First Impressions of Baku (from 10/1/06)

Driving from Farid's summer home to the city center of Baku, I was first struck by the number of trees lining the road. I had somewhat expected something similar to Cairo in terms of vegetation, and was surprised to see how green everything was. Many of the trees looked recent, as in the past 5 to 10 years, which gave my entrance to the city a definite feeling of going to somewhere new and growing.

Another surprise was the lack of covered women. Farid explained that Baku is mostly 'fake Muslims'. The women aren't covered and other traditions ignored (such as Ramadan).

Baku is less crazy than Cairo in terms of driving, but drivers are still pretty aggressive. On our way in we witnessed a high-speed police chase, which strangely ended in the driver and the cop knowing each other and laughing at the side of the road.

As Farid explained, the country is very wealthy from oil. All the cops drive BMWs and outward displays of wealth are quite common. As we drove in, we saw all type of nice car, including a Hummer H2.

Farid and I walked around for a bit, and he's getting a haircut now in anticipation of our meetings this week (though he insists it's for the girls). As I don't have data service on my phone yet, this post like the two before it will probably be delayed.