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| The Caucasus - My Journal |
Friendly Taxi Drivers and Cultural Faux Pas
Balekan -> Zaquatal -> Seki, September
Standing proudly on the right side of the Azeri border I breathed a big sigh of relief. I'd crossed the most difficult border
of my travels and I was in the final country for this adventure.
Of course, as always, a number of taxi drivers sat around chatting with each other, waiting for fares to the nearest town.
Taxi drivers are always the same, the nonchalent manner with which they slouch on the bonnet of their cabs, the way they're
always aware of people around them because anyone is a potential customer...and the way their eyes light up when a foreigner
or tourist appears. Before I could say "Azerbaijan", a young guy with very short dark hair had limpeted onto me...the only
tourist for miles around.
The taxi driver couldn't speak any English, but all I needed to do was say "Sheki", and we began to negotiate a price as he
explained that he would take me to Balekan, the nearest town, where I'd need to get onward transport. I understood what he
was trying to say and I managed to get across the message that I didn't have any Manat (Azeri money, which can only be
obtained within the country) and he managed to inform me that I could pay with Georgian Lari. Amazing how much information
you can exchange without a common language! The price we agreed on seemed fair enough for the 15 minute drive to Balekan, so
I nodded and threw my bag into the boot.
I was momentarily suprised as three other guys joined me in the cab, but then I remembered that shared taxi is one of the
most common forms of transport in Azerbaijan. The mashrutka and bus routes are quite limited, especially to the smaller
towns, so shared taxis fill in the gaps, and they're really cheap! Anyhow, as the foreigner, I was offered the front seat
while the other three guys squeezed into the back and we set off along the road at a ridiculously fast pace. We made a couple
of stops to drop people off, pick up new passengers and once for the driver to take a pee in the bushes.
We soon reached Balekan, a small bus bustling border town with a packed market showing that Capitalism was taking off in a
big way in this former Soviet state. The driver crawled through a busy street, full on concrete buildings and people in
simple, dark clothes going about their daily lives. Somehow, he got across the message that he'd be able to change my
remaining Lari into Manat. The guy felt really trustworthy and I handed over about $30 of lari and he jumped out of the cab
and hurried over to a nearby shop with the only other remaining passenger. It's strange, so much of travelling is based on
gut instinct and what "feels right", much more so than everyday life in your home town. As someone trained to use facts and
statistics to make decisions it can take a little getting used to trust you gut instinct, but when you're in a foreign
enivornment for such a long time, there's not much choice!
Anyhow, my gut instict to trust the driver panned out well and he returned with a pile of Azeri Manat to give back to me. I'd
done a rough calculation of how much he should've given me, and he seemed to give me more! So if he'd taken a cut, it was a
tiny amount! As it turned out, the taxi driver turned out to be a fantastic guy and singlehandedly almost reversed my opinion
of taxi drivers! After giving me my money, he drove around the town to another "taxi rank" (collection of cars huddled on a
roadside) and found a share taxi that was going to Zaqutela, the next town I needed to go to. Before getting out he
repeatedly reiterated how much the taxi to Zaquatela should cost and how much my bus from Zaquatela to Sheki should cost. He
kept repeating the prices, emphasisng that I shouldn't pay more, but then after giving me a long look, he decided I still too
much of a fresher to handle it and he went to the driver of the new taxi and paid the fare for me, of course getting the
correct price.
After making sure I was safely in the taxi, the friendly driver hung around until I left and waved me off. Now that was a
very nice guy who clearly did these good deeds with no hidden motives. There was no way he could benefit from helping me, I
couldn't recommend him to friends, I couldn't give him repeat custom...nothing! He helped me out just to be kind. Thanks Mr
Driver, I really appreciated your help!
Of course, as if to prove this was the only nice taxi driver in the world, the new driver soon showed himself to be a
money-grabbing scoundrel (the politest way to describe in). After about 20 minutes, we arrived at a Zaquatela and the driver
promptly tried to charge me again, denying that the other driver had given him anything. The problem was, I'd not actually
seend the other driver give him the money and the new driver knew this so I just kept refusing and he eventually caved and
change tactics to asking for extra money. In the end I got rid of him by giving him $1...not much, much a third of the total
fare again!
I had been dropped off in the bus station right next to a small bus with a big sign saying "Sheki". However, it wasn't due to
leave until 2:30pm and it was only 12:45pm, so I had a bit of a wait ahead of me. But just to check there wasn't an earlier
one, I asked a guy hanging around by the bus. He just pointed to the bus and indicated 2:30pm. I glanced at my watch and
acted as though I was keen to go sooner, but he looked closely at my watch before scrabbling to pull his phone from his
pocket. He pointed to the time on his phone and I suddenly realised that Azerbaijan was an hour ahead of Georgia! So I had
less than an hour to wait! Woo! And good job he told me this, I'd thrown my rucksack in the bag of the bus and I was going to
explore the town. If I'd come back when my watch said 2:30pm, it would actually have been 3:30pm and the bus would've left
with my bag in it!
Zaquatala is a small town with little to see. I wandered along the main streets, fairly built up and efficient looking. The
only active thing I did was change some of my dollars into Manat in the local bank. Having quickly exhausted the the
activities in town, I returned to the station and sat down to some tea in a small cafe in the bus station. The tea was
basically the same as Turkish tea and it wasn't the only similarity between the two countries. Azeri and Turkish are very
similar languages, and I was actually finding it slightly easier to communicate here than in Georgia. I'd picked up a lot of
Turkish nouns and I was able to use them to great effect in easing communication. Beyond the lingual relation, and Turkey are
very friendly towards each other with strong historical, political and social links.
After drinking tea for half an hour and being stared at for most of the time, it was time for the bus to leave and I jumped
on to grab a seat at the back. The bus quickly filled beyond capacity and we trundled out of the bus station. It didn't take
long before the other people on the bus became very interested in me.
I flicked through my Lonely Planet for the region to check the distance to Sheki, then as I was about the put it back in my
bag, a young guy in the back seat indicated that he'd like to look at it. As communal guide book reading is always a good way
to strike up a conversation with locals, I gladly handed it over and him and his friend gathered around it for perusal. After
a while, another guy sitting next to them began reading it over their shoulders and began taking an active interest in it. He
began to get quite agitated and annoyed, so I listended in to their conversation and tried to see what the problem was. It
soon became clear what was annoying him...
The Lonely Planet book for this region is divided into four sections: Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and a place they call
"Nagorno Karabak". This area is one of the disputed territories betwen Armenia and Azerbaijan and lies between the two
countries. In the eyes of the Armeniens, it is a seperate, Armenian speaking country and "Nagorno Karabak" actually means
"Republic of Karabak". However, in the eyes of the Azeris, it is a breakaway terriotory from Azerbaijan. They simply refer to
it as "Karabak" and believe it is only temporary seperated from Azerbaijan until it is brought back into the fold, forcefuly
or otherwise. To see the region as a seperate country, or simply to refer to it as "Nagorno Karabak", insinueating that it is
a seperate country is a big no-no, and it would anger many Azeris. My fellow passengers had come to the cover page for the
"Nagorno Karabak" chapter. Azeris use the Latin alphabet, so they could read it easily and were annoyed that it had a section
in the book. They were further annoyed by the fact that the only translation in the book for the country name was written in
Armenian. A quick flick to the Armenian chapter, showed "Armenia" written in Armenian underneath the English word, likewise
the Georgia and Azerbaijan chapters only had translations in their respective languages. So choosing to translate "Nagorno
Karabak" into Armenian was a further insult to the Azeri people.
As I watched them, the older man was the only one seeming to get worked up about the faux pas. The younger guys just gave the
equivalent of a raised eyebrow. I'm just glad the Border Guards had not seen the inside of the book. They'd only looked at my other guidebook, one for Azerbaijan, which referred to the area as "Armenian occupied territory", a fairly neutral term and quite acceptable to the guards (to which I needed to explain the meaning of "occupied"). The older guy tried to question me about the contents of the book, but I just feigned ignorance and avoided the issue.
The older guy got off the bus about 10 minutes later and the two younger guys actually warmed to me. They were excited to find an English speaking tourist, a real rarity in these parts and began to talk to me in broken English. They asked me the usual questions and what I wanted to see in Azerbaijan. They seemed happy with my list of destinations and the conversation lasted quite a while, despite the long pauses and limited English. Before they left the bus, they requested that we swap e-mail addresses, which I gladly did and I promised to e-mail them when I got back to England.
The rest of the journey passed quietly as the vast, empty plains rolled by the windows. There was little sign of life and the fairly well maintained road we were on seemed to be the only sign of civilisation for miles. Azeri land has a strange ability of appearing green and fertile, yet very dusty. A unique combination I've not seen anywhere before. And there are acres and acres of this green, dusty land, cutting across the small country in vast swathes.
Although fairly small in population and activity, Seki is Azerbaijan's second city and spreads out over quite a large area. This meant I needed to get a taxi from the bus station to my hotel...luckily, it was pretty hassle free. The driver probably overcharged me, but the price was so cheap, I didn't complain and before I knew it, I was standing in one of the most amazing hotels of my travels...
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To know the road ahead, ask those coming back
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