Now this whole idea started around two months ago, not long after we arrived in Baku. With 30 days annual leave to use up in the space of six months I'd been looking at where we could fly for a week - my limit was 10 hours flight time, and preferably direct.

There were actually more options than I thought, but the majority of them were in central Europe - somewhere we could fly to in half the time and half the cost from England - so I was looking East, although not too far East, as that seemed to take a ridiculous number of travel hours.

And I spotted Beijing. Direct flight. Seven hours. Cheaper than flying from England. Not freezing cold. And that was that. I booked the flights.

But, oh my goodness, I never realised getting a visa would be so difficult. I'm not going to bore you with the whole story but it took two months and six visits to the Chinese Embassy to finally get them through.

Long story short…we're off to China tomorrow! Peking duck, the Great Wall,  the Terracotta Warriors…If you want to see a few of the sights we're aiming for, I made a Pinterest board. Just because.

Baku Prepares...to be blown away

This past Saturday we tackled the Baku metro for the first time, and it was every bit as scary as I had imagined. If it wasn't for a few policemen we'd have hopped straight on the wrong train to who knows where. Hand gestures and Google maps helped a treat.

Even at 9am on a Saturday morning it was packed every bit as much as a London rush hour tube, and believe me when I say I am not going to be trying it out again anytime soon.

We were headed to the Baku Prepares Mountain Bike Test Event which turned out to be a fun, yet windy, way to spend a Saturday morning. So windy in fact that they had to close part of the course so riders didn't get blown off the mountain.

Our new apartment

We've been in the new apartment for a week now, and we're enjoying having a bit more space to run around in.

It wasn't our first choice of apartment block {it's a little further away from work than the one we wanted to move into} and we were going to ask to wait until the other one was ready we're at least glad that we're out of the hotel!

The complex is beautiful - locals here call it the 'Disneyland of Baku' as it looks like a set of Florida holiday apartments all centred around a pool {although it's still to be treated with chlorine, so there's a green tint to the water at the moment}..

We've got two balconies, two bathrooms, our own washing machine, a dishwasher and, finally, an oven! So we have at least been eating some proper meals and getting a few more vegetables and relying less on the Chinese take away!

It's still not overly clean. It's brand new, but we've hovered and mopped the floors twice and still haven't been able to get rid of the builders dust. It'll get there.

The décor leaves a lot to be desired {like some Ikea Hemnes and Liatorp} - I'm not sure if it is the 'Azerbaijani' style or just the cheapest things they could find, but there is a lot of brown and grey, and all of the tables and wardrobes have the strangest fake wood grain I have ever seen. But I'm not as bothered as when I first walked in. I only have to look at it for another eight months...

*BREAKING NEWS* We're moving tomorrow!

Our bags are packed, once again, and we're off to our new apartment. Yay!

Paul's kittens

We went to Paul's Beer Garden for dinner one night last week - it is VERY popular among the internationals, and serves the best {possibly the only} BBQ food in Baku. We were lucky to get a table - last time we went, they laughed at us for not making a reservation before turning us away.

Anyway, there's a family of cats living there: a mum and her three kittens. And they are just the sweetest things. I spent more time playing with them than eating my rack of ribs. I just had to share these photos.

   

A bit of modern art in Baku

So Saturday didn't turn out quite as we'd planned. It's Qurban Bayramı here in Azerbaijan -  one of the national holidays {although international staff don't get it off work} - and we didn't quite realise, but everywhere we wanted to go was closed.

We'd planned on heading up to the Cultural Centre to pick up tickets for the car event taking place next weekend, and then on to the Modern Art Museum. But we didn't have much luck as the doors were locked for the holiday. We did manage to see the sculptures outside the art gallery though…

The skies are grey

After weeks and weeks of 30+ degree weather, it’s starting to look a bit more like Glasgow now! The temperature has dropped and this morning I had to unpack the UGGS. Dan is still deliberating whether to break open the vacuum packed bag of jumpers before we move. {An email was sent around saying that it was still going to be another 2-3 weeks before we can move in, despite what they said last week.}

There’s been a couple days of rain and some extreme wind – to the point where it hurts because things are flying and hitting you. So I’m thankful that we arrived when we did {even if I was complaining about the heat the first couple of weeks} because it meant we got to get out and explore. I do feel a bit sorry for the people arriving now because I think the summer is well and truly over until next year.

But I’m not complaining because we have some exciting adventures coming up between now and Christmas, which will take us out of Azerbaijan. So I’m in full planning mode at the moment, which I enjoy just as much as the holiday itself.

We’ve also got some weekends in between that we’ll fill with the museums and indoor activities that we’ve been holding off on. There’s also a neat looking car race at the Crystal Hall next weekend – tickets are free so we’re going to try and grab some tomorrow.