Tragic news about Figaro...

---

Geo: 40.3787, 49.8401

0600hrs

Sadly Figaro our "adopted fig" has found all the travelling too much as has prematurely ripened....he was found last night alone and squashed in his little plastic bag. Pips were spilling from a nasty wound to his lower abdomen and Cathy was forced to eat him to save him any more suffering.........the good news is that we have discovered he has many relatives locally willing to take on his role.

Today is a big sight seeing day and Gourban our chirpy was determined to throw the very best Bakuvian sights at us.

0815: Cathy finally gets up....."we are to be away by 0900hrs!!!!!" I gruffly remark fearing fearing the breakfast buffet would be decimated by the "GROUP"......we managed to cram down an eclectic mix of olives, farmyard strong cheese and halal sausages.........

0900hrs our bus glides off and we head off towards "Gorbestan" some 30km outside the City. The clean lines and hi-tech image soon deteriorate into more traditional and to be frank expected standards. The whole place is geared to one objective......OIL PRODUCTION.
There are little "nodding donkey" oil rigs either side of the road each slowly but sinisterly bobbing up and down as they extract the last dwindling oil reserves. The Caspian Sea glinting away in the bright morning sun to our left is one vast oil and natural gas rig. As far as the eye can see are rigs. 100 years of supply our guide confidently proclaims! Then what I muse???????......unlike Dubai this place is not a major airline hub.........

Current Production 1 million barrels per day is piped to Turkey via Georgia

GROUP ALERT!

The first rumblings of discontent......it's only day 2. We can't understand our Guide!!!! To be frank His English is remarkable bearing in mind he also speaks Russian and German!!! However, he does sound like Manuel from Faulty Towers crossed with an "extra" from Borat.

0930; Mosque Visit: they seem like a friendly bunch.....these are Shia Muslims and are diametrically opposed to the Sunni Sect who as you know make up our "friends" further Sout

1030: Petroglyphs......little stick drawings of humans and animals etched onto rocks by cave folk thousands of years ago.......The Ministry of Tourism have thrown a shed load of cash at the visitor centre with hi tech interactive exhibits. Then we head off off to the high escarpment to see the real thing......a fascinating insight into cave dwelling life combined with fantastic views of
the surrounding landscape.

The afternoon was spent investigating The Fire Temple, a run down Fortress and Fire mountain. The group were anticipating big sights BUT..........more to follow as we are just setting off by bus to Sheki across the mountains........its 0800hrs Tuesday....

---

Comments

[katie.jenks28]

Good god, I can't believe you ate Figaro!