Shimmer

By random coincidence I got in touch with the Strangeways crew travelling Asia with their fantastic Scania bus.

Our camp in Tavush region, close to Gosh.

How does 11 norwegians and a bus end up in Armenia?

They could do like strangeways with Attila the bus and drive through Norway – Russia – Kazakstan – Kyrgyzstan – China – Pakistan – India – Nepal – India – Pakistan – Iran – Armenia.

How did I manage to run into them?

Well actually Paul did last saturday; walking home he suddently heard some norwegian voices across the street. He looks at them, rubs his eyes, yup they are Norwegian. Paul woke me up a bit later from the noisy surroundings of Texas bar and tried to convince me to get out of bed and come for a beer.

Hooking up and tagging along.

I didn’t, but I caught up with them again on Sunday in a park in Yerevan. Chatting and slack-lineing revealed that these were cool people. Monday night turned in to a “sjøslag av de sjeldne” and on thursday me and Shoghik caught back up with them by Sevan.

Group picture before leaving Sevan. From upper left: Sason(?), Martin, Micha, Anders, Torkil, Micha’s wife, Ingrid, Guro, Bjørn Kjetil, Morten. From Down left: Lotte, Cecilie, Maria, Shoghik, Trygve, Micha’s friend(?)

We spent one night in Sevan, enjoying the sun, slack-line and the cold water.

Nothing is as good as fresh coffee cooked over the fire.

Enjoying the fresh air by Sevan

Bjørn KJetil displaying his flute and jumping skills with Morten in the background, by Sevan.

The locals.

Micha, a 70 year old man is employed national army to guard and watch over the area around where we parked. He and his friend Sason joined us at the bonfire at night and told tales from Armenia, and stories about their youth sailing with the Sovjet navy in the Baltic sea. On saturday morning they invited us over to Micha’s house for coffee and fish.

Sason looking at some birds in a nearby tree.

Sason talking about war and Azerbaijan

I asked Sason then of his opinion and views on conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He told us about how they lived intermixed Armenians and Azerberjanis in this area, close to the border before the conflict broke out. How they had to move from their village and further away from the border. He told us he still had sporadic contact with his Azerbaijanian friends.

Did he thing the conflict could be solved, the borders opened again? He didn’t give a clear answer, he talked about the bloodshed in Baku where Armenians were chased and slaughtered, and the brutality in Karabakh. He expressed that there have been too much blood and too many lives taken for there to be reconciliation in any close future.

Ooops, no more time to write…

Unfortunately I don’t have more time to write on this post now, so I have to say: To be continiued! Check out the pictures on Flickr

Now I’m off to the train, going to Tbilisi to meet with the IFRC and do some sightseeing this weekend.