West Asia

Articles from this Category

The Black Sea riviera

I took a taxi to Dudube metro station for GEL4 (about NZD3) this morning.  It seemed crazy that it cost only GEL4 when the taxi to my nearest metro station was GEL3 and I’d then need the hassles of using the metro.  Even better, the taxi dropped me at the correct part of Dudube station […]

Read more

Stalin’s birthplace

Many people come to Georgia for the hiking in Svaneti and Kazbegi. I’m not going to kid myself that I’d enjoy that for more than an afternoon. And it is stinking hot; those snowy peaks in the ads won’t be seen for a few months I reckon. I also didn’t have much time for that, […]

Read more

Cave monasteries

While the hostel was full last night, it cleared out suddenly. I had my 4-bed dorm to myself last night. That’s great except that the out-of-town tours haven’t reached a quorum. I had written off the idea of going to the rock monasteries at Davit Gareja by public transport as it involves chartering a taxi […]

Read more

Exploring Tbilisi

The Envoy Hostel is adjacent to the old city which made it really handy for walking around. I took in the synagogue and various churches from the outside; the requirements here for entering churches differ from that in Armenia. Here, men are required to wear long trousers. Women are required to cover their head and […]

Read more

From Armenia to Georgia

Taking the easy option To go to Tbilisi in Georgia, I could have taken public transport. A minivan would take around 6h. But the hostel had a door-to-door service (to their hostel in Tbilisi) which included several sights along the way. This seemed a time-economical way; I’d save a day doing that. We left about […]

Read more

Holy See; the other one

I woke up really worn out today, considering I had such a great night sleep. Maybe it was the single glass of wine last night (the first in 2 months) or the meat (first significant intake after 3 weeks in India). I couldn’t face going to Dilijan by public transport (which would take some 3h […]

Read more

Lakes and monasteries the easy way

With limited time in Armenia, I chose to do a tour with the hostel which covered several sights. It’s the easy way; it would take me at least two days to cover the main attractions included here if I had taken public transport, and their deal includes some lesser sights too (and lunch and entrances). […]

Read more

Genocide museum

After breakfast in the hostel, I shared a taxi with some others to Tsitsernakaberd (Armenian Genocide Memorial & Museum) which was located on the fringe of the city centre up a hill. Strangely for such a significant site, it opens only at 1100 but luckily we knew that and didn’t set off too early. We […]

Read more

World’s first Christian nation

Leaving Delhi My taxi collected me at 0045. Leaving the Paharganj area at that time was interesting. Being a summer evening, there were people sleeping on tables, stalls, tricycles and beds (on the road). The journey to the airport only took about 30 minutes. Check-in had already opened when I got there 3h prior to […]

Read more

Reflections before leaving Oman

Upon landing in Muscat at 2325 I made my own way to Ammi and Salome’s place. They had kindly done some of my laundry during my few days away. Unfortunately I must have left a piece of tissue in one of the pockets and it left bits through the load, but Salome tidied it all […]

Read more
Go top