Baku - Azerbaijan

I was not to give these children a picture of themselves, the matron said.
Ok, I will not..... but maybe someone will know them and show them the pictures.
I understood all of them to be orphans.
They are right now in Baku.

More Pictures of Turkey !

Do they really listen to a different drummer than the rest of us ?


These could have been wine jars from a thousand years ago, at least the cart was somehow a bit older.

Uerguep is a sight to behold, so many nooks and crannies, so many hidden treasures that it is hard to take pictures of it all.

This is really Real Estate. One can buy a whole hill, which serves as a house. Inside the hill are bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, etc.

This area is amazing, people lived here for thousands of years already and not that much has changed.

What a vista, no matter from what point I looked at the landscape, there was always something new to see.

Yes, this is a house you can buy. It has a real front door, real windows, real electric lights and even plumbing.

Imagine, no painting to be done on your house, no roof to shingle, no lawn to cut. Just live inside those hills and enjoy. By the way, the houses are cool in the summer heat.

Apartments? I do not know about this hill but it looks like apartments to me.

This is the hotel we were in. Yes, build right into the cliff. We had showers, lights, plumbing, etc. All the modern conveniences.

Look at all these field, too. Look at all the natural living conditions. I thought it was great.

Of course they had some camels so that we could take pictures of the hills and the camel in the foreground. Except the camel did not want to be photographed. Always gave me the cold shoulder.

The right spelling of Uerguep is Ürgüp. The town itself is worth a visit but I bet you could not just stay there, you would have to experience the whole area.

A few pillows so you can take a nap when you feel like it. The shaded trees look inviting in the Turkish heat.

This is not fake, a guy lives here during the day. He makes his tea here, takes his nap and hangs out in the shade. Cozy, right ?

Chasing some hot air balloons with the bike I ended up here. A great view of it all.

This is our hotel in Uerguep.

This is the room I stayed in. I had tea outside on this table with some other riders. Very natural and relaxed conditions.

This is something I would have bought as a souvenir but it was not for sale. Dervishes left me in awe. I did not understand the swirling. I felt like they were from another planet.

A trance seems to be produced yet they always know where they are when they whirl. They never bump into each other.

It seemed they follow a certain pattern when they swirl all over the area. Like a dance with rules.

I did not have the best camera but still, these pictures give you some idea. Round and around and around they whirled.

It was like a prayer, very solemn and nothing to be laughed at. These guys take this very serious.

round, round, round, round, round, round, round......... etc.


I imagined doing this and I got dizzy just thinking about the whirling but these guys were not effected by the spinning. Or were they ? Something in their head has some effect otherwise they would not do it, right ?

Round, Round Round Round Round...........

I would have fallen and broken my head just like these broken pots.

Assorted China pictures

Here are some China pictures I just could not put into the blogs.


Today these are modern tiles being burned in China. Still hand painted. Like a lot of work done by hand, the workmanship is very, very good.

A close up of toy soliers for sale in a shop, they are fashioned after the full sized figures and are sold as souveniers.

To bring the boats up river they have to be pulled by hand a lot of time. Trundle passes are used but also the sides of the rivers, just like you see here. Yes, they pull a boat up river, with man power only.

An ancient soldier, look at the details. The face is live like, even so it is nearly 60 years old.

These valleys will all be under water when the dam cause the water to rise. This is a beautiful area, really, really old China.

Another parking spot. What a spot, right ? No cars in the area, the terrain is much to hilly for regular roads, the rivers are the only way to transport things.

Goats on the side of the river. I can not figure out how they catch those goats. What do they do? The goats are way to fast on the mountain to catch them alive. Shoot, I figured it out !

Furniture is still hand made and polished here deep in China. One can argue about the design or the colors, but the craftmanship is superb.

Just in case you could not find the coffin before, look here again, it's in the center of the picture, in the hole. See it ?

Like so many boats on the river, this one I call Longboat. I love this old boats, a great way to transport items and people.

Of course to go up river you have to fight hard agains the current. This is hard work. Day in, Day out, hard work.

This is the way ducks are brought to market. You can buy one or the whole lot. In this case a guy bought all of them.

A river man doing his thing. These guys are strong. They might look weak but they are tough and very resilient. Everyone I met smiled. Seems like they are always in a good mood.

If you click on the center of the picture and then look carefully you will see a coffin. The river people buried their dead that way. In a coffin high up in a cliff. Exposed to the elements. When the river rises after the Three Gorges Dam is built, these sites will be under water.

Look at the nice details on the peasant hat, the colors are warm and charming. The detail work is that of an expert in making straw hats.

This 'toy' wagon was found among the tools in the vault of the soldiers. A chariot to transport the emperor in ancient times.

This clay army is supposed to protect the emperor in his after life. It seems to work, so far they have not excavated the tomb of the emperor. Superstition keeps even today's 'explorers' away from the known grave.

A great idea to have all the bikes in racks like this because with so many bikes on the roads it takes a lot of 'Parking' space. This is just one idea to make it more efficient.

Up and down the rivers, I saw men pushing their boats with loaded merchandise. It seemed like a thousand years ago, nothing much changed on the river.

This is high tech, these poles are so flexible that they are used on sky-scraper buildings in Shanghai, too.
Here they are used for bride work. Notice no safety wires. You better step very carefully.

Pushing will all his might against the strong currents of the river.

Looked like a tea house to me. The boats are parked while the men shoot the breeze inside. Or, if it is ancient tradition, they celebrate with a special tea for a special occasion.

There are pool tables on the sidewalk in the streets. Pool must be very popular in China.

Lots of old fishing boats float on the side rivers of the Yangtze.

In time to come I might have to switch to a 3 Wheeler like this.

Of course you can tell this is a gas station, right ? What is diesel, what is super, what is regular ? What octane ? You can tell ?