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

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

We took a shared taxi with from Tbilisi all the way to Armenia’s capital, Yerevan. The route took us along nicely paved roads to the border, where crossing took about an hour, and then continued on the other side on not-so-nicely paved roads! After a year in Azerbaijan it felt a little like tasting forbidden fruit as we queued for our visas which, incidentally, are now available on the border for just US$10 for 12 days. The road wound its way through the green mountain gorges in Northern Armenia where we saw such sights as the derelict industrial factories, smoke-belching chimneys from those still functioning, the rebuilt village which was the epicentre of the dreadful 1988 earthquake and the town of Spitak with its curious boat standing before the earthquake memorial. Apparently the boat was built ... read more

Tomorrow I fly! Katie will join me on Saturday morning. My first week is supposed to be vacation time to visit with friends. I have told Gohar Palyan the Armenia Coordinator that I would be willing to work during that time if there is work top be done. We shall see.... read more

Just some general comments and pictures about how village houses are built around Yerevan, Armenia. The basic ingredients for foundation, walls, and floors are concrete and tufa (a calcium carbonate deposit). Fortunately for Armenia tufa is common, cheap, and comes in many colors, giving their towns and villages a much greater range in color and variety than other soviet style buildings in other parts of the world. The foundation is laid as a perimeter about 2 feet wide. The outside and the inside of the foundation are laid with some sort of course broken rock with at least one flat face. These are mortared together and the interior between is filled with concrete as the walls go up. They usually build the foundation up about 2-4 feet above the ground and then fill the interior of ... read more