Armenia

Armenia is a country in Western Asia, as the whole of the Caucasus sometimes also called a part of Europe or the unofficial cultural border between the Western world and the Orient.

Hitchhiking here is very easy, and safer in comparison to Turkey. Hitchhiking here is done by waving your hand to the ground to an oncoming car, but sticking out your thumb works just fine as well. Some drivers might want to charge some money and sometimes you might get picked up by unmarked taxis without knowing - however, if before you get into the car you make clear you are not going to pay you can avoid misunderstandings at the end of the ride. Hitchhiking in Armenia is also for locals one of the best ways to get around. Public transport is not very good and only goes to bigger cities, and the mini-vans are usually overcrowded. That is why people hitchhike a lot. The fun thing about this is that you can find yourself hitchhiking with, for example, an elderly couple of around 80 years old. The other side of this is that people usually give a small amount of money to thank the driver. When you're not planning on paying, tell the driver beforehand. Prices are usually around 500 dram (<1 euro) per 50 km.

The main point of consideration is the poor road conditions, altitude changing and cars that brake down quite often. This means despite the fact that the country is small (so no extreme huge distances) and the people will pick you up fast, you should not calculate with traveling very fast by hitching.

Sleeping
In most of Armenia one can put up a tent and sleep comfortably. Do be cautious however about pitching a tent near the Azeri border especially in the North East, where a section of the road is technically the border! It is sometimes possible to stay with Armenians, but they are often unwilling hosts. The nation's Kurdish population, on the other hand, is extremely hospitable.

Cheap but adequate hotels cost 5,000 to 6,000 dram, and it is possible to bargain at hotels. Monasteries are more often than not mere cultural monuments, and not permanently inhabited by monks. At night, guards makes sure everyone leaves.

Border Crossings
There are three border crossings with Georgia, through the towns of Ninotsminda (Georgia), Dmanisi (Georgia) and Bagratashen (Armenia). There is frequent traffic between these countries, especially between Yerevan and Tbilisi. The Bagratashen-crossing won't give you much trouble - border guards are OK and it will most probably take you less than 10 minutes to cross it.

It is not possible to cross the border to Turkey or Azerbaijan. Near the border to Azerbaijan there can be unsecured fields of land mines and sometimes the conflict at this border escalates.

Armenia has one border crossing with Iran, Meghri. You have to be a bit careful on this border, if you are hitchhiking from Iran, as there is 5 kilometers of forbidden zone, which means that it's only possible to move there by transport. Border guards might force you to take a taxi if you try to walk across.

Getting in
Most EU- citizens and US- citizens need a visa to enter Armenia. Don't worry, it is very easy and cheap to obtain one. You do not have to have one in advance but you can get it at the border. The border guards will give you a form to fill out. The visa itself will cost 3000 AMD (EUR 6) for 21 days. 5 minutes after you gave the form and the money you will get a nice visa.

'''From the 10th January 2013 on EU Citizens DO NOT need a visa for Armenia anymore. You can stay visa-free up to 180 days.'''

Check this website to see if you need a visa for Armenia.

One can be subject to more attention and interrogation with an Azerbaijani visa in the passport. Turkish stamps are in general no problem.

isin: Western Asia

Armenien



Language
As in majority of Caucasus, but even more, vehicular language is Russian. You really hardly will find people speak English, but if you speak Russian you won't have any problem to make yourself understood by people, of any age. Armenian language is quite hard, both in pronunciation and vocabulary. As Fedecicco didn't speak Russian, he had to learn it a bit, as for Georgian. Here some useful words:


 * Baref - Hello
 * ur es kenu? (oor ais kainoo?) - Where do you go?
 * Pokh - money
 * pokh che? - for free?
 * arnunitencha? (arnooneetainchah?) - What's your name?
 * vorteghr e ... ? (vortaighr ai..?) - Where is ..?
 * ...ka/chka? - Is/isn't there ....?
 * joor - water
 * atz - bread
 * meerk - fruit
 * hesht - easy
 * dehjvar - difficult
 * yerp? - when? which? what?
 * inchpesh? how
 * inchoo? why?
 * araj - before
 * ima - now
 * heto- later
 * karik - need
 * Aeesor - today
 * yerek - yesterday
 * vaghra - tomorrow
 * sor - day
 * gheeshaij - night

che (chai) before the verb works as negation so gheedaim - I know -> che gheedaim - I don't know.

trash:Armenia visa:Armenia
 * oozoom em ... - I want ...
 * asel - tell
 * knel - sleep
 * khmel - drink
 * ootel- eat
 * oknel - help
 * tsoort - cold
 * shok - hot
 * hasranoom - understand (che hasranoom - I don't understand)
 * dandagh (dundugh) - slow
 * araghr - fast