Best Eastern Arma Hotel Yerevan

Twice a year there is an Indian expo here in Yerevan, where you can find all kind of Indian things!
Though I've never been to India, every time I enter this expo, I feel like I'm already there!
Scarfs (silken, woolen, cachemire...),shawls, aromatic objects of all possible flavours, carpets, bedspreads, Indian seasonings, spices, cremes for skin, hair, knives and other supplies to kitchen, even their national colthing! In one word - everything you can imagine of India))

... January 6th), Old New Year(January 12-13) (I know it sounds strange). So actually we are celebrating New Year and Christmas until about 20th of January. Then we celebrate Armenia's Army day (28th January). After which comes Surb Sarkis (February 14th) which is Armenian variant for St. Valentine. Then comes Trndez (February 13th), includes jumping through the fire (don't be afraid it's fun).

Yerevan, Yerevan, Armenia eleoshka

... least. There's not much English here, but what there is, is good, and that's as much a feature of hostels as common rooms, kitchen, or Internet. So I make friends and watch them leave, chuckling to myself about the long-term hangers-on until I realize that I'm the old-timer here now. And I'm getting attached to objects floating down a river. I haven't worked out in a week either. You can't do that in a dorm room. It's time to leave, back to Turkey.

... here. "But I'm sitting right here!" She said you're not here and wouldn't let me buy a ticket. As I dejectedly started to walk back to the bus station, the driver muttered some words it was probably better I couldn't translate and called, "Come back. Sit down. It doesn't matter." I ended up with a seat to myself for the trip since I didn't have an assigned ticket seat like the people who came later and were allowed to buy a ticket since by then, the driver had ...

... to go about his work converting the country. In reality, the king probably saw the growing Christian population in his country as a good ballast against aggressive foreign powers (this king was also known for killing another Christian woman for refusing to wed him. Lovely soul...) To make things more complicated, St. Gregory's father had assasinated the king's father....(possibly making this not a religious grudge, perhaps?) The ...

... But at least LonelyPlanet claims there is a marshrutka #94 to Orchatala *starting* at nearby Borjomi train station. However it's a bit unclear where exactly and so before it comes I'm totally wet. Right after I get in, the downpour changes to just a rain. And so I undress and happily get into my secondary dry clothes. On the way the cars sometimes literally flows through the streets, surrounding buildings are being splashed two meters high. My ship lands at Orchatala...and it rains ...

... fought bitterly, with hundreds of thousands dead and mined and fortified borders. In Yerevan, churches are hidden behind large Soviet apartment buildings. Many others were destroyed, as poignantly shown at Katoghike. The old church was dashed with Soviet bullet wounds and the basilica that surrounded it was destroyed during revolutionary urban renewal times. In small Katoghike, I lit a few candles and the church lady gave me a bag of apples, insisting. Outside ...

... Ottoman Turks. John and I enjoyed our trip, but there was another side to it I'll have hard time admitting with some of my country folk. LOVE AND HATE Many thoughts ran through my head on this portion of the trip. Since I had been here in 1995, I did a lot comparing, and there were drastic changes here, mostly in the capital Yerevan. It was a love and hate thing for me...I don't think I appreciated their desire to be European so quickly ...

... i heimsokn og ekki veit eg hvenaer a ad drekka thad en ein tunna stod tharna einmanna og stok med otal eiginhandararitunum en thad er fridartunnan og i henni a ad standa thar til fridur verdur saminn milli Armeniu og Azerbajan. Eg vona thessara tjoda vegna ad thetta brandy verdi ekki 70 ara. Eins og sannir islendingar versludum vid svo i verslun stadarins thegar skodunarferd var lokid og thar sem verslunin var ...

... more time at the orphanage since none of us were hungry anyways! After dinner, we went back to the church near the music conservatory and saw a performance of some of the youth. They sang, danced, spoke, recited scripture, and even sang a little bit in English! It was nice to see the youth sharing their love for God with us. Then, it was another long bus ride back to Yerevan. It seems a lot of our time is spent that way. We were pretty much all exhausted and went to bed ...