Good morning, good afternoon and good evening readers,

It took me quite a few days to understand the concept of paying when you get off the bus. As you well know, in most of the UK (bar London) you take the following steps:

Step 1: Hello Mr/Mrs Bus Driver, Can I go to (insert place) please?
Step 2: Well hello dear passenger, of course you can. That will be (insert amount) please
Step 3: Jolly good, here you go Mr/Mrs Bus Driver. *Hand over the money and take the ticket*
Step 4: Sit on the bus
Step 5: Press bell for the stop
Step 6: Get off the bus (be sure to say thank you, of course)

Now please see below steps for Armenian buses:
Step 1: Open minibus door and get on
Step 2: Stand or sit, most likely stand. If you are tall you will need to bend your neck
Step 3: Say “gangaram gagarnek” when you see your stop
Step 4: Give bus driver 100 Dram over his shoulder
Step 5: Get off the bus

To be honest, until you see the Armenian bus in action, you will never fully understand the process. It is much more efficient than most of our British transport and removes the time consuming pleases and thankyou’s. It feels awfully unnatural not using one’s manners however I may try this technique at home. I am still yet to say “gangaram gagarnek” and I often end up getting off several stops later than I had intended to.

After the revolutionary bus journey Amy, Gayane, Vahe and myself climbed the Cascade. This is essentially an outside staircase comprising of over five hundred steps. The view you get from the top is incredible, like INCREDIBLE. You can see the whole of the city and right bang smack in the middle of the sky are the Ararat Mountains. It will certainly take several trips up the stairs to absorb all of Yerevan’s glory.

In kindness,
C x