Delighted by Dubai

Dubai has been on our bucket list ever since we started our international life.  In fact, when we first joined the Foreign Service, and anyone asked Jeremy what he hoped our first assignment would be, he answered without hesitation:  "Dubai." The city has created a larger-than-life image for itself, with its indoor ski slope, palm tree island, world's tallest building and more.  And it did not disappoint!  I found the city to be amazingly fascinating!

Dubai Marina skyscrapers

Of course, it's impossible to visit Dubai without noticing the architecture.  Love it or leave it, the buildings of Dubai were built to make a statement!  And I loved it!!  If you're gonna build an apartment, or office, or hotel, why not make it interesting?! As we went through the city by taxi or metro, my face was continually glued to the window, staring up at all the passing buildings.  And I'm a total sucker for colorful lights at night, so I loved the technicolor skyline after the sun went down.

Sand, sea, salt...and skyscrapers!

When you're in Skyscraper City, you can't miss seeing the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.  I personally found the visit to the observation deck on the 124th floor overpriced and underwhelming.  The elevator ride up was the coolest part - with anticipatory music and colorful graphics display.  Once out of the elevator, looking down on Dubai was boring to me.  However, when I looked out further towards the horizon, I was struck by how suddenly the surrounding skyscrapers and buildings gave way to barren desert, clearly demonstrating why Dubai is called an oasis in the desert.  Back down on the ground, I will admit that the Burj Khalifa is a stunning building, especially with its twinkling lights after dark.  I'd just much rather enjoy it from the ground looking up, rather than the other way around.

Jeremy at the Burj Khalifa

The glittering skyscrapers, along with the flashy sports cars revving their engines on the streets, were very visible symbols of the posh, showy aura of Dubai.  When we went to palm tree island (AKA The Palm Jumeirah), there were staff stationed at all entrances of the Atlantis Resort to be sure only registered hotel guests entered the premises.  No other tourist riff-raff allowed!  Entrance to the seven-star Burj Al Arab was similarly restrictive.  When we arrived for afternoon tea, we were stopped well before the entrance to verify our reservation before we were allowed to proceed.  I've never experienced such entrance restrictions at hotels - I guess I haven't been to enough ritzy places!!

Afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab

While Dubai was fascinating all on its own, what was equally intriguing to me was comparing it to Baku.  Since arriving in Baku, I have heard many people say that Baku is seeking to emulate Dubai.  Finally seeing Dubai for myself, I could see the resemblance.  Baku has built many new buildings in recent years, many with unique architecture and flashy light displays.  (I blogged about some of them in a post earlier this year.)  And while it's not gotten to the point of restrictive hotel entrance policies, Baku has a modified version of high-class showiness.  From gleaming new cars flashing at you to move aside on the streets, to "face control" monitors looking you up and down before allowing you into a dance club, to companies charging more for telephone numbers with desirable number combinations, Baku has its own way of letting you know if you've made it into the exclusive club.

Thankfully, neither city lets this flashiness take over all aspects of its character.  A little bit goes a long way!  I'll close out with a picture of my favorite experience from the trip - Dubai Fountain.  Each night, the fountain puts on a fabulous performance combining three of my favorite things - fountains, music, and lights.  I was in heaven!

Dubai Fountain performance

Captivating Cappadocia

I was not planning to post about my trip to Cappadocia in central Turkey.  I initially was too busy to write a post and then felt like it was old news...after all, it's been over six weeks since my trip.  But as I thought about my experience and how memorable it was, I decided it needed to be in the blog after all!

The biggest reason for a blog post was to include photos of the unique rock formations and lovely landscape.  I've traveled through different parts of the world and have not yet seen anything comparable.  Below are some of the so-called Fairy Chimneys...fabulous clusters of rocks jutting high into the air.  I think they look like mythical mushrooms sprouting out of the ground!

Paşabağ Fairy Chimneys

The people who lived in this region hundreds of years ago used the landscape to their advantage.   The occupants carved their settlements directly into the rock faces, creating rooms for sleeping, eating, and praying.  Below is one of the fortresses built into a massive boulder perched on a ridge.

Uçisar Fortress

In the Göreme Open Air Museum, we were able to walk through one of these settlements.  Many of the chapels still had colorful murals displaying religious figures.  An especially interesting room was the dining room, where trenches had been hewn out of the rock to create benches for sitting around the table.  

Erica and Linley at Göreme Open Air Museum

To help us feel like these old settlers, we stayed in a cave hotel.  Each room was designed like a cave, with rough-cut stone walls, low ceilings, and few adornments but lots of charm.  Thankfully, we had real beds and didn't have to sleep on the hard, stone floors!

Kelebek Cave Hotel

My own room felt very cave-like with little natural light.  But as I strolled the hotel grounds, I quickly discovered the prime selling point of the location...beautiful views of the surrounding valley.

Stunning sunset viewed from my cave hotel

And as if sleeping in a cave wasn't enough, I haven't even gotten to the highlight of the trip...my first hot air balloon trip! Although getting up before dawn was not fun, the rest of the experience was amazing.  I was trepidatious as I climbed into the basket, but our ascent into the air was so gentle that I had to look down to realize we were no longer on the ground!

As we floated peacefully through the air, I'm not sure which was more exciting:  the fabulous landscape below us or the colorful dots of other balloons around us!

The ride was a magnificent capstone event to an already unforgettable trip!

Our group excited by the balloon ride!

Happily Ever After

We recently had the opportunity to attend a wedding in Azerbaijan.  My colleague Huseyn was getting married and he invited our whole office to attend the reception.  We had heard lots about Azeri weddings from friends and were excited to see and experience one for ourselves.

The first thing we noticed was the abundance of food.  It is the custom in Azerbaijan to treat your wedding guests to more food than they could possibly manage to consume.  

Table laden with fruits, meats, vegetables, bread, and more!

Additionally, weddings are a time for gourmet menu items not eaten on a regular basis.  Although Baku used to be a haven for inexpensive caviar, it is now more of a luxury item.  We were delighted to find two types of caviar on our table!

Jeremy's ready to dig into the caviar

Towards the end of the meal, there was a special ceremony for the final dinner course:  plov or rice pilaf.  A signature dish of Azerbaijan, plov is often eaten on a regular basis in most Azerbaijani households, yet is also celebrated at special occasions such as weddings.  A dancer processed slowly through the ballroom with the flaming plate of plov before presenting it to the new couple.

Dancer presenting the flaming plov

Another primary feature of Azeri weddings is music.  We had been warned that the music would be ear-splittingly loud and never-ending.  While the music did go on all night, it was kept at a reasonable volume and was actually a lot of fun.  There was a live band, complete with a classy saxophone player.  At one point in the evening, there were even dueling saxophones!

Play it again sax man!

And with music, there was of course wedding dancing.  Everyone got on the dance floor and showed off their Azeri dance moves.  And us Americans even got a shout-out from the MC for giving it our best - who knows if the crowd was grinning with us or at us!

The bride and groom perform an Azeri dance

It was a fabulous evening all around.  Thank you to Huseyn and Fidan for including us on their special day and best wishes for a long and happy marriage!

Jeremy and Erica enjoy the loving atmosphere of the evening

Travels in Azerbaijan

We recently traveled to Western Azerbaijan over the Gurban Bayram weekend.  Gurban is the local name of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, celebrated one month after the end of Ramadan.  This Festival of the Sacrifice honors Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to show his devotion to God.  On this holiday, Azerbaijanis slaughter a sheep.  Along the road, we passed a large sheep market, busy with men literally purchasing their sacrificial lamb.

"Come and get your sheep!"

We also passed this poor sheep, whose forlorn expression seemed to indicate he was aware he was tied up next to the skin of his recently slaughtered brethren.

"Oh boy...I'm next"

We stayed in Azerbaijan's 2nd largest city, Ganja.  (Yes, all you potheads, that's the real name of the city.)  My favorite spot in Ganja was Khan Garden, which was a lovely green oasis including a pond with a swan.  

Jeremy and Erica in Khan Garden

One of the curiosities of Ganja is the "Bottle House," whose exterior facade is decorated with designs made out of thousands of glass bottles.

Brian is overcome with excitement by the Bottle House

Outside the city, we ate fresh qutab from a roadside vendor.  Qutab is a bit like an Azerbaijani crepe.  It's made with a thin flatbread called lavash (similar to a tortilla) filled with yumminess (either herbs, meat, or pumpkin) that is folded in half, heated, and slathered with butter.

Qutab in the making

And of course, no Azerbaijani road trip is complete without tea...lots of tea!

Love that tablecloth!  Made me feel like I was back in Kenya!

Architecture of Baku

I'll start off by saying I don't know a thing about architecture.  But I think Baku has many beautiful buildings and - especially for those of you reading my blog from afar - I'd like to highlight some of my favorites and share what I think they say about Baku as a city.

First and foremost are the Flame Towers.  Built on a hill, they are visible from many parts of central Baku.  The Flame Towers epitomize the modern transformation of the city, which lights up each night in a rainbow of neon colors.  Some say Baku is trying to be like Dubai, with ever more unique buildings ever under construction.  There are those who feel the Flame Towers symbolize much of what is wrong with Baku - flashy, half-vacant buildings that distract from the real difficulties of the average Bakuian's life.  Politics aside, I think the Flame Towers are beautiful.  I feel lucky to see them every day when I drive home from work and it always brings me joy to see them lit up at night.

Erica and Jeremy with Flame Towers

Flame Towers light up with different images -
for example the checkered flag during the recent
Formula One Grand Prix

The Flame Towers towering over Baku

Also symbolizing modern Baku is the Heydar Aliyev Center.  The pictures below simply do not do justice to the white, swooping grandeur of the building.  The entire building is seemingly continuous curved lines with few straight edges or corners.  Inside is a multi-floor exhibit on Heydar Aliyev, the late president of Azerbaijan who brought stability to the post-Soviet era.  Just to give you a sense of the importance of Heydar Aliyev to Azerbaijan, a holiday on June 15 called National Salvation Day celebrates the day Heydar came to Baku to join the newly-independent government in 1993.  There are innumerable buildings, parks, museums, and streets named after Heydar Aliyev throughout the country.

Jeremy contemplating Heydar Aliyev Center's swirling lines

Side view of Heydar Aliyev Center

Another new building in Baku is the carpet museum.  The museum collection used to be housed elsewhere, but now has a new home in a fabulous building designed to look like a rolled-up carpet.  Azerbaijanis are rightly proud of their carpet-making tradition - Azerbaijani carpet weaving was designated a unique Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2010. The new museum has prime real estate on the Bulvar promenade along the Caspian Sea, where tourists are sure to see it. 

Jeremy at the Carpet Museum

Turning to older buildings, my favorites is the National Academy of Sciences building.  It was built by one of Baku's oil barons during the city's first oil boom at the turn of the 20th century.  The ornate style is emblematic of the oil-boom mansions built at this time, and this building has the added benefit of fabulous colorful mosaics. 

Erica at the National Academy of Sciences

Finally, there is the Heydar Aliyev Foundation building...yes, Heydar again.  This building may look very simple and boring, but it caught my eye from my very first weeks in Baku.  Although it may be hard to see in the below photo, it has beautiful, detailed stonework on the facade.  This type of stonework, as well as the beige stone color, is found throughout the city, and is the architectural style that stands out the most to me as embodying Baku.

Erica & Jeremy hug at Heydar Aliyev Foundation

I hope you've enjoyed my completely biased, totally uneducated architectural tour of Baku!

Mother Russia

With Azerbaijan sharing a border with Russia, I couldn't pass up the opportunity of being so close and not visiting.  We specifically planned our trip for summertime, when the weather would be more bearable.  And after several people told us how beautiful St. Petersburg was, we chose to visit both Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature foiled our plans.  Instead of summer weather, we arrived in St. Petersburg to a dreary, chilly, windy weekend.  The wind was especially harsh near the water...and pretty much all the major sites were near the water. We did our best to forge ahead with our sightseeing plans, but breathed a sigh of relief whenever we headed inland and an even bigger sigh when we got to Moscow, where the weather was beautiful.

Erica bundled up against the wind at Peterhof Palace

Somehow we had this idea in our heads that Russia, and especially Moscow, would be ugly.  I pictured streets filled with ugly, bland Soviet apartment buildings.  If you've never been to a post-Soviet country, think of the Brutalist, colorless concrete architecture of the mid-20th century and you'll have an idea of what we were expecting.  But we were pleasantly surprised to find the architecture of St. Petersburg and Moscow to be beautiful and colorful.

Erica on the Arbat in Moscow

Although we did not go to any shows of the official arts scene of Russia, we stumbled upon several performances during our wonderings.  All were wonderful and very different.  While in St. Petersburg, we were strolling through a park and came across an a cappella men's choral group.  The group performed a fun selection of tunes in Russian, English, and French.

Men's a cappella group in St. Petersburg's Mikhailosky Park 

While inside St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square, we suddenly heard voices singing and followed the sounds to a side chapel where we were treated to a stunning chant concert from a men's choral group.

Jeremy at St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square

And we saw a fabulous brass band performing on the streets of Moscow.  They danced along to their pieces, including a Michael Jackson medley complete with the Thriller dance.  While all this may sound run-of-the-mill to Americans, bear in mind that street performers do not exist in Azerbaijan, so just happening upon live music is a rare event in our lives these days and it brought me great joy.

Dancing brass band in Moscow's Kuznetsky Most area

Another recurring theme of the trip was silly photos.  Enjoy the below selection of the best ones!

On the boat through the Gulf of Finland to Peterhof Palace

On a dinner cruise on Moscow River

Red Square at night

Formula One

Baku recently hosted the Formula One Grand Prix for the first time.  In the weeks leading up to it, the city was humming with discussion of the event.  Some were excited for the activities, others were dreading the disruption to Baku's city center, some turned it into a political issue, and others just wanted to ignore the subject all together.  But there was no denying it was a key topic of conversation.  While I'm not a Formula One fan, I bought my ticket early as there was no chance I was gonna miss out!  Jeremy claimed no interest, but was eventually drawn in at the last minute by a free seat on a friend's balcony overlooking the course.

Jeremy's birds-eye view from a friend's balcony

A favorite activity of the spectators was attempting to take a picture and catch a shot of a car as it sped past.  This filled our camera's digital memory with missed shots, as well as the gaps between cars as we framed the shot and listened for approaching engines to begin clicking away.  Below is the best picture I was able to get!

Did you get the shot?  Can I stop smiling now?

In between the races, there were various activities to keep the masses entertained.  While the modern attractions such as racing simulators and virtual reality games were big draws, I liked the displays on Azerbaijani culture and handicrafts. Spectators could taste Azerbaijani pastries, view traditional dresses, and watch skilled craftsmen creating their wares.  My favorite Azerbaijani handicraft is shebeke stained glass, created by a master carefully wedging in each glass sliver and each wooden separator so the whole piece holds together without glue or other bonding agent.  

A beautiful shebeke piece in progress

To be perfectly honest, a big reason I bought a Formula One ticket was that it also included entrance to three headline concerts - Chris Brown, Enrique Iglesias, and Pharrell Williams.  Before the concerts, I was most looking forward to Pharrell, but hands-down, Enrique was the best.  He was clearly having an awesome time, bounding back and forth across the stage and smiling out into the audience.  Plus I'd never been so close to the stage for a world-famous artist!

Enrique playing to the crowd

The weekend came to a close with a massive fireworks display over the Caspian Sea.  Well done Baku!

There was no mistaking this fireworks finale

Trip to Tbilisi

After having transited through Tbilisi a few times on our way to other destinations, we finally stayed long enough for a real visit.  The most charming part of the city was the narrow pedestrian-only alleys lined with shops, cafes, and restaurants. They filled so many functions throughout our trip:  During the day, we window-shopped in the souvenir stores and art galleries.  At lunchtime, we ate at one of the sidewalk cafes.  When we needed a late afternoon break from strolling the city, we sat down for a cocktail and shisha.  And at night, we checked out the bars and nightclubs.  Like the rest of Tbilisi, the alleys featured a lot packed into a small area!

Jeremy within the alleys of Tbilisi

The other big highlight was the food and wine.  We discovered a love of Khabera winery.  At their storefront near our hotel, they served their signature wines out of huge vats sitting in the corner of the dining area.  You could even get bottles filled for take-away!

Would you like a glass, bottle, or vat of that??

Erica and Laureen enjoying Khabera wine

Many people absolutely love Georgian food.  Jeremy is becoming one of them.  Through a Georgian restaurant in Baku, he took a cooking class a few months ago and learned how to make some of the most popular dishes.  So he was very excited to sample more of them at the source.  One of his favorites is khinkali - dumplings in the shape of drawstring bags filled with meat or vegetables.

Plates of khinkali accompanied by Georgian wine

There is a bit of an art to eating khinkali.  They generally arrive at your table piping hot, so first you need to let them cool off enough so you can actually pick them up.  Then you need to strategically bite into them to avoid spilling the liquidy filling down your shirt.  By the end of our trip, we felt confident we had honed our skills.

Jeremy demonstrates proper khinkali eating technique

As many friends had told us, Tbilisi was a fabulous getaway just a one-hour flight from Baku.  We hope to return soon!

Jeremy with the attractive hillside setting of Old Town Tbilisi

Erica as Mother Georgia