Avtobus Fun

In the past two days, I’ve ventured into the world of public transportation. It’s incredibly, incredibly cheap (20 gepik, or about 27 cents, no matter how long you stay on the bus) and buses run very frequently. Buses are always an adventure. The ones I’ve been on have a single-wide row of seats on each side, leaving lots of room for standing and basically hanging on for dear life. You can hang onto the poles, you can hang onto the hand grips dangling from the ceiling, but by all means, you’d better be hanging on. Especially in the downtown sector. There are bus stops, but they are really just suggestions, since you can face traffic and wave your hand at any point in the bus route, and the bus will pull over to let you on. The same goes for stopping; if you want to stop, just rap a coin against the bus window to get the driver’s attention, then move your way to the front of the bus. You pay the driver as he lets you off. Except for the people who want the driver to take their money (and make change) as he’s navigating an intersection and pulling over, it’s all very efficient. The fun part comes in when the bus is stopped on the right side of the road and the cars in the left lane decide to turn right at the intersection, right in front of the bus as the light changes. Ever heard a car horn blaring? Yeah. Welcome to traffic in Azerbaijan.