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At Caspian Sea with a state funeral

Iran

16.12.2003 from Baku, Azerbaijan - 6252km

Salaam!

I stayed two days longer in Tbilisi than initially planned… I caught quite certainly Giardia. Suddenly, I realised where I probably got contaminated water and then there were the quite typical symptoms. The diarrhea was a real strong one for once… My visa for Georgia was about to expire and so I decided to start a treatment immediately. I already had metronidazol with me. A bit later I managed to get a stool examination and the resultat was already negative. So, I was certain that no unwelcomed bacteria where colonising my intestins as well. Weakened by the diarrhea and the medications, I started cycling towards the Azerbaijan border.

The Azerbaijani have so much in common with the Turks: the spontanous hospitality, the many Cays, the yelling kids alongside the road, … The landscape changed from the hilly scenery of Georgia to the vast plains of Azerbaijan. To the North, the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasian mountain range were visible and to the South the high mountains around Ngorno-Kharabakh, a disputed area with Armenia. The roads where all paved, but nevertheless I got shaken roughly. Over decades, a patchwork of road surface repairs made the cycling quite bumpy

It became an almost daily routine to get invited for a Cay at a road café. Here in Azerbaijan, Cay is always served in a small pot that is then shared among several persons. Sugar cubes are not dissolved in the tea but you put one between your teeth and then the tea gets sucked in… But I mostly got a spoon to dissolve the sugar, as I was unable to keep the sugar cube long reasonably enough between my teeth After one these Cays, the young waiter told me to come with him. He was very excited and I started wondering what he wanted to show me. Then I slowly realised that there was a small brothel behind the teahouse, mostly for the truck drivers, I suspect… To his great astonishment I turned down his offer. Back in the teahouse, three Ukranien truck drivers couldn’t believe that I neither favored alcool, nor cigarettes, hard drugs or prostitutes. I felt like a priest
During my cycling in Azerbaijan news broke that the former president Heydar Aliev had died. Aliev ruled with one interruption for thirty years in Azerbaijan. A cult of a national hero was built around him: parks, universities and streets were named after him. Hardly any shop can afford to not display poster of the former president. Last October Heydar Aliev ceased power to his son… theoretically there were also elections taking place.

On the wide plains of Azerbaijan I hardly found a place for my tent without being visible from anywhere. So I had two mornings with quite some visitors coming and going. Herdsmen were walking incredible distances just to take a look at me. Once some remained for an hour just sitting in front of my tent and staring at me. So dear fellow cyclists, if you happen to cycle through Azerbaijan in the future and some herdsmen will be able to explain you how to put up a tent or to pack things on a bicycle, here you probably have the explanation.

When I headed towards Baku, I cycled along the oil drilling fields. The oil seems just to bubble out of the earth. The landscape is filled with oil drilling towers and oil, gaz and water pipelines zigzagging across the plains. Shortly before Baku, I was really surprised that the traffic was so light. Hardly any cars were to be seen, although I cycled on the main access road towards to capital… strange. Then I saw a huge roadblock before the city center, two trucks were parked right across the street. I was told that it was the day of the state funeral for Heydar Aliev. The whole city center was free of cars and all shops were closed. The atmosphere was eerie. Huge streets but not a single car. The only thing I could hear was the faint sound of shoes on the pavement. Many people were walking around but nobody seemed to talk. The main avenue was laid out with red roses. The national guard marked firmly the roadsides.

When I was waiting for the ceremony, Rashad, an English student, came to talk with me. The death of Aliev seemed to touch him deep in his heart. He immediately proposed to help, he wanted to make sure everything would be ok during my stay in Baku. After a short walk across the city center, he showed a cheap hotel. In the hotel room we were talking for a long time and he described me the events of the recent history of Azerbaijan, from the war with Armenia in the early 90s, how his father founded a militia to join the fighting, the atrocities of the war and of course also of his national hero, Heydar Aliev. This evening, I will go for another walking tour with Rashad.

After Baku my route will turn southwards along the Caspian Sea to Iran. I just read about the kidnapping of touring cyclists in the South-Eastern part of Iran and I will have to think about my exact route in Iran again. Initially, I had planned to cycle in a couple of weeks exactly on the road where the kidnapping happened.

Best wishes,
Daniel

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