One of the best sites to experience while in Azerbaijan is undoubtedly the Atesgah Fire Temple. I've never been, but from the sound of this Lonely Planet guide description it seems phenomenal. The temple is built over a natural gas vent and is so saturated with gas and oil that flames spontaneously erupt from the ground. Among other things to see at the temple is, the Sanskrit and Hindi inscriptions on the onion dome. I'm not certain what the small-print in fire worshipping is, but just checking it out during a trip could be very neat.

Today's word is an Azeri word used in Azerbaijan:

babatdir - so-so (as in one's mood or being)

Azeri, also known as Azerbaijani, Azari, Azeri and Azeri Turkish is he official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, Iran is home for a majority of the Azeri speakers in the world. It is spoken in Russia's Republic of Dagestan, south-eastern Georgia, northern Iraq, and eastern Turkey. I wanted to present you with a better word for the first lesson in Azeri, but there are several with that upside down e and for me to try to give you one of those without the right character would cause too much confusion. Wiki has the lang background info and Azeri.org has some online lessons.
I'll be patrolling the web for more online sources.

Filed under: Learning, Asia, Azerbaijan