"Mini World of MiniMe" Minashka's Profile

If I ever live to be this old, I want to be able to look back at my life and say "YES, I DID IT!" Time waits for no one... so live your day to the fullest and don't wait till tomorrow. No regrets! Life is cool... if you know how to enjoy it :))) I am enjoying every minute of my time on earth and look forward to the adventures it is going to bring. I think of life as a fun game - one day you lose, the next day you gain... of course you never know where you lose or where you gain but it all happens for a good reason... and if you do not forget that it's only a game, then you will truly enjoy playing it!
Anyway, these are my thoughts that I wanted to share with you and if some of you disagree or have other thoughts, I'd be more than happy to hear about them! I am a flexible person and always willing to listen and learn... I am, after all, Yang Fire / Earth Dragon (by Feng Shui horoscope). And one more thing I have learned is that smile will get you anywhere, so don't forget to smile everytime you look at the mirror :)))

tiny mini me

Just so you don't get confused by the picture of the old man, here is a picture of mine when I was about 2 years old. This is where I started... still going... and this is what I have to say...

Let there be peace on Earth!
Let there be love in people’s hearts!
I believe in god!

There is so much to learn still…
I don’t look for troubles, they somehow find me…
Always looking for an adventure…

Is there life after death?
Does real love exist?
Will I ever learn how to cook?

Icheri Sheher (the Old Town)

First of all, warm greetings to all my VT friends and welcome to my humble homepage :) I hope you will find at least some useful info on my pages and will enjoy the reading all the way!
This is Baku - my hometown. It's the capital of Azerbaijan, which is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. There's a mixture of European and Asian cultures here and that makes it a wonderful place to live and make friends.
Here you can walk through the narrow, cobbled streets of the Old City, see the children playing football, old ladies (agbirchek - white sideburns) with their heads covered giving odd looks to the half naked youth, old men (agsaggal - white bearded) playing backgamon or checkmate or simply having tea in "chaykhana" and definitely receive invites to one of the many carpet shops to "just take a look" at some beautiful, irresistible handmade Azeri rugs. At nights the waves of the Caspian Sea beating the steps of the Promenade will sing you lullaby while the walls of the Old City will tell you a story of thousands of years old and the 9th century Maiden Tower will protect your sleep... Life is at full swing outside the walls of the old town - many shops, restaurants, night clubs, tall buildings, seaside attractions add another flavor to city's everyday tale. Being a cosmopolitan city, especially in the last decade, Baku has become home for many foreigners, who are here to help us get oil from the Caspian Sea ;-) Tourism is not yet well developed in this area but Azerbaijan, with its 9 climatic zones out of 11, has always been an attractive place for a visit, so...
COME AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELF!!!

MiniMe

There is an old Azeri saying "Make a good deed and throw it in the sea. If the fish won't appreciate it, god will!" Ever since I learned this proverb, it became somewhat a motto of my lfie. I believe the main reason I am in this world is to help the less fortunate and those in need. I try to do it as much as I can - anytime or anywhere... Other than that, I think life is there to enjoy and take a full advantage of it :-) I love life and I love to have fun. Traveling by far is the most fun thing to do and that's why I am on VT in the first place. I think VT gives people like us even more opportunities to meet friends from all over the world, share ideas, exchange travel tips and express ourselves freely in our favourite travel topics. So a BIG thank you goes to VT!!!
Now, back to me... Where did I get this lust for travel? My father used to travel a lot when I was a child and the only time he took me along was when we went to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia together. But there were many more countries he visited and those I wanted to see, but he never again tagged me along :-( It wasn't because I would misbehave, but his were business travels and children were not allowed... So I promised myself that when I'd grow up, I'd travel everywhere and see everything there was to see! So far I have been able to keep my promise, although I do realize that it's almost impossible to see everything there is to see - may take another lifetime! But I have already traveled to many countries and not just once. Of course I have seen all of Azerbaijan (except for the territories occupied by the neighbour-enemy) as I believe one should start traveling from his/her own country first! Latin America and Southeast Asia are on top of my wish list and I hope to be able to travel there sometime in the near future. World is beautiful, there is a lot to see and a lot to learn and I really hope to do as much of it as I can-in my lifetime.

Marco, Minashka, Subria

No words can possibly express the love I feel for VT :))) I love being here, I love the VT community... guess I must first mention that VT for me is more than a Virtual Tourist. It's about friendship, it's about values, it's about respect and of course it's about love towards the Mother Nature! So my pages have more than just travel tips... I have shared other aspects of my life as well - without getting too personal ;-) I appreciate the time and effort the VT members put into their pages - I love them all! But please do not add me to your friends' list if you don't have any info on your pages or at least send me email before doing so. Please don't email me asking for my MSN or Yahoo messenger address, trying to "get to know" me better. This is not a dating site after all and I would appreciate to sticking to travel only topics.

Well I have been very fortunate to host a few VT-ers in Azerbaijan and I am also happy for the ones I met during my travels... here they are:

Sonbah / Soner - first VT-er I met! Soner, cok iyisin, hersey icin tesekkurler :-)
Purplekedi / Su - my bestest friend overseas! I think I brought her to VT ;-) I love you girl!!!
Mantus / Matt - VT-er who had dinner with me and my family here in Baku and is a VERY special friend :) Kishi, you rule! When are you coming back?
Ruffen / Siv - we met in Bodrum and had a great time! Siv, super birisin ;-)
Catdockev / Kevin and Matozbb / Matej - first VT-ers I hosted in Azerbaijan! Really enjoyed our outing :)
Simondupps / Rally - Sonbah and I met him and his wife in Cappadocia and then he came to VT looking for us :)
Cesarflor / Cesar - VT-er who comes to Baku often but I've only met once...
Subria / Alex - him and his friend Marco came to visit from Switzerland and brought me Swiss chocolates umm yummiieee :)
Astro363 / Charles - very interesting character stopping in Azerbaijan on his way to see the whole world ;-)
Wisconsinn / Erik - cool VT-er from DC... what an adventure trying to find him a hotel!
Antepson / Andreas - had fun looking for a lighthouse together, especially when we were stopped by the police in the metro :)))
Cloot1966 / Claude - after several attempts we finally met in Baku! Day filled with laughter and late evening adventure of getting to and back from the mud volcanoes ;-) Belgian Galler chocolates rule!!!
Claubarsa / Carlos - VT-er visiting all the way from Mexico! Carlusha, you have a great heart :)
FrankCanFly / Frank - first met in the States where he took me for a ride on his powered-parachute and we FLEW :) Then I had the pleasure of hosting him in Baku where we had hopefully as much fun! What a great person...
Still more VT-ers to come... cuz each one of them brings a whole different adventure!