Back in Baku

It’s good to be back. I’ve been away for the last three weeks, dealing with some important things in my life, and it helped me to get away from local peculiarities and my own frustrations. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see this place with fresh eyes and enjoy it. Sometimes, it is hard to keep our minds open and forget our prejudices. It is so easy to criticise something just because it is different to what we are used to. I just can’t help it, but to see the difference everywhere...

It starts as soon as we get to the airport. We are waiting in the queue for the security check at the gate and we are not moving forward. One of the female passengers keeps ‘beeping’. It is probably due to the 5 kilograms of gold hanging from her neck, hands and ears... or possibly because of her 10 cm high heels she refuses to take off... In the meantime, she is trying to squeeze a plastic tree through the airport scanner, followed by a brand new vacuum-cleaner. Finally, she succeeds with the squeezing and takes her shoes off after being supplied with two plastic booties to protect her precious feet. She is not happy for being so horribly mistreated.

Just a few pieces of household equipment more and we can go through. It is little wonder people shop abroad. This type of equipment is very expensive in Baku.

Then we are being welcomed on board of Azal’s aircraft by friendly stewardesses. Their friendliness though seem to prevent them from being able to tell people off for lying across the seats without their seat-belts fastened during take off. But why do I let things like that surprise me? Maybe things just work differently over here.

It’s great to arrive at the airport with a visa in your passport and not having to queue up for it anymore. Everything goes smoothly. There is a group of men crowding around one of the columns. What’s going on over there? Oh, yes, I remember now! That’s a smokers’ column. Of course. The columns at Baku’s airport are divided into smokers’ and non-smokers’ columns. It is a shame that they don’t have the same system in pubs and restaurants, where all columns are for smokers.

The border control officer is almost smiling when she hands my passport back to me. So that’s it. No problems. I’m back in the country. Waiting for my luggage and watching all the vacuum cleaners and food processors going pass...