Have now made it as far as Baku, on the Caspian Sea - or lake, depending on whether your country has discovered oil (in which case it is a sea and you are entitled to everything in your sector) or not (in which case it is a lake and all spoils must be shared equally between the littoral countries). We're in Azerbaijan, so it is a sea. The northen part of Azerbaijan is stunning. Rolling, grassy hills leading to tree covered hills which climb up to the snowy peaks of the greater caucasus. There is no rubbish strewn about, and everything works - all because Azerbaijan has oil. The people are also very friendly. Much more outgoing than the Georgians, who are more introverted. Georgia is a country that seems psychologically depressed as well as economically depressed (not surprising with four wars in the last decade and Russian tanks on the streets of the capital a few years back). Anyway, although more polluted than Georgia, Azerbaijan does a good impression of looking less polluted. We spent our fist night in Azerbaijan in an old caravanserai in Saki (at the foot of the caucasus). It had showers (we had been camping in the wilds of Georgia for the two nights prior to that) which was an added bonus, and was full of expats escaping Baku for the Easter weekend. The next day we drove to Gobustan (on the Capsian). As you move further south and east, Azerbaijan turns to semi-desert, except where irrigation schemes are still in effect - in which case you have immense, flat plains of grass from horizon to horizon. Elsewhere you have salt. Gobustan is interesting because it has mud volcanoes. These are about 2m high and spew mud. Pretty impressive. Slightly unnerving too, because you can walk right up to these things where you are, in effect, standing on a thing crust of dried mud. If that goes, you disappear. Baku itself is interesting. There are oil wells everywhere. People have them in their gardens. They stretch out into the sea, where they are replaced by bona fide oil rigs. There are some good sights to see, such as the Zoroastrian fire temple (where flames used to erupt from the earth) and Yanar Dag (where flames still erupt from the earth). The latter is the consequence of a Soviet gas pipeline incident in the 1950s. It is still burning and looks quite dramatic (photos to follow). Baku is a bit of a boom town, and is very cosmopolitan. It's a good place to recover for a few days as we wait for the ferry to Turkmenistan (hopefully tomorrow, although no guarantees). Beer is reasonable, and curries are excellent (curry counts as local cuisine because the Zoroastrian fire temple was set up by Indian travellers). Next stop Turkmenbashi and after that Ashgabat (the capital). Internet connections will be interesting, because Turkmenistan is a police state and everything is monitored and, if necessary, censored. Our hotel rooms will be bugged and our conversations taped. Photography is also frowned upon. Hope to be there in four days time.