In Qalax he has another of his hotel hunt sagas. This time asks for directions... walk where supposedly the hotel is... find nothing... asks again... is sent back in the same direction. Finally he goes building by building insuring that it's NOT the hotel.

He comes across a crumbling, abandoned Soviet era structure . No way. That can't be it. he checks it out. Knocking and waiting until an old lady walks up the dim, grey hallway.

Sure enough. It is a hotel. Looks like it hasn't been maintained--or cleaned--since the Soviets left. He's given a full size "suite" with he own living room and even a couple couches... for a very reasonable price. No water though... apparently the bills haven't been paid in quite some time.

Quite an amusing way to finish up his Azerbaijan adventure... in an abandoned Soviet hotel!

Going out to the plaza, He meets a couple older fellows who invite him for tea. Very respectable fellows--one a teacher, the others engineers--but still no English.

They still manage to chat a little. One of them tells him he's from Armenia... The Traveler is quite surprised... No, he's not Armenian--he was just born there back when, of course, it all was one country, the Soviet Union .

Conclusion

He ponders on all that he's experienced over these last couple of weeks. It's been a fascinating adventure--well worth the money he spent to get here. Here I was able to see Islam from a completely different angle... I saw a culture where respect for the elderly, respect for women, self-respect are very strong, in spite of people's limited means... I experience hospitality around every bend. Although I did see some disturbing things, the good definitely outweighed the bad in this culture.

He still can't quite figure out if this is a European, Middle Eastern, Persian, ex-Soviet or Central Asia country. I'm going to say it leans more towards Middle Eastern, despite it's many un-Middle Eastern qualities. But it's definitely a mix of all of these.

Goodbye Azerbaijan.