The Most 'Far Out' Toilet Award

This award has been inspired by the numerous extra-ordinary toilet experiences I have had the privilege of encountering over the last 4 months. Prior to backpacking around the world, I would never have considered that such a topic would be worthy of a blog post. Alas, my ignorant Western toilet experiences where I'd commonly spend a lot longer than necessary on the loo with my latest copy of Better Homes & Gardens or some fashion magazine propped on my lap did not prepare me well for what lay ahead.

I am now a changed woman. The new (and sometimes quite horrid) toilet experiences which I have survived to tell tales about have taught me to treat the toilet simply as a functional tool and no longer as a place of comfort or a 'break' from concentrated work.

So without further ado, the award nominees are:

5. In 5th place - Precariously balancing on 2 wooden planks above a drop/pit toilet only 2 metres deep below me out on the Mongolian steppe whilst a swarm of flies attacked my then tender butt (wild horse riding has now changed the condition of my butt too).

4. In 4th place - Sporadically going and then changing my mind and then going again and then changing my mind again ... at a pit toilet stop during a bus journey in Mongolia because 4 toilets were alligned but with only 1 metre high partitions, allowing the 2 men on either side of me to easily peer into my portion of the toilet. Needless to say, it wasn't a very comfortable experience.

3. In 3rd place - Dry retching and feverishly sweating at the stench of a reeking drop toilet whilst constipated and trying to go myself at a particular homestay in Tajikistan.

2. And the runner up is - Sweating it out nervously to do a 'No. 2' as quickly as possible out in the Mongolian desert whilst a baby calf fixatedly peered in on me through the planks of the wooden drop toilet hut.

1. And the winner is - The pathway in the little Tajik village of Langar where I could not even find a drop toilet so I had to just do it on the pathway and then wipe myself with a branch and two leaves with two little Tajik girls narrowly missing the spectacle! It happened to also be 'that time of the month' so it was particularly messy and this experience was particularly scarring in all its vulnerability.

Sheki

En route to the Azeri-Georgian border, we spent 2 nights in Sheki. Sheki is cupped in beautiful wooded mountains with an 18th century palace, picturesque old town (with plenty of melons being sold by the roadside for dirt cheap prices) and a characteristic caravaneserai (travellers' inn which olden day Silk Road traders would stop and stay at). Unfortunately, the caravaneserai was full so we homestayed with a family nearby instead. We enjoyed an evening meal at the garden restaurant at the caravaneserai on the first night with Bjorn and Christian, two German backpackers who also stayed at the same homestay as us.

The great thing about a homestay is that we could catch up with our chores and use the family's big buckets and clothes line to hand wash and dry our clothes. There are plenty of unglamorous aspects to backpacking too!

Kenneth got addicted to the sweet coated nuts that the little confectionery shop along the old town shopping strip produced. We also sampled extraordinarily schweeeeeeeeet baclava from this shop. The charm of this street lies in the fact that the cobbler, the music instrument mender, the butcher, the tailor, the confectioner, the copper tooler, the antique restorer ... all still go about their day like they did during the glory days of the ancient Silk Road.

A Touch of Paris

Our ferry docked at the port of Baku at approximately 2am. The hours on the ferry were long and arduous, not to mention the ride set us back $US90 each despite being a cargo ferry! Nevertheless the trip was made enjoyable with the company of David (from France) and Thomas (from Norway), our new friends and fellow backpackers both on their way home by land and sea after spending a year studying in Shanghai.

By the time we cleared immigration and arrived at the backpackers' joint recommended by Lonely Planet, it was already 3am and the backpackers' was full. 'You come tomorrow ... 10 o'clock... and I have room for you! Now full!' declared the young boisterous Azeri attendant. We ended up 'homelessly' wandering through Baku by night which startled us with its modern chic boutiques and Parisien styled architecture. Baku is in the midst of its second oil boom and the oil barons are pumping cash into upgrading almost every building fascade there is in the city. Baku certainly posseses some of the most exquisite architecture I have ever seen. Having done it tough in Central Asia in terms of material comforts over the past month (despite the very rich cultural experiences we had), we appreciated Baku so much more. In a zombie-like state, we ended up finding a 24 hour restaurant at 4am to have breakfast at and then took it in turns over the next 4 hours to crash into the comfortable couches to catch up with some Zzzzzzzzzs.

The rest of our 2 days in Baku was immensely enjoyable. We soaked in the atmosphere and enjoyed stopping by a particular bakery for delicious pastries and local treats like baclava. We made the most of being able to savour fine dining experiences for under US$10 each! David and Thomas continued to be entertaining and interesting travel partners and we dicovered our shared passion for good food and adventure as we scoured the city for interesting sights and walked along almost every quaintly cobbled street in the Old Town of Baku.

Baku, you'll be fondly remembered and recommended to our family and friends!