BL #62: Sleep In a Capsule Hotel

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Geo: 51.5001, -0.126236

Simply for the sake of saying that you had stayed in one, sleeping in a capsule hotel is something that most backpackers would love to do while traveling in Japan. Normally the domain of Japan's Salarymen, capsule hotels are typically used by the workers who have drank a little too much at the karaoke bar after a hard day of work, and missed the last train home. Capsule hotels are a simple solution for those looking for a cheap place to spend the night, and who don't mind sleeping in coffin-like accommodations.

Capsule hotels in their true form don't seem to exist outside of Japan, but the next closest thing is a pod hotel, a room that is definitely bigger than a coffin, but not by much! It's the closest I will get on this trip to crossing "Sleep In a Capsule Hotel" off of my bucket list, so the pod hotel will have to do! It actually ended up being more a matter of convenience, with my flight from Baku arriving at Heathrow at 23:00, and my flight back to Calgary departing Heathrow at 11:00 the following morning.

Even though there are some relatively-affordable hotels a short drive from Heathrow, staying at any of them simply didn't make any sense for such a short layover - by the time I factored in taxi costs to get to and from the hotel, the tiny savings weren't worth the time or the effort. So a night at Heathrow's Yotel it was! Booked by the hour like an unsavoury hotel, the Yotel is horrible value when you consider that the typical room is so tiny that you can basically lie in bed, shower, and take a dump all at the exact same time!

It's really quite an ingenious use of space, but the accommodations are quite claustrophobic, since you basically have to climb into a compartment to sleep, and have next to zero space to change clothes. You definitely would never want to spend more than a night here, but that really goes against the whole point of a pod hotel - most may only stay for a few hours while in transit, just long enough to have a shower and a quick nap. My stay totaled eight hours, which I'm willing to bet is a longer stay than is typical.

Going home after an extended trip is always depressing, so at this point I'll take what I can get - spending the night in a pod hotel is still an experience to remember, even though it may seem a tad strange and unimportant. But at least it was better than sleeping on a hard bench in Heathrow's Terminal 2!

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Photos

Aliagha Vahid ...
... a famous Azeri poet.

Turkish Bath ...
... Baku has a pretty famous Turkish bath, but even though the locals have no problem with it, it's far too hot for me to even consider bathing there. Instead, I settled on having a drink in their cool little lounge area.

Shades of Paris ...
... this fountain totally reminds me of one you'll find at Place de la Concorde.

A Little Feijoa Compote ...
... at the Turkish bath, they ran out of the fresh stuff which is sold by the glass, so they asked if I wanted an entire bottle, instead. I managed to drink most of the litre, but couldn't eat many of the feijoa. It was surprising to see this in Azerbaijan, as I had thought that it was only grown in South America.

The Last Azeri Meal ...
... considered to be a restaurant serving "refined' Azeri cuisine, Zeytun is a fancy restaurant in the Park Bulevar Mall overlooking the Caspian Sea. I think "refined" is actually a code word for expensive! Prices were significantly higher than what you'd find at Firuza, and the menu didn't seem to be any fancier or more modern, but the food was still damn good. The spicy tomato salad was actually more of a cooked and mashed paste made with garlic, tomato, onion, and red bell pepper - quite nice with an assortment of bread. The main dish unexpectedly came with roasted eggplant, bell pepper, and tomato - it's a good thing I never ordered a side of roasted veggies, as it was already difficult finishing off all of this food. This was the final meal in Azerbaijan, so it was time to go all out and blow the remainder of my Azeri manats - a minced meat kebab, lamb, marinated strips of beef, chicken, all served with what I think was ajika, a spicy dipping sauce. The lamb was full of tendons but still so very tasty, the beef was tender, and the eggplant was reminiscent of the dinner I had in Istanbul, at the World's Fanciest Kebab Shop. The kebab was brilliant, juicy and crispy, and the chicken breast was nicely prepared on the bone. Everything was sprinkled with some delicious fresh herbs - definitely a most memorable final meal in Azerbaijan.