It's Tuff being Armenian

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Hey y'all,

So just finishing my trip to Armenia, where if one was to visit one would note the two most famous things that Armenia are known for.

1. Monastries of which there are copious amounts stuck in the most precarious fashion around the stunning landscape.
2. Genocide, not quite as friendlier topic but still at the forefront of many peoples minds here, especially the Diaspora who come here for a taste of their homelands.
A lasting memory of this be that a good thing or not is that fact that modern borders drew Mt Ararat and the ancient capital of Armenia into Turkey. Not unsuprisingly either as there are little to no armenias still living here after being deported to the Syrian desert(1905-1918 ish).

An important point about all the displaced people (dirty killing) and battles (more acceptable killing) across history is that in the older times of empires and kingdoms the concepts of borders was loose and alot of the land was frequently invaded by multiple armies. To this end there has never been a modern Armenian state until post the Soviet era and there are a thousand land claims per country and now borders are more defined it's probably best to let sleeping dogs lie.

A few more interesting facts with similar political fire...
1. The turks refuse to open the border not the Armenians
2. The turks have offered to have a joint enquiry into the genocide that the general turkish population refuse to acknowledge but the Armenians have refused as it sounds too much like compromise on the truth.
3. There are too many proud peoples, which makes progress slow.

The title of this blog is a hilarious pun, tuff is the stone that practically every building is made out of! and relates to the politcal hotpot that is Armenia.

Apart from the turks they don't get on with Azerbaijan - and we had a little adventure that found this out. My friend's account is very good, here is the link...

http://journals.worldnomads.com/babs007/default.aspx

I think that may have sounded a little like a rant, un intentional as always. The Armenians are friendly and helpful, yet another tailor has fixed my trousers for free. The country is beautiful and the ladies stunning.

Georgia is next, then undecided


Timbo

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Photos

Sarah, Alex and Carolyn at Gosh
Another Monastary on our super car tour

Picking the Weeds
Carolyn and I cleared the garden of weeds to get a discount at the hostel.

T is for Tim
The 't' sound of the armenian alphabet

Hitchhiking Picnic
Some friendly guys taking us from Yerevan to Tbilisi at least a bit of the way.

The Mysterious Diego
In Yerevan