Sunday, July 27, 2008

Armenia... finally!!!

And so we finally arrived in Armenia, but of course not without a heap of adventure along the way. I'm never going to have time to explain everything in detail, as we rarely find internet, let alone having the time to use it. So here's a brief run-down of what's happened since Batumi:

We got the overnight train from Batumi to Tbilisi, spending the night in a sleeper for 4 people with 2 other women and their 4 children. So EIGHT people in a sleeper for four. Though they offered us some guilt food as an apology for the constant crying through the night.

Tbilisi was interesting. Like Batumi, loads of contrast between the rich and [mostly] poor areas. Houses falling down and roads with massive craters in the middle of them, and then lavish foutains, light-shows and beautiful architecture on the other side of town. Everyone kept telling us how wonderful Georgian hospitality was but everyone we met was really freakin rude. Where was all this friendliness?

The next day we got a marshruyka - a overpacked mini-bus 2.5 hours to a small, tiny village called Kazbegi - well-known for the iconic church on the 2,200 metre mountain. On our way up the mountain with our heavy, heavy packs we saw some guys gathered around a make-shift table, preparing a cauldron and only just beginning to skin a freshly killed lamb. "Tired?" they yelled out and called us over. They insisted we sit down and join them for their feast of boiled lamb & georgian bread, cheese and wine - LOADS of wine. Every time they wanted a drink they would fill their cups to the brim, make a serious toast and then finish the cup in one gulp, expecting us to do the same. Though Claudia and I insisted in taking little sips. A couple of hours later we finished out climb and camped by the Church on top of the mountain, happy that we finally experienced the Georgian hospitality

The next day we got another marshrutka to Armenia. It was enroute to Yerevan (6 hours) and the driver wanted about 30 euro for the pair of us. We wanted to go to a small village called Kobayr to check out the ruins of a convent and managed to negotiate it down to 12 euro for the 3-hour journey - it was ALL the Georgian money we had left. The driver just said, "Give me what you have," though we stashed a couple of bucks in out pockets to buy water and toilet entry.

We were dropped off on the side of the road in Gyumri where 3 Armenian guys were sitting and eating. Hearing that I was an Armenian from Australia they immediately called us over and inisited we join them for dinner - filling our plates without even asking if we were hungry or not. They were from Yerevan, the capital, and exchanged details for us to meet them when we head over. And if I read his ID card correctly, one of them happened to be the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

Last night we camped next to Sanahin Church, and today we met some people there who took us to Haghpats Church and then organised a free ride for us to Vanadzor - which used to be called Girovagan - which is where we are now. We plan to head to a place called Gyumri today, but let's see.

Of course there was not one place where something wierd, freaky, exciting or scandalous didn't happened, but I must log-off and head on while there is still light.

I'll try to update on the village scandal we uncovered in Kobayr, but no time at the moment. Love to you all!

posted by Ara Sarafian at 12:46 PM

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Forbidden Ani

Leaving Vandzor we hitch-hiked to Gyumri. A bus full of workers stopped by and welcomed us into the little mini-bus. Like everyone else in Armenia so far, they were ecstatic to have a foreigner in their midst - not to mention an Armenian from Autralia. So they talked with enthusiasm and eyes as bis a saucers. They put on some Armenian music really, REALLY loud and all started standing up and dancing in the little bus, as it was driving and serving - encouraging us to do the same. When we got to Gyumri we found out they were all police officers on work outing with their families.

The police were paranoia about us camping in Gyumri and so they insisted that we stay in a guest house. They drove us to a nice, cheap place and wished us the best. They next day we tried to go to Ani -Armenia's old capital city, from the Middle Ages. Everybody we met told us it is impossible to go there: the receptionist at the hotel, her co-worker, the owner (who drove us to the bus station), the bus driver, a few taxi drivers, a woman on the bus, her son, a random kid on a bike in the village near-by where we were dropped off, and the Armenian official who oversees the whole Ani area. Apparently you need official papers to see Ani. It's actually beyond Armenian soil. It's technically Turkish soil, so the border is protected by Armenian and the more-serious Russian soldiers (who are they in a vested interest to keep an eye on Turkey and Armenian in their pockets). Of course we knew none of this so we were optimistic - and I was confident the universe would find a way.

Surely enough, as we started hitch-hiking the 5 km form the nearby village to the border an Armenian family from Belgium stopped to pick us up in their swish 4WD. They had the same idea and the conviction to get a look at this ghost town. They drove us to the border, sweet-talked the young, Armenian soldiers with kind words and bags of fruit and were granted 30 minutes to take a look. It was a really bumpy road, so by the time we got there we only had minutes to satiate our eyes and take some photos from afar, next to the sign which said, "Photos and Video are Strictly Forbidden." We gave the soldier from the lookout tower a bag of fruit and returned hence-forth. Unfortunately, when we arrived back at the border check-point, the Russian soldiers had also arrived and weren't too happy with out. So they confiscated our passports amd we had to wait until the officer in charge arrived from Gyumri to determine whether we were dangerous or not. This was a 3 hours wait of not knowing what the heck was gong on, as everyone was speaking Russian. Gago, the father of the family whispered to us, "delete all your photos and film." I figured we better satisfy his request seeing that if it wasn't his sweet talking we never would have seen this amazing site.

The officer came. He was Armenian and thought everything was pretty funny. I think he quite liked me, so I asked him for a lift back to Gyumri. He said no. Poo! I turns out we had actually misread something in the Lonely Planet guide which said we might be able to get in to see Ani if we sweet talked the soldiers. When we read it again later we realised it was talking about a VIEWPOINT in a completely different area. Oops

posted by Ara Sarafian at 2:11 PM

Yes the viewpoint is much to the south were you were and many people go there to have a look from far legally. In the historical museum at the Republic square of Yerevan, there is a big reproduction of the city of Ani as it looks today. This is the lower side of the museum, at your right when entering, and not in the gallery section upstair. Also while you are there and have already paid the ticket which includeds the lower left side, there you will see a reproduction of the round Zevatnos temple as it looked in 600 AD.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Update

We spent the next day in Gyumri as well - invited into many peoples' homes for tea, coffee and force-feeding. We spoke to many people about the 1988 earthquake which killed about 100,000 people and met some really interesting people, including one guy we spent a few hours with talking about Armenian like, society, culture, pollitics, corruption and the Karabakh war, at which he was a soldier.

I keep saying "the next day" but I have completely lost track of days and don't even know what day it is today. Only that it is day 2 of our travels. So...

The next day, we came to Yerevan - a completely different place to what we have seem so far. Women are always dressed to impress, as are the men with their ridiculously pointy shoes. Most things are very modern and new, and the whole city seems to be in a state of development. I have a conspiracy theory that they might be working towards an Olympic bid, haha.

We stayed in Yerevan for 5 nights, trying to see all the things that I'd only seen pictures of when I was a student at Armenian school. A couple of days ago we went to Khor Virap to get the best possible eyeful of the iconic Mout Ararat, which now lies in Turkey, and yesterday we got a Marshrutka to Byurakan and then hitch-hiked to Kari Lich, from where we intended to climb the southern peak of Mount Aragats. The ride we actually got was like a ride from heaven. It was the most unbelievable hospitality. The patriotic family took as to Kari Lich, explaining everything about the area along the way. They then invited us to a lunch that I imagine was far better than any king every had, and handed us food supplies for our trek and stay on the mountain (enough food for 2 days!). Andranik, the father, even told a yezdi boy on a horse to carry our things to the summit, but we kindly declined.

So last night we slept on the southern peak on Mt Aragats, at about 3,900 metres above sea level. When we came down the mountain we were met by more hospitality by another family who insisted on force-feeding us, haha. We then hitched a ride close to Yerevan, which is where we are now. Tomorrow we plan to go to Noravank and then head to Goris, Tatev and then to Karabakh.

posted by Ara Sarafian at 3:34 PM