This year we went to so many places. Stopped over Istanbul for about 1 day while transiting to Tbilisi on a 13-14hr flight. In total almost a month in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. About a week in Tbilisi. Mestia, Kutaisi, Batumi, Ushguli. In Baku we went to Gobustan, Khinaliq and visted the flames towers, Matyrs’ lane, city boulevard, history museum, heydar Aliyev center, maiden tower, shivanshahs’ palace. In Armenia we stopped by Yerevan, Alaverdi, Dadivank, Maternadaran, Stepanakert, Tatev, Noravank, Garni Geghard, Etchmiadzin, Artsakh!!! Also Mtsketa Jvari and the Areni Winery. Also 2 more other wineries. Becos of the political tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, noone is allowed into Azerbaijan once they been to Artsakh. However if u go to Azerbaijan first and then go to Artsakh after that, then its okay. So, alot of prior research. Going into Artsakh also required special Visa which we need to apply way before trip. Naturally, crossing over the sensitive borders was a huge bundle of nerves. From moment to moment, simply no idea what was going to happen next. The trip to the Armenia Genocide Museum was particularly emotional as such memorable as we saw relatives of Armenians who were murdered in the persecution and Genocide appearing there offering flowers and grieving over their belated friends and relatives even though its already been so long but it still seemed like fresh wounds to many Armenians–Its a time in their history they will never ever forget or get over. I mean who can ever forget/getover such things?? The day we left Tbilisi, the political state of affairs between Russia and Georgia suddenly took a drastic twist and Putin issued a temporary halt on flights to Georgia and ordered all Russian PRs in Georgia to immediately return back to Russia. This made people very nervous cos Russia is as though planning to declare war on Georgia anytime. A week later, after our trip, demonstrations broke out in Tbilisi. The weather also took a pretty nasty turn with sudden earth quakes over certain regions. in the same time while there, we also heard there were plenty flash floods back home in Singapore over social media news but however when we were back in SG again, we didn’t witness any such events except constantly hearing about them in Taiwan. The worldnews reported a stark increase in global temperature causing deaths in certain parts of Europe. Like in France, it was like 45 degree celcius. Anyway it was such a great relief these things did not happen while we were in Europe although during our return, we were stuck in the airport for 3 hours due to reasons undisclosed to us. All in all, its been quite a wonderful eye opening experience nonetheless. We learned so much from the travels and the various different travel guides who wont hesitate to share with foreigners like us. It could have been an insane experience but FORTUNATELY its not. Love the way how spatecock chicken is done in the countryside of Georgia–like no where else. Their countryside fried chicken is always so good and delicious–tender, moist, perfectly seasoned. Their fried trout was also good and i ate the whole entire trout all by myself in one of the wineries which rear sturgeon fishes as pets! (really memorable!) I also miss the redwine ice creams in Georgia. The pilaf rice with lightly spiced saucy meats in Baku also left quite an impression. Also lavash–finally found its birthplace and its in Armenia! In Tbilisi, there were plenty fruit products. Cheeses. Wines. Exotic Fruit compotes of all sorts u name it they have it all! Bought lotsa souvenirs. Managed to watch Dark Phoenix in Tbilisi. Miss the stir fried veal in the chinese restaurant. All these made this learning trip really special, meaningful and unforgettable. All I can say is just WOW!!! Till next time thanks for the dropby! Cheerio!!;O
ngjoseph 