Taking The Sleeper Train Through Yerevan to Tbilisi - Part 2

It took a while to get out of Yerevan. The views from that point weren't all that interesting, though the most fascinating aspect of leaving the city was noticing the military base that was present so close to the railway. Suddenly large warehouses appeared. Rows of SU-something fighter jets appeared. Radar systems scattered around the outer parts of the base. It was a strange sight to see how little effort was placed into hiding certain aspects of this base, not even having a wall present. The base was all visible on Google Maps too, which is how I had previously known about it having wanted to find areas around the city where I could fly my drone -- that one base put those hopes to an end within an instant. I had never seen anything like that before, so close and in the open. Something that all passengers that came through the space on the train would see. Military might, or perhaps just a case of mild idiocy? It's hard to tell within Armenia. Few things make sense and often enough the decision made comes from a place of general laziness and wanting things to be done with.

And this was felt as the city began to fade from view. The smaller towns appeared here and there. Rustic and reliant on their own produce. Farmland in such a dry, rocky landscape almost didn't make sense. But sunflowers towered over gardens in the brightness of the hot sun. Ladas scattered around as the more recluse population would rely on older equipment that still worked and operated as intended, even after all the years.

Aspects of former industry were also found within the vastness of nothing. Large factories would come into view from afar, growing in size the closer we got. The sounds of the train on old rail could be heard. Slightly bumpy but not all too uncomfortable. This area of Armenia was void of moisture. This was a space that felt void of life entirely if not for few bushes and various dry landscape plants that seemed to flourish. The heat was insufferable most days. The dryness of the air, the ways in which you could feel your skin age by the day. Becoming leathery, underneath a sun that held such danger to it for short periods of time. Such an easy environment to fall to sunburn. To feel yourself dry but sweating so much. This was something I was longing to escape, I must admit. Nothing seemed to help with it, and Armenia's general landscape is void of rivers, lakes, and ponds the closer to Yerevan you are. It felt like a sense of relief to be leaving, though I felt that sadness of leaving too. Armenia was a beautiful place that I much enjoyed, but I think I perhaps began to overstay my welcome in the land. 

Mountains began to take over some of the view, the smaller towns and villages sooner disappeared, leaving behind the signs of former ones. The leftover foundations of homes, bits of brickwork left. And crumbling buildings from a former Union now forgotten in time.

The only things to come into view here and there in the outer parts near Yerevan were the odd factories. Signs of industry that are no longer present. Some had interesting designs in their texture and signs, having text above their entrances, but couldn't be read from such distance. I found myself in a constant state of awe as I looked out of the window, trying to imagine how much better things would've been back in the past. How people relied so heavily on these factories to survive, and how they offered so many people a livelihood. Towns nearby, cities even, were built purely based on these factories alone. Scattered around the nothingness, bus stops here and there no longer in use. All of which served to serve the people. To give them access to work, to which the work gave them access to their apartment buildings which towered over the landscapes in an odd sense of development. As if nothing belonged, as if the enter space had appeared from nothing.  And now that's how life is there, void of possibilities. No longer holding opportunity. 

You either farm the dry, harsh landscape for whatever you can, in hopes of selling something somewhere, or you rely on the nearby power station a few more miles out. Though chances are, you were born here into nothing. Now struggling, seeing how the youth escape into Yerevan for the education and money that are no longer found within these industrial zones.

This was still only a mere introduction to the views to come. 

---

View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.