A lada for all seasons

Am typing this from Baku where petrol is cheaper than water. Everything here is oil, there are puddles of it in the country side, loads of platforms off the coast and even the sea smells slightly of it. And everyone drives stupid big cars- there's even a 4*4 Lada!

Have spent the last few weeks in Georgia which is currently down as the friendlyest country in the world in my book- we've been wined and dined by random strangers and drunk homemade wine by the bucketload. They have a tradition of hugely elabourate toasts (although not with beer- you only toast your enemy with beer beacause the head of the church said so)- the best was from the artisitic director of Tiblisi Theatre who looked a bit like Ian Makellan and invited us to drink his wine; he offered up a toast to "England and Georgia not the best of friends but we both have Shakespere; as you like it, romeo and Juliet and the Tempest" not sure the Bard made it from Stratford to Tiblisi or wrote any of his works in Georgian but he defiantely had an impact here.

We spent a few days by the black sea; lovely and laid back with Cows wandering aimlessly on the roads and beaches before heading up into the mountains where we had a rather hairy ride through the passes and spent a few days throughing snowballs and toboganning around on our backsides.

Crossing to Baku we've definately left Christianity behind although they have a nicely relaxed interpretation of islam here; lots of cannodling in the streets and a surfet of bars. We're are currently trying to get a ferry ticket to Turkmenistan- they really dont want to sell us one!

anyway there are loads of Lada's here every where (threading through the sheep on the roads in Georgia and amoung the Landcruisers in Baku) have to go, next update from the stans!