Sorry, I'm working offshore at the moment and don't have any photos of Baku on my work computer. I did find a site with some decent photos, BakuPhotos.com | The best photos of Baku in the Internet, but of course they all make the place look nice. The ones under the "Industrial Baku" and "Oil Industry" links are a little closer to reality. The port cranes are pretty much the view that Death Star hotel would have.

Seriously, the city isn't all bad, but it does have some big problems with garbage, littering, sewage, traffic and air pollution. There's an amazing amount of construction going on, but it doesn't inspire much confidence. One has to wonder who's going to live in all these fancy highrise apartment buildings when the average income is only a couple hundred bucks. And what will they do with all the extra cars these building bring in, or how can the delapidated utilities systems accomodate an even higher population density. Not to mention the non-existant building codes. One 20 story building under construction collapsed a few months ago, killing several construction workers. I personally refuse to live in anything that hasn't already survived at least one earthquake. I hear they're putting in a bid for the 2016 Olympics. That will never happen, but if it inspires them to fix up the city, then it's a good thing.