Monday 13 July 2015

Baku blogging - quick situation report

[read in an dour gravelly American private detective voice]

Baku . .The windy city.

Where a guy can get lost in his thought of escape over the shining sea. .

The trick in this situation is there is no trick, no matter what the movies tell you. No rules, no secret mantra, no road map. It's not  about how smart you are or how good you were, it is chaos and luck and anyone who thinks different is a fool. All you can do is hang on madly as long and hard as you can. . . . .

Then you might just get that ticket for the ferry. . (With a nod to numerous film noir characters)

. . . . .

But it does feel a bit like a game. .
One official saying one thing another ticket office directing me to another location that I never found.  An (expensive) phone call that explains there was a boat today but it has no space for a motorcycle. But there will be tomorrow. . We'll see!

Now I ring back tomorrow and revisit the ticket office.

All the while my vehicle permit expires in the morning. . The local advice seems to be to park it at the port effectively in no man's land. And leave it there. . Not sure I'm overly happy with that. . Next game move please.

Don't know how to get around the permit situation right now. I read there's a customs office in town but haven't been able to find anyone who knows.



Apart from the technical issues I like the people here. In a cafe the proprietor fills my glass with a cool soft drink and when I'm not paying attention he returns to refill the half empty glass from the bottle he left on the table.

Air conditioned shopping malls with high profile brand names and a Lamborghini parked in the foyer has everything except it seems many customers? Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, Prada, Versace, Gucci. . You name it they are here. New oil money I guess will filter down to the less well healed in time.

But time isn't on my side right now. Just need to find a boat and buy a one way ticket outta dodge.(plenty of those around too)



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