Aaaand, I’m back! I may not have blogged about North Korea
or Bali (polar opposites!) yet, but I’m getting back on the wagon with my
latest trip to the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia) with my Mum. Why
those countries most people ask? (some even ask where are they?!) Mum and I
visited Uzbekistan in 2007 then Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in
2010. So we wanted to do another ‘Stan trip – though really it’s a ‘Jan… (or a 'Van)!
Mum surprised me on the flight over to Baku (via Singapore
and Istanbul). She doesn’t normally drink, but I heard the flight attendant ask
her whether or not she wanted ice in her “Johnny Walker” to which she confidently
replied “no ice”. Well, after 72 years, you never know whether she wants to
branch out and start drinking the hard stuff. Good on her I thought. But then
once she was handed her stiff drink she gasped in horror thinking she had ordered
tonic water! Ha.
After around 36 hours of flying and transit and only a few
hours sleep in Baku, we set off back to the airport for our Azerbaijan Airlines
flight to Nackchivan. I’d given this 2 day side trip to Mum for her Christmas
present last year, making up a fake boarding pass and writing ‘in-flight
entertainment’ on a miniature pack of cards for us to play given we didn’t
think there’d be any. Nonetheless the flight was pretty good and fairly quick.
We nearly had to stay here for more than the 2 days we’d
planned as our return flight hadn’t been booked and it was school holidays and
hence an extremely popular time of year for the locals to travel back and
forth. “Probleme” we overheard our guide, Hasan, say on his mobile, but
fortunately, as it turns out he had the right connections and booked us on the one we wanted.
Secure in the knowledge we’d be able to return to Baku, we
started our private tour. Hasan explained how in the 90s, Russia joined forces
with the Armenians and cut off Nackchivan from the rest of Azerbaijan by enabling
them to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh – the region in between. During this
time, they had no electricity and had to cut down most of the trees there to
heat their houses in winter. He pointed out a few saplings recently planted.
Along with no electricity, there was no infrastructure and there were no
factories. Food was flown in from Baku and heavily rationed. People had to
queue for everything. They had money, they just couldn’t buy anything with it. In
1992, this changed as they began to trade with Turkey then Iran.
We soon discovered road rules are crazy here and in the whole of the Caucasus for that matter! No-one sticks to their lanes. On one road, a truck was driving towards us on our side, so we simply switched to the other (wrong) side to avoid it.
Our first stop was Daridagh, an arsenic sulphur hot spring
in the Julfa region.
The sulphur smell permeated the air and hot sulphurous
water was flowing down a pipe that funnelled into a thermal pool. We were shown
the hot pool where you were only allowed to spend 15 minutes maximum and only
if your blood pressure was normal. I couldn’t resist the temptation to
experience arsenic sulphurous water. Call me crazy. But then if you’ve been
following my African adventures and/or know me well then you won’t be surprised.
The doctor took my blood pressure and made a worried noise
but then laughed and ushered me though – a funny joke perhaps?! I was told “Do
not swim!” otherwise I would overheat, was given a towel and had to strip down
to my undies. A woman and her daughter were already in there. I waded around –
did not swim – and found a layer of sulphur coating the edges. From what I could tell you’re
supposed to let the sulphurous water from the pipe run over your shoulder and scoop it over yourself from a
bucket to rinse off after your 15 minutes is up. Apparently it’s also good to
swish it around in your mouth and spit it back into the pool you’re sharing
with others. Lovely! I didn’t really think swishing arsenic around in my mouth
was a good idea, so I abstained from that activity.
Another lady joined with
her daughter and another one after that. They were very curious as to my
presence and I believe they were wondering what my “probleme” was from their use
of the word multiple times and multiple gestures in my direction. I’m convinced
it was an accident but one woman sat by me and her fingers interlaced with
mine. Eeek! I quickly retracted my hand and waded away. My 15 minutes was up
soon enough anyway and I was keen to get out! My face was bright red for at
least the next half hour. Well that certainly was a cultural experience.
Our trip also included:
· a mosque where the Imam was very curious about
Catholicism and asked us all about it in spite of us not being Catholic
· a cave with 500 steps at the bottom of which was
a mosque where a local woman was singing, which echoed beautifully
· Yusif Ibn Kuseyir’s tomb from the 12th
century
· Came mosque
· the Momina Khatun monument built in 1186 where
one pillar in the middle of the burial chamber underneath supports the entire
monument
· the open air museum which contained many rams
used for burials, symbolising strength
· Prophet Noah’s grave monument
· Nackchivan City Citadel; and
· Garabaghlar village with Jahan Kudi Khatun mausoleum
where I picked up 10 pieces of litter – mostly plastic and glass bottles. The
caretaker let me sit on his horse – though my leg got stuck whilst mounting it
as I forgot I was wearing a skirt!
Another highlight was the Duzdagh salt mine cave, used as a
physiotherapy treatment centre. It was cool inside and I was amazed by the
amount of salt lying on the ground. The smell was vomit-inducing until you get
used to it, though apparently it helps to relieve asthma. We were shown rooms
with beds where people sleep at night surrounded by the salt – as well as multi-plugs
so you can charge up all your devices. Snoring could be heard from one of the
halls.
The Azeri food was good but perhaps our favourite thing was “compote”,
bottled cherry juice complete with over 30 or so cherries in each
bottle.
We soon developed an embarrassing habit of drinking the cherry
juice then tipping out all the cherries onto a plate and either eating them
with slightly sour yoghurt or eating them on their own. Dill features quite
strongly on the menu as do tomatoes, cucumbers, and huge plates of herbs that you’re just
meant to stuff into your mouth. I’m still not so sure about ‘Ayran’, yoghurt
and water.
But I am fond of Nackchivan draft beer accompanied by ‘pendir’,
smoky stringy cheese.
My favourite place in Nackchivan, which we ended up visiting
twice, was a hammam that had been converted into a teahouse. Hasan introduced
us to the Azeri way of drinking tea – placing a sugar cube behind your teeth
and slowly sipping your tea through it. Repeat with each glass. I found myself
having so much sugar due to the copious amounts of tea I was drinking.
Knowing I liked rock climbing, Gurban took
me on a kind of rock scramble up to the top of the mountain (wearing his suit!)
He hadn’t climbed up here for over 5 years so he’d forgotten the way down and
had to keep peering over the edge to find the right way. After more scrambling
and a few slides we finished off with a swing from a tree branch.
From there we
drove to the bubbling mud volcanoes, where it was so windy we could hardly
stand still and mud splattered onto our clothing.
then Gurban whipped out his
saz (musical instrument) and started serenading us!
