Where to start? So much in a week has happened and your probably wondering where I have been?
Well I took an unscheduled trip to Yerevan to do some follow-up on the adoption issues and in particular Siranush. I’m not going to give any details right now, since I have a bunch of other leads to follow (I hope this trail will end soon).
So what did I do on my off time? Well I visited many discos, Karaoke bars, clubs and restaurants. Not that I intentionally avoided my logger friends, but it just happened that way.
I had a few police stops, and one in particular ended with me almost getting tossed in jail (though I think the cop was only bluffing) and me almost calling the chief of the Armenia traffic police. Basically they stopped my driver and claimed that he crossed over a solid line, which he did not and me arguing with the cop and then pulling out my digital camera and taking a picture of the alleged line my driver crossed over and then taking a second picture that he and his bribe-taking buddy got in. They wanted me to erase the picture, which I refused and they said that they will take me to jail, which I accepted their invitation. Then I made a call on my cell phone to get the chief’s direct number and before I could call, they handed back my driver the cars documents and begged him to have me erase the picture. While I was talking to the chief’s friend to get the number, the cops asked my driver who I was and he played stupid and told them that he can’t tell them but said that night and day I’m in contact with high-ranking officials. He said that they were clearly uncomfortable and for that reason let us go.
The other police stops took place on the way to Gyumri and I was driving. They were pleasant stops that ended without any problems.
As for the discos and Karaoke bars, what is interesting and kind of sad is the very young and attractive Armenian prostitutes. One of them was quite aggressive, sent me a beer and offered her services, without taking into consideration I was sitting between the poison snake eating twin sisters.
My trip in all was very fun, but not all that restful, since we only got a couple of hours of sleep each night.
Of course if we don’t have an adventurous ending to a visit to Yerevan, then something is wrong.
Our trip ended with my driver coming across a rock slide in Lachin, which he was able to stop the car, but not until he had a chance to drive over a bunch of the larger rocks, ripping open the oil-pan and messing up the alignment on the car. Our luck would have it that not 30 seconds later, a car pulls up to help and who was driving the car? The former Martuni regional minister, who I had removed a couple of years ago. He stopped and asked what had happened and offered to take my driver to get a truck to tow the car.
They left and I coasted the car down to the Lachin check-point, where we waited for a couple of hours.
My driver came with an old truck that towed us all the way to Stepanagert at a cost of 24,000 dram and 25 liters of gas.
Then not that this was not enough of a grand ended to my trip, my truck driver and most recent godchild Lavrent who I had called to meet us the bottom of the hill that leads to Shushi on my cell phone just before the battery died, offers to take me to Martuni in a car that belongs to a friend of his.
We leave the car and drive on to Martuni. The car encounters electrical problems that cause the voltage to shoot up and was we are nearing Aghdam, the headlamps burn out. Lavrent, being a tank driver is use to driving under clandestine conditions and in the dark keeps our car on the road and all the way to my house.
To say the least, I’m exhausted and plan on taking a 2-day rest from everything to rid myself from the very dark circles under my eyes. This means that I probably wont be logging for a couple more days.
Other good news is that I got myself a mattress warmer, which is basically an electric blanket that you put under the fitted sheet. It’s great and only consumes the equivalent of a 60-watt light bulb. Last night when I got home, I lit the woodstove to take a nice long hot shower and got the room up to 80f. I then got in bed and this morning my room was and is 50f, but in my bed is a nice toasty 85f. I know there talk about magnetic fields and cancer causing effects to this little wonder, but until I get married, I’m just going to have to risk it, since being cold is not one of the things I like.
Well I took an unscheduled trip to Yerevan to do some follow-up on the adoption issues and in particular Siranush. I’m not going to give any details right now, since I have a bunch of other leads to follow (I hope this trail will end soon).
So what did I do on my off time? Well I visited many discos, Karaoke bars, clubs and restaurants. Not that I intentionally avoided my logger friends, but it just happened that way.
I had a few police stops, and one in particular ended with me almost getting tossed in jail (though I think the cop was only bluffing) and me almost calling the chief of the Armenia traffic police. Basically they stopped my driver and claimed that he crossed over a solid line, which he did not and me arguing with the cop and then pulling out my digital camera and taking a picture of the alleged line my driver crossed over and then taking a second picture that he and his bribe-taking buddy got in. They wanted me to erase the picture, which I refused and they said that they will take me to jail, which I accepted their invitation. Then I made a call on my cell phone to get the chief’s direct number and before I could call, they handed back my driver the cars documents and begged him to have me erase the picture. While I was talking to the chief’s friend to get the number, the cops asked my driver who I was and he played stupid and told them that he can’t tell them but said that night and day I’m in contact with high-ranking officials. He said that they were clearly uncomfortable and for that reason let us go.
The other police stops took place on the way to Gyumri and I was driving. They were pleasant stops that ended without any problems.
As for the discos and Karaoke bars, what is interesting and kind of sad is the very young and attractive Armenian prostitutes. One of them was quite aggressive, sent me a beer and offered her services, without taking into consideration I was sitting between the poison snake eating twin sisters.
My trip in all was very fun, but not all that restful, since we only got a couple of hours of sleep each night.
Of course if we don’t have an adventurous ending to a visit to Yerevan, then something is wrong.
Our trip ended with my driver coming across a rock slide in Lachin, which he was able to stop the car, but not until he had a chance to drive over a bunch of the larger rocks, ripping open the oil-pan and messing up the alignment on the car. Our luck would have it that not 30 seconds later, a car pulls up to help and who was driving the car? The former Martuni regional minister, who I had removed a couple of years ago. He stopped and asked what had happened and offered to take my driver to get a truck to tow the car.
They left and I coasted the car down to the Lachin check-point, where we waited for a couple of hours.
My driver came with an old truck that towed us all the way to Stepanagert at a cost of 24,000 dram and 25 liters of gas.
Then not that this was not enough of a grand ended to my trip, my truck driver and most recent godchild Lavrent who I had called to meet us the bottom of the hill that leads to Shushi on my cell phone just before the battery died, offers to take me to Martuni in a car that belongs to a friend of his.
We leave the car and drive on to Martuni. The car encounters electrical problems that cause the voltage to shoot up and was we are nearing Aghdam, the headlamps burn out. Lavrent, being a tank driver is use to driving under clandestine conditions and in the dark keeps our car on the road and all the way to my house.
To say the least, I’m exhausted and plan on taking a 2-day rest from everything to rid myself from the very dark circles under my eyes. This means that I probably wont be logging for a couple more days.
Other good news is that I got myself a mattress warmer, which is basically an electric blanket that you put under the fitted sheet. It’s great and only consumes the equivalent of a 60-watt light bulb. Last night when I got home, I lit the woodstove to take a nice long hot shower and got the room up to 80f. I then got in bed and this morning my room was and is 50f, but in my bed is a nice toasty 85f. I know there talk about magnetic fields and cancer causing effects to this little wonder, but until I get married, I’m just going to have to risk it, since being cold is not one of the things I like.
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