Just across the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan is Azerbaijan. Along with Georgia and Armenia, these three Caucasus countries are at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. 90% of Azerbaijanis are Shia Muslims (while most Georgians are Eastern Orthodox and most Armenians are Apostolic Orthodox). However, many Muslims in Azerbaijan are “nominal” Muslims, meaning they take on their parents Islamic identity without necessarily subscribe to Islamic beliefs and practices associated with the faith.
土庫曼斯坦到阿塞拜疆 Crossing the Caspian Sea from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to Baku, Azerbaijan.
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將背包寄回家 Mummifying my backpack before shipping it home.
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俄羅斯拉達汽車 First time sitting in a Russian Lada automobile.
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In Azerbaijan, once you are outside the capital city of Baku, public transportation is inefficient and you would need a car to get around. Since I didn’t have a car, I made a last-minute decision to join a local day-tour with 18 other tourists from Iran, Pakistan, and Russia. The day-tour came with a multilingual tour guide who spoke Farsi / Persian (Iran), Punjabi (Pakistan), Russian, and English.
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We were on our way to see the mud volcano, where our tour bus was unable to access due to poor road condition. So we ended up taking separate taxis. Azerbaijan is a post-Soviet country and are heavily Russian-influenced. One of the things that shows the Russian influence is the country’s large collection of old AvtoVAZ Lada vehicles. AvtoVAZ is a Russian brand and Lada is its flagship model – So here we were, our very chatty taxi driver (who spoke Azerbaijani, Russian, and absolutely no English), a young Russian couple in my vehicle, along with five other similar Ladas cruised toward the mud volcano on this spontaneous tour in Azerbaijan.
@Qobustan科布斯坦
巴庫火寺 Fire Temple of Baku. Before the conversion to Islam, the original religion in Azerbaijan is Zoroastrian 拜火教, one of the world’s oldest religions that remains active. In Persian, Azerbaijan means “Protector of Fire”. The pentagonal complex has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a altar in the middle. After nearly a century of exploitation of petroleum and gas in the area, the natural eternal flame at the altar went out in 1969, but is now lit by gas from the nearby city.
@Baku巴庫
巴庫火寺 Fire Temple of Baku. Before the conversion to Islam, the original religion in Azerbaijan is Zoroastrian 拜火教, one of the world’s oldest religions that remains active. In Persian, Azerbaijan means “Protector of Fire”. The pentagonal complex has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a altar in the middle. After nearly a century of exploitation of petroleum and gas in the area, the natural eternal flame at the altar went out in 1969, but is now lit by gas from the nearby city.
@Baku巴庫
巴庫火寺 Fire Temple of Baku. Before the conversion to Islam, the original religion in Azerbaijan is Zoroastrian 拜火教, one of the world’s oldest religions that remains active. In Persian, Azerbaijan means “Protector of Fire”. The pentagonal complex has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a altar in the middle. After nearly a century of exploitation of petroleum and gas in the area, the natural eternal flame at the altar went out in 1969, but is now lit by gas from the nearby city.
@Baku巴庫
巴庫火寺 Fire Temple of Baku. Before the conversion to Islam, the original religion in Azerbaijan is Zoroastrian 拜火教, one of the world’s oldest religions that remains active. In Persian, Azerbaijan means “Protector of Fire”. The pentagonal complex has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a altar in the middle. After nearly a century of exploitation of petroleum and gas in the area, the natural eternal flame at the altar went out in 1969, but is now lit by gas from the nearby city.
@Baku巴庫
烈士巷 Martyrs’ Lane, a cemetery and memorial dedicated to those killed in Russian Civil War in the closing days of WWI.
@Baku巴庫
烈士巷 Martyrs’ Lane, a cemetery and memorial dedicated to those killed in Russian Civil War in the closing days of WWI.
@Baku巴庫
畢畢海拔清真寺 Bibi-Heybat Mosque, a Shia Muslim mosque that includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum, a descendant of Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
@Baku巴庫
畢畢海拔清真寺 Bibi-Heybat Mosque, a Shia Muslim mosque that includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum, a descendant of Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
@Baku巴庫
畢畢海拔清真寺 Bibi-Heybat Mosque, a Shia Muslim mosque that includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum, a descendant of Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
@Baku巴庫
畢畢海拔清真寺 Bibi-Heybat Mosque, a Shia Muslim mosque that includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum, a descendant of Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
@Baku巴庫
火焰大樓 The Flame Towers, a trio of skyscrapers that consist of apartments, hotel, and office blocks. The Flame Towers are completely covered with LED screens and every night the movement of a fire is displayed. There is a small mosque adjacent to it.
@Baku巴庫
火焰大樓 The Flame Towers, a trio of skyscrapers that consist of apartments, hotel, and office blocks. The Flame Towers are completely covered with LED screens and every night the movement of a fire is displayed. There is a small mosque adjacent to it.
@Baku巴庫
火焰大樓 The Flame Towers, a trio of skyscrapers that consist of apartments, hotel, and office blocks. The Flame Towers are completely covered with LED screens and every night the movement of a fire is displayed. There is a small mosque adjacent to it.
@Baku巴庫
@Baku巴庫
科布斯坦國家公園 Gobustan National Park. About 40 miles from Baku, Gobustan is a state reserve that has thousands of prehistoric rock carvings dating back to 5,000-20,000 years. Within the park there are also hundreds of mud volcanoes, formed as hot water below the Earth’s surface mixes with mineral deposits and forces upwards through a geological fault.
@Qobustan科布斯坦
科布斯坦國家公園 Gobustan National Park. About 40 miles from Baku, Gobustan is a state reserve that has thousands of prehistoric rock carvings dating back to 5,000-20,000 years. Within the park there are also hundreds of mud volcanoes, formed as hot water below the Earth’s surface mixes with mineral deposits and forces upwards through a geological fault.
@Qobustan科布斯坦
科布斯坦國家公園 Gobustan National Park. About 40 miles from Baku, Gobustan is a state reserve that has thousands of prehistoric rock carvings dating back to 5,000-20,000 years. Within the park there are also hundreds of mud volcanoes, formed as hot water below the Earth’s surface mixes with mineral deposits and forces upwards through a geological fault.
@Qobustan科布斯坦
舒服沙宮殿 Palace of the Shirvanshahs in Old City Baku, a 15th-century palace with a mosque, burial vaults, bath house, and relic displays.
@Baku巴庫
舒服沙宮殿 Palace of the Shirvanshahs in Old City Baku, a 15th-century palace with a mosque, burial vaults, bath house, and relic displays.
@Baku巴庫
阿塞拜疆地毯博物館 Azerbaijan Carpet Museum.
@Baku巴庫
少女塔 Maiden Tower, a 12th-century monument in Old City Baku.
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火燒山 Yanar Dag in the suburb of Baku, a natural gas fire that blazes continuously since the 1950s. Sort of like a smaller version of the Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan.
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蓋達爾阿利耶夫中心 Heydar Aliyev Center, a national history and art museum. The building is named after Heydar Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan between 1993-2003.
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阿塞拜疆服裝 The fabrics, patterns, and ornaments of Azerbaijani garments.
@Baku巴庫
阿塞拜疆服裝 The fabrics, patterns, and ornaments of Azerbaijani garments.
@Baku巴庫
蓋達爾阿利耶夫中心 Heydar Aliyev Center, a national history and art museum. The building is named after Heydar Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan between 1993-2003.
@Baku巴庫
蓋達爾阿利耶夫中心 Heydar Aliyev Center, a national history and art museum. The building is named after Heydar Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan between 1993-2003.
@Baku巴庫
蓋達爾阿利耶夫中心 Heydar Aliyev Center, a national history and art museum. The building is named after Heydar Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan between 1993-2003.
@Baku巴庫
古蘭經 The Quran.
@Baku巴庫
古蘭經 The Quran.
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蓋達爾清真寺 Heydar Mosque, a Shia Islam mosque in Baku suburb.
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阿塞拜疆口袋三明治 Azerbaijani pocket sandwich.
@Baku巴庫
阿塞拜疆地鐵 Azerbaijan metro.
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一級方程式格蘭披治 Upcoming Formula 1 Grand Prix in April.
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