Blogs from Yerevan, West, Armenia, Asia - page 5

Thursday, September 1, 2011 - Yerevan, Armenia After 17 days and 6,800 kms on dirt roads through the mountains, combined with our final night celebration party, I'm exhausted!!! I was up at 6am, took Shelly to the Airport, and went back to bed until 11am, then joined the remaining Team members in the lobby. As you probably know, this whole Challenge was to benefit the Armenia Mission - an NGO that helps refugees from the war, earthquake victems, and the poor and homeless. Attila (our Leader) organized a visit to a refugee school in North Yerevan. We jumped into our cars and convoyed to the school. We entered to school armed with toys, clothes, school supplies and checks. There were about 30 children aged 5 - 15. They were very quiet and didn't quit know what ... read more

From August 13th to August 15th... read more

Wir hatten viel von Armenien erwartet und unsere Erwartungen sind nicht enttäuscht worden. Auf den ersten Blick wirkt Jerewan recht russisch, doch bald stellt man fest, dass sich armenisch und russisch doch stark unterscheiden. In der Stadt wird viel gebaut, die schwierigsten Zeiten, in denen die Armenier isoliert und mit Kerzenlicht auskommen mussten, sind definitiv vorbei. Aber es könnte besser sein. Die Blockierte Situation mit der Türkei und Aserbaidschan ist stark beeinträchtigend für die Wirtschaft (alle Grenzposten geschlossen), Armenien könnte unserer Meinung nach ein oder das Handelszentrum auf dem Kaukasus sein. Seit in Georgien die Mafia nicht mehr am Ruder ist, kommen die Transporte aus Russland wieder bis auf Armenien. Der Handel mit dem strategisch wichtigsten direkten Handelspartner Iran blüht und ist unverzichtbar. Wir fühlten uns wohl in Jerewan, obwohl z.B. uns ... read more

My options of getting to Armenia from Iran were somewhat limited. I could either take an overnight bus from Tabriz which would involve the extended bureaucratic bollocks at the border and twenty seven hours without sleep. The alternative in my head was to cross into Turkey and then quickly into Armenia - but their borders are closed (what with the rather silly argument over the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago). The only other viable option was to take a bus back down to Tehran and get on a plane to the Armenian capital - that also might be my last (the previous summer a flight on the Tehran-Yerevan route had fallen out of the sky killing everyone on board). I opted for the coach which I knew would be a test of endurance. In Tabriz, the ... read more

I finally found a computer that would allow me to actually see the pictures before posting. I am sorry if you got this message twice. Today, I had a problem in that the language was in Georgian. It took me awhile to figure out what to do. Everette... read more