Baku Dreamin'

Now that the weather's just about perfect here on the Barbary Coast, I seem to be thinking of places where I want to visit. This weekend I plan to final finish The Orientalist, which has much of its action centered around Baku. I've always been fascinated with Baku as a continental crossroads and a central point in the start of the First World War. I've heard that it's one of those places like Casablanca that are far romantic and exotic in legend and quite disappointing in reality. I'm willing to take the chance. What I've seen of the men from there, all the more reason to visit.

I've been to far more obscure places such as Ouagadougou, Huancavelica, Ha Giang, Belgaum, Deenabandu and Bobo Dialousou. But Baku and Caspian Sea have really been calling me. I guess you could say that it's the Houston of the former Soviet Union but with much nicer weather. And like Tulsa, it has remnants of great architecture from the first quarter of the previous century during its oil boom. I sort of wish I knew someone who has been there, but then that might take the fun out of it.\