Marshrukta Tbilisi to Yerevan

22nd November

So the alarm went off at silly o’clock in the morning (0725) and indicated that if I wanted to get the first marshrukta to Yerevan I had to pull my finger out and get moving. It’s surprising how quickly you can move when you have the motivation of a 6 hour coach journey to look forward to (it was in comparison to an 11 hour train journey). I don’t think the lack of sun outside helped. I was a little nervous, especially when speaking with a visitor to the hostel and his response to my method of travel was along the lines of ‘so long as you don’t crash and die along the way.’ Still I had been assured because it was an Armenian driver that I would be safe, funny that didn’t really make me feel much better. If anything it just made me dread my taxi ride to the station.

The bus station in 1981, and not much has changed since!

I was however faster than I felt and in no time at all teeth were brushed, face washed and hair hidden and I was out the door readying myself for my first round of bargaining with a Georgian taxi driver. I was getting a taxi to the bus station and had been told the fare would be 5 Leri’s (GEL) (less than £2). I hadn’t made it to the taxi rank when a car stopped and asked me where I was going, I told him and gestured to pay only 5GEL, and it worked. He accepted and I was on my way to the bus station.

It's hard to spend these

Once at the bus station, as advised, I walked past all the touts outside and headed to the lower floor to catch my marshrukta; this apparently is where all international buses leave from. I saw a bus heading to Istanbul. I was curious about the price (and timing) of this journey. I’d only paid £40 for my Istanbul – Tbilisi flight. I think the bus would have to be really cheap to get me to contemplate such a long coach journey. Anyway I found my vehicle, paid my 30 GEL (less that £7) and waited to leave.

The journey was uneventful, to begin with. We stopped at a petrol station to fill up and my heart began to sink when the engine seemed to cut out. I had visions of getting out and pushing, plus questions going through my head about what was so bad about arriving in a city after midnight (my original train plan). Just as I was cursing my decision I realised we hadn’t broken down. We were picking up more passengers. Der, I must remember that not all vehicles break as easy as the ones I like to buy.

Similar to what I went in

The scenery in Georgia to the boarder was interesting, and the cloud reminded me of home. We passed a military base ad as the border with Armenia approached, the road seemed to improve. Once at the border crossing we had to get out of the bus and walk through immigration. There was all you could need there, a toilet, and a lady to stamp your passport, plus the duty free shop, which sold a large dog statue, I can’t help thinking that n one would ever leave home without forgetting their dog statue... Passport stamped I walked the remainder of the frontier outside and crossed a river. It was cold, and it was at this point I caught my first glimpse of the Armenian flag and an Armenian immigration official. He looked very Russian. He had a camouflage puff jacket and one of those woolly hats. I would have taken a picture but he looked very intimidating, I guess that’s the point. The remainder of the officials spoke little English and I think I was a little of a novelty for them. I’m basing this on my passport which has had the gold leaf rubbed off so without opening it is impossible to ascertain which country issued the thing, they also made jokes about removing my glasses, just so they could double check my 8 year old picture, before laughing and waving me through. After my problems entering Jordan (ok maybe It’s a little of an exaggeration but still makes me nervous) I’m a little cautious now when I’m going through immigration check points.

Now on the other side of the boarder I began to appreciate all the gorges and valleys along the route. The roads wound up and down the mountains and at times I had to choose not to look. I’ve never been a fan of heights and half way through the journey I noticed we were going through more and more tunnels, I don’t know why, but I was grateful to just have no view. The tunnels didn’t last long and in no time at all we were climbing up the mountain again. It was now that I got a little worried, approaching us higher along the road, was a tank. I couldn’t help worry that after outbreaks of violence in 3 of my last 5 countries; I was really hoping that Armenia hadn’t declared war on Georgia. Once I remembered that Armenia is already at war with Azerbaijan so the tank was probably heading there, I could relax and reassure myself that I hadn’t caused another conflict.

Further into the journey I spoke (in French, my bad French) to the bloke in front of me. See the agency who had arranged my accommodation in Yerevan had told me to contact her an hour before I arrived into the city and then they would arrange for someone to collect me from the bus station. When I told her that I had no working phone in Armenia she advised me ‘Armenian people are nice, just ask to use someone’s phone on the bus.’ This is what I did. And surprisingly it worked. Even when I gestured that I only wanted to give the agency a missed call he insisted that I use his credit and not bother waiting for a return call from the agency. 

This led on to a conversation with more of my bus companions and turned into an impromptu teaching session on the Armenian language. The script is different from English and different from Georgian and I can’t tell the difference between the two of them but I’m assured that they are different. I even met someone who could speak Armenian, but couldn’t read it, however he did speak and read Georgian, I’m not sure why I’m telling you that, It’s hardly the most riveting part of my journey but it’s the best you’re going to get .

Here’s a little lesson in Armenian:

1 – mek

2 – erkus

3 – erek

4 – chors

5 – hing

6 – vets

7 – yot

8 – ut

9 – innnnnnnnnnnn (or in@ for short, I never understood why but the @ symbol indicates you really hold the sound of the n)

10 - tag

PS although I have no pictures, I did drive through snow!