Armenia

Raffi Kojian at Cilicia.com’s Life in Armenia has an albeit short post on Armenia’s ranking by the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation which once again paints a rosy picture of the climate for investment. Still, it appears as though the rankings are more based on legislation passed rather than actual investment or indeed, […]

Sevan Monastery, Gegharkunik Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2001
After the New York Times recently highlighted an increase in tourism in the neighbouring Republic of Georgia, Eurasianet reports on the same trends in Armenia. Both are now set to advertise their countries on CNN. As usual, the article comes from RFE/RL’s […]

With the local infrastructure for tourism around Armenia’s Lake Sevan too expensive for what it offers, the Institute of War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) reports that more locals are choosing Georgia’s Black Sea resorts for their vacations instead. Not only are Batumi and Kobuleti meant to be cheaper than the equivalent in Armenia, he service, […]

Noravank, Vayots Dzor, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Habitat for Humanity 2006

Noravank, Vayots Dzor, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Habitat for Humanity 2006

As Batumi in the Republic of Georgia prepares for a massive influx of local and foreign tourists, Noyan Tapan reports that a Yerevan-Batumi train service started operation on 17 June. Last year, attracted by more competitive prices, better service and tourism infrastructure, and a nicer climate than Lake Sevan, at least 10,000 Armenians visited the […]

Sevan Monastery, Gegharkunik Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2001
Civil. ge reports that the Georgian government will spend $100,000 on advertisements to be aired on CNN in order to promote tourism to the country. A further €60,000 will be spent on advertising on Euronews. This follows a decision made last year […]

The New York Times has an interesting article on tourism to the Black Sea holiday resort town of Batumi in the Republic of Georgia. According to the article, over 300,000 tourists are likely to visit this part of Armenia’s northern neighbor in 2006. However, the growing popularity of Batumi for vacations has come at a […]

A month ago an old friend from London contacted me with regards to designing a web site to promote sustainable and ethical tourism to the mainly Kurdish-inhabited town of Dogubayazit on the other side of the Turkish border near Mount Ararat. As I believe that sustainable and ethical tourism is vital for developing countries I jumped at the chance, and not least since there are precious few projects of a similar nature in Armenia.

Dogubayazit is a Kurdish town in Turkey that has suffered more than most from decades of war and under investment. With the changing political environment that has come over the last 6 years there is now the opportunity to develop tourism to this town that has so much to offer and we are proud to be involved with this project.

Anyway, the site has just gone live and there’s even been some press coverage about the larger intiative to attract ethical tourism to Dogubayazit in the Kurdish media.

Initiatives to improve tourism give yields in Agri’s Dogubeyazit District which contains many historical and natural places like Ishakpasa Palace, Ehmed-e Xani Tomb, Priest’s Garden, fortress remained from Urartus, Nuh’s Ship, Meteor Hole, Ice Caves, Agri Mountain. Maintanance works continues in the road leading to Ishakpasa Palace. Also works of forestation near Tomb of Ehmed-e Xani picked up speed. One thousand unit saplings were planted around Ishakpasa Palaca and Tomb of Ehmed-e Xani.

[…]

Mukaddes Kubilay, chairman of Dogubeyazit, said that they prepared several projects to develop tourism in the region. Stating that he held negotiations to improve tourism in the visit he made to England, Kubilay, said that ‘’ A corporation will be build up to attract foreign tourists to here, this work will center around representing the district and our historical places.’’

There’s still some tweaks to do to the site, but the site is pretty much complete at this stage and can be accessed at http://www.noahsarkholidays.com. Incidently, I had designed and implemented a site to promote sustainable tourism to Armenia, but it’s currently offline. Anyway, if you were thinking of visiting Eastern Turkey this year, take a look.

Taj Mahal, Agra, Republic of India © Dihrad 2004

By Headache

I have a feeling that I am in the most spiritual place in the world, which is full of miracles and danger. It is not you who enjoys or hates India, but rather it is India that might take you up and provide you with inexpressible feelings or…

Before visiting India, one of my friends told me it is said that there are two categories of people. The first consists of those that have seen the Taj Mahal, while the second consists of those who have not.

Now I can say proudly that I belong to the first group. Two days ago I saw the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal (Hindi: ताज महल, Persian & Urdu: تاج محل) is a monument located in Agra in India, constructed between 1631 and 1654 by a workforce of more than twenty thousand. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned its construction as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, who was known as Mumtaz Mahal.

The Taj (as it is often called) is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Hindu and Persian architectures. The Taj has achieved special note because of the romance of its inspiration. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj is actually a complex of elements.

We woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning and I was very excited as our car made its way to Agra although that didn’t disturb me from observing all the beauty of India through the the windows.

At this moment, I feel unity with nature.

In Agra, it is very crowded and even before reaching the entrance to the miracle, we were mobbed by people offering us souvenirs and other gifts to buy — especially albums with photos of the Taj Mahal.

They were very tiresome.

There were also guides offering their help, and ours was very proud to tell us the story of the greatest monument to Love. He has worked here for years, like his father and grandfather before him.

I am jealous. He sees the Taj Mahal every minute, every hour, and every
day — from sunrise to sunset.

“The white marble of the Taj is extraordinarily luminescent and even on dull days seems bright. In winter it is worth being there at sunrise. Then the mists that often lie over the river Yamuna lift as the sub rises and casts its golden rays over the pearl white tomb. Beautifully lit in the soft light, the Taj appears to float on air. At sunset, the view from across the river is equally wonderful”.

Footprint India, Matt Barrett & Annie Dare

To India’s Nobel Laureate post, Tagore, the Taj a “tear drop on the face of humanity”, a building to echo the cry “I have not forgotten, I have not forgotten, O beloved” and its mesmerising power is such that
still no one comes away disappointed.

Shah Jahan, fifth of the Great Mughals, was to devoted to his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahak (Jewel of the Palace) that he could not bear to be parted from her and insisted that she always travel with him, in all states of health. While accompanying him on a military campaign, she died at the age of 39 giving birth to their 14th child.

On her deathbed, it is said that she asked the emperor to show the world how much they loved one another.

The grief-stricken emperor went into mourning for two years. He turned away from the business of running the empire and dedicated himself to architecture, resolving to build his wife the most magnificent memorial on earth. On the right bank of the river Yamuna in full view of his fortress palace, it was to be known as Taj-I-Mahal (The Crown of the Palace).

According to the French traveller Tavnier, work on the Taj commenced in 1632 and tool 22 years to complete, employing a workforce of 20.000. Myths and controversy surround the Taj Mahal. On its competition it is said that the emperor ordered the chief mason’s right hand to be cut off to prevent him from repeating his masterpiece. Another legend suggests that Shah Jahan intended to build a replica for himself in black marble on the other side of the river, connected to the Taj Mahal by a bridge built with alternate blocks of black and white marble.

Footprint India, Matt Barrett & Annie Dare

The Taj Mahal is a miracle, which always will remind people that love may last forever.

Love is all we need…

For some reason I always wanted to work as a waitress. While the roots of such a desire are yet to be explored, I was happy to finally find a waitressing job in Yerevan last summer. Of course, I did not last more than seven working days with their crazy schedule and the pressure to quit the job.

Now, there is something very wrong about Armenian perceptions of the service industry in general, and waitressing in particular. Apparently, it is not half as shameful to waste your daddy’s money as it is to work as a waitress.

In fact, one of my friends tried to convince me to give it up, because it is beyond pride “to serve.”

Others were more supportive, but they still never liked the idea because there is this image of a waitress being somewhat “easy.” This was used as an argument by the same friend to keep me away from the job. There are men for whom waitresses are not much different from prostitutes.

And if you ever wondered why Armenian waiters and waitresses do not smile, maybe I can shed some light on the issue. First, it is virtually impossible to find a part-time waitress job here in Yerevan. As a rule, the job starts in the morning and ends late at night. Thus, on the average the working day lasts for 13 hours. With a work schedule like that by the end of the day you are anything but smiling.

Of course, there is a reason for this — namely that during the daytime there are not as many customers, and since waiting staff mainly rely on tips, nobody would prefer a slow daytime to busy evenings. Of course, there is solution as well, and perhaps a few restaurants do hire part-time workers after all, but from what I can judge, it is not a common practice.

Secondly, nobody was really happy with their jobs where I worked . It is hard to be happy waiting on people for 13 hours a day, and it seemed that I was the only one enjoying what I did. The only reason and motivation for the work for everybody else was the good pay — as on a average day you can make around 4,500 thousand drams — and the acute need for money.

They could not grasp the idea of being able to find another job and yet wanting to work as a waitress. However, and while it might sound strange, there’s something about serving food to people. It’s hard to explain, I guess.

It was educational certainly. For example, the owner of the restaurant used to dine out with his friends quite often, and whenever he would order we had to tell the cook it was his order to make sure that it was madeboth fast and of a higher quality. This came as a complete surprise to me. I would think that the owner of a restaurant shoud care about their customer, and therefore his own profit, more than anything else.

Guess not. A customer can wait for his food, and why not compromise on the quality of the food for a customer? And this is a privately owned business, mind you, so it kind of gives you a picture about how bad the situation is at the governmental level. Anyway, looking back at my time spent as a waitress there is a couple of things that I have learnt.

First, I now tip more generously than before, but more importantly, what it feels like to be a waitress in Armenia. Even now, I envy every waitresses when I go out.