baku, Azerbaijan

I rolled into Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and the country's showcase city.  The ride from Ganja was kinda boring and uneventful, but I have arrived at the Caspian Sea, the largest landlocked body of water on the planet. The uniqueness of the Caspian Sea is that there is no political agreement on weather the Sea is actually a sea or a lake.  The scientific community seems to have come to the conclusion that it is a lake, but for now, it is a sea on your maps.  

Azerbaijan makes quite a bit of money on their vast supplies of natural gas and it appears that they have pumped allot of that money into Baku.  As a result, there are many new and under construction buildings and that are quite impressive from an architectural standpoint.  The older buildings also look rather nice, but upon close up inspection, they are just old Soviet apartment blocs (I have come across thousands of these blocks in the former USSR) that have been fitted with new facades, and once entered, the interiors are rather dated and austere.  That being said, they do have a very nice curb appeal. With all the new funky construction and updates, many journalists have compared Baku to Dubai.  I have been to Dubai many times and I do not agree with that assessment, at least not yet, but it is a nice clean city that appears to be flourishing since the country regained its independence in 1991.     

The country's investment in the City's beatification has paid off well.  They have attracted many companies who have been sinking money into the City, to include: Ferrari, Bentley, Harley Davidson, Hilton, and every retailer under the sun.  The most impressive attractant is Formula 1 Racing and they are currently setting up the course for the upcoming race.  It is a street course and I rode a good length of it the other day.  I must admit, I felt like a bit of a kid as I rode through the barricades and down the straightaways., it was fun playing F1 driver for a couple of minutes.  

Baku Waterfront

Heydar-Aliyev Center

By checking the map above, I have Russia to the north, Iran to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the east, so it is clear that as a US citizen, I have run out of usable real estate to go any further.  I am will have to figure out a plan if I am to continue.    

Stage Distance: 218 mi (352 km) 

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 24,124 mi (38,794 km) 
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan

Ganja, Azerbaijan

I have arrived in the land of Ganja, yup, that's the name of the place.  Ganja translates to "treasure" in Persian, and I am sure it is regarded as a treasure to many in the western world too ;-).  It did get me wondering, is the name Ganja (cannabis) derived from the same language as Ganja (the city).  I consulted the wisest source I know, Senior Google, to get the answer.  Apparently, Ganja the drug is derived from Sanskrit, where the Hindi language is also based (think Ganges, as in the river, where cannabis was found on its banks, thus ganja).  So there you go, the drug was named by the Indians, and not the much credited Rastafarians, and the City was named by the Persians, and not the Rastafarians, who were never credited.  

So I made it through the Georgian/Azerbaijani border today.  Three minutes on the Georgian side and three and a half hours on the Azerbaijani side.  Apparently there was an issue with my visa.  The visa did not contain my middle name and my passport did, which caused them quite a bit of consternation, but eventually things were straightened out and I have entered into my fifth former Soviet state of the trip.  I bring up this tidbit primarily because the people in the former Soviet states tend to be very stoic, almost cold towards one another.  Nothing rude, just a cultural difference from the Western World. Here in Azerbaijan, people are very friendly.  I must of had over 50 people wave as I rode by today.  When I stopped, everyone would come over and ask about the bike and where I have been.  I do not remotely resemble a local, its obvious, and they come over and ask questions, and to be honest I kind of enjoy it after the last four months in Greece, Turkey and Georgia, where people tend to keep very much to themselves. 





Stage Distance: 129 mi (208 km) 

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 23,906 mi (38,397 km) 
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan

Tblisi, Georgia

Feeling a little bit under the weather today, I had a wisdom tooth taken out and the left side of my face has ballooned up to twice is size.   I am glad it is gone as it  had been bothering me for a while.  I checked with a dentist in the US, and they wanted $800 to remove it, so I delayed. The tooth finally popped (not sure of the technical term, but I yawned and pain shot through it and never left), and the pain became more than I wanted to deal with.  I went to see a dentist here in Tblisi, he concurred that it would have to be removed, and then apologized as it would be a very expensive procedure.  Total price, $81, 1/10th of the US.  But considering the average Georgian only makes $410 a month, it is pretty steep. 

Many of the services here are very inexpensive, and the country advertises these services as tourism.  Dental tourism, tattoo tourism, wine tourism, spa tourism, etc, can all be had for about 10-20% of the price in the US.  Not sure if I would get a dental implant here, but pulling a tooth is pretty basic.

Peace Bridge

Tbilisi Creek

Presidential Palace

I just applied for my visa to Azerbaijan,.  The process is quite easy, it is basically a $20 charge, and they email the visa.  The timing for my visit to the country is not perfect, apparently it is the Novruz (Arabic for new year) holiday in the country as well as Iran.  Since partying in Iran is strictly prohibited, many of their citizens road trip north for their version of Spring Break.  So, it will be agnostic Ken, and a bunch of Shia Muslims there to get their yayas out.  This should be interesting. I still have a couple of weeks left in Georgia, so I will cross that bridge when I get to there.   

Stage Distance: 0 mi (0 km) 

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 23,677 mi (38,189 km) 
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia