Day 445: The Naxçivan
21.03.10: This must be the most incredibly naff ship I've been on so far; all dirty floors, peeling fake wood wallpaper, murky corridors, broken lights, stained matress, rusty bulkheads, dripping…
Day 444: Shurely Shum Mishtake
20.03.10: So I had nothing important to do today, it was a big public holiday in Baku and the main road through town were shut. I was looking forward to…
Day 443: Bless My Lucky Underpants
19.03.10: I called Alex (whom I met at the Irish Pub the other night) and asked him if he could get in touch with the Uzbek embassy to see if…
Day 442: The Dolphins In The Dole Queue
18.03.10: The Caucasus – it’s where us whities get our rather daffy pigeonhole ‘Caucasian’, a term lampooned by Lewis Carroll in his nonsensical Caucus Race in which everybody wins a…
Day 441: Politics & Modern History
17.03.10: So after yesterday's half-crazied shenanigans, I found myself kicked off the bus at 6am in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE somewhere in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The sky was…
Day 440: You’ve GOT To Be Kidding
16.03.10: The day started slowly, with me finally dragging myself out of bed around 11pm. I spent most of the day packing my bag, organising my tapes and doing a…
Day 439: A Turn-Up For The Books
15.03.10: The Azerbaijan Embassy is only open for two hours every morning, but after last night’s little beerathon, Rati and I were in little mood to drag ourselves out of…
Day 438: The Valley Of Oh Dears
14.03.10: After yesterday’s glum-fest, I didn’t think things could get any more glum. I WAS WRONG! After leaving my (Overlook) hotel I went over to the train station/bus stand to…
Day 437: Back In The USSR
13.03.10: I actually woke up at 7am, but Rati was still asleep, so that gave me an excuse to go back to sleep until noon. Rati’s apartment is lovely on…
Day 436: Rimming The Black Sea
12.03.10: Dear old Bertie died of a heart attack in the 1920s and - according to his wishes - had been stuffed and kept in the little museum on the…