Right north of Baku is a sister city, Sumquyit. The Traveler was thinking of walking there, but he didn't enjoy trudging around the wasteland surrounding the city. So he's just going to make a quick stop there on his way. As they pass the perimeter of the city past some massive industrial complex, he gets off by the side of the highway.  "I suppose I could try to get some sort of local transport, but no, I'm going to try walking to the city." he thinks
Problem is it looks like there are lagoons, marshes and hulking industrial structures blocking the way, but he continues on, determined to find a way . Finally, along the rail tracks it looks like Iike there's a dirt road that might, might take him where he wants to go. Along the way, he gets a glimpse of some true Azerbaijani slums clustered next to the marshes which look really polluted. The grandeur of Central Baku feels like a million miles away.  
When he reaches a large cemetery he heaves a sigh of relief. Cemetery means I'm approaching civilization, right? Oil is king even here, with pipelines running right among the tombs.
Cemeteries often give little clues about the culture, and Azerbaijani cemeteries are no exception. Here a tombstone usually includes a life size portrait of the deceased etched into the stone. No, not just the face--the whole body. It seems here it's very important to preserve an image of what the person looked like in the prime of his or her life.
Finally he reaches the city, and instead of scattered slums, there are endless dreary Soviet style apartment blocks. Sumqayit is the first time that he's reminded that, yes, this used to be the Communist Soviet Union.