What is this huge mountain?
Despite being one of the highest mountains in the world (5,165m), and although it could boast no end for having Noah's arch buried in its eternal snow cover, Mount Ararat is a shy one. He was kind enough to show his face for a few minutes on my first day, letting me the chance to exclaim "What is this huge mountain over there!", and then quickly went back to his cloudy hiding place. So, here is one of my challenges for the coming months: taming Mount Ararat! It also happens that the icon of the Armenians is not even located in Armenia but is, since 1920, on the other side of the closed Turkish border. So, to add to my frustration, I will only be able to gaze at the giant from a distance. The trip from Ankara to Yerevan took about 5 days, through Trabzon, and the Georgian cities of Batumi and Tbilisi. I didn't expect to have to go through Georgia until I discovered that the Armenian/Turkish border was closed. Having heard a lot of good about Georgia, I was really glad to do this "little" detour. It gave me the chance to visit my former fellow student and dorm neighbour Shota, to test the limits of my stomach's expansion potential with some khinkali (the national food, steamed meat dumplings which name I can't even pronounce!), and to visit some of the main sights of Tbilisi. Sights of Georgia's high mountains and perched monasteries, as well as its delightful people and delicious food convinced me that Georgia is definitely worth more of my time!
Khinkali for 2
Tbilisi
One of this trip's highlights is surely the old Russian trains. Finally, I upgraded from the turkish buses for these old sleeping cabins. This way of travelling proved to be much more enjoyable, exciting and mostly comfortable (though I still have to get used to the train's bouncing and swinging!). I almost missed my first night train, the one which would bring me from Batumi to Tbilisi. There, after having got the assistance of a group of old biology professors (who told me that I looked Georgian! A victory for me after having tried to look local during the last 2 months!) I got a bed in a sleeping cabin with Ali, an Iranian man I had just met, and a big Georgian bloke, Piter. We quickly understood that Piter was actually the head of Georgia's chamber of corruption. He spoke little english, but we managed to communicate with the little linguistic common ground that we had. Piter turned out to be very outgoing, bordering on totally nuts. First, he saw a moskito and screamed: "corruption!". Later, after having taken a few pictures and learnt the words "send me" and "call me" he started to shout those sentences over and over again, along with some "babyyyy" and "oh my Goood!". With Ali replying even louder, me laughing, and Piter seasoning it all with some Christmas and Beatles songs, the situation quickly got out of control. The next morning, a few seconds after waking up, I hear a loud "call meeee!". That's the story of how I had one of the most crazy nights of my trip, locked in a train with an Iranian man and one of Georgia's parliament members. His voice is still in my head as I write, it's following me everywhere, when I go to bed, when I walk in the street, when I have breakfast... Believe me it's hard!
Ali and Peter
The night train to Yerevan was a much more relaxing experience. I shared my cabin with Valentina, an old Russian lady who tried her best to teach me the calendar months in her native language. I was really excited to be finally on my way for my final destination, full of curiosity and enthusiasm at the idea of discovering Armenia and eventually settling somewhere for a while.
Hasmik and me
In Yerevan, I called one of the girls I had been in contact with, who jumped in the first taxi to come and pick me up. An incredibly lively and kind 19 years old girl showed up, offering to give me a little city tour before bringing me to her aunt's place.
The modern and imposing buildings of republic square
Hasmik and her family made my day, offering me my first traditional food, nice chats and a good night sleep! The next day, we were off for a fat breakfast at a children candy store (which cost us a little euro for 2!), shoe shopping, Armenian language books and some sightseeing. Later that day, I met Ruz, the other girl I had communicated with before arriving to Yerevan. She offered me to stay at her place and give me help to find an appartment and internship/volunteering opportunities. She is THE girl I needed to meet, she knows the cool people, the tricks, and is a beautiful and very easy going person. Now, I am sick, but Ruz and her lovely mother take good care of me. So I spend my day learning armenian, eating and looking for work and housing! Oh, and I also stood next to Ruz 13 years old cousin while he was hacking one of the cameras of the giraffe cage of a Japanese zoo. Much love to all!





