The Caucasus: In the Shadows of Their Neighbours (Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and China)

Thursday 9th July 2015. Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital Lying in a pre-operative theatre awaiting my anaesthetic, surgeon Les Grujic gazed at me "I must ask you - just where do you get the inspiration for all your (implied weird) travel destinations? And where (on earth) are you going next?" "Kamchatka", I reply. "Is it safe?" He asks. I hesitate. No, it was unlikely we would meet up with terrorists but the necessary wired-on door helicopter trips in this far flung eastern province of Russia are renown for being terrifying.... I guess it is true. For most of our friends, Alan and I do have relatively offbeat tastes with our travels and have journeyed to what could be considered to be some of the world's most interesting, bizarre and often probably quite dangerous destinations. Our inspirations? Well, they have been many and varied: The platinum white light portrayed in a Auguste Macke's painting "Market in Algiers"; a chance meeting with a stranger enthused by a recent visit to northern Africa; gazing from the far western China border onto the mysterious majestic peaks of northern Pakistan; a magazine article about a "new" high railway linking Tibet to central China; the history of the fearsome warriors Tamerlame and Genghis Khan, and the famed explorer Marco Polo; and our continued fascination with the Silk Road routes of China, the Indo-Pakistan continent and Central Asia. And this is to name just a few. We have often been asked if we are addicted to danger - and we have thought long and hard about this question. No, we are not "into danger". It is just that the most interesting and relatively tourist-free destinations are often in the most remote and perilous locations. And we are now seriously running out of regions which hold an inherent interest, yet are not ridiculously unsafe. Sadly, for our coming travels, the frequent kidnappings in Dagestan and Chechnya mean that these countries are temporarily off the menu... Our motivation for our 2015 travels came relatively easily. We had always wanted to visit Russia. How could you not be inspired by a country laden with such a wealth of vivid history; a relatively unknown, foreign and even forbidding region for those of us whose perceptions were moulded by the Cold War; a proud and powerful nation which even today still appears to be shrouded in intrigue and dark secrecy; and last but not least - a mind bogglingly vast and largely untamed, semi-frozen land that occupies almost 11% of Earth's total land mass? The inspiration for our travels to the Caucasus however was multifold and via a series of seemingly unrelated but co-incidental occurrences. Curiously, the first source of motivation came from Les Grujic's waiting room in the year 2010 when we picked up a National Geographic magazine with an article titled "The New Silk Road - a new railroad through the southern Caucasus which will soon connect Asia with Europe, fueling dreams and discord in the region". The so called "Iron Silk Road" would connect the oil-rich Caspian Sea region of Azerbaijan to Turkey - and beyond to Europe. Our fascination with the Old Silk Road routes began in 2007 with a trip to Tibet and far western China. Since then we have explored numerous Silk Road routes of China, Pakistan, Central Asia and Iran. The Caucasus isthmus between Asia and Europe with its numerous ancient trade routes could well signal one of the final legs of our Silk Road Travels. During recent times we had been surprised by the amount of advertising and promotion of the little known country of Azerbaijan. Frequent national and international television advertising and documentaries were being played on Australian media as well as the BBC and CNN. This newly developing country was looking really interesting. We had become familiar and relaxed with Muslim countries; the Islamic religion and culture. And we had thoroughly enjoyed the fascinating former Soviet countries of Central Asia. Exotic Azerbaijan was becoming the magnetic key to our next travels. Furthermore, the Caucasus countries of Armenia and Georgia, also former territories of the old Soviet, were interesting destinations in themselves and were natural travel partners with our proposed visit across this region to Azerbaijan. Australia is home to a relatively large diaspora of Armenians; it is estimated there are around 50,000 living mainly in Sydney and Melbourne. Prominent Federal and State politicians Joe Hockey and Gladys Berejiklian are of Armenian descent. Alan and I have been keen readers of Russian history. The country of Georgia, former popular holiday resort of Soviet politicians was also home to the former fearsome 20th century Russian Premier Joseph Stalin. Armenia and Georgia were also looking like intriguing destinations. Alan was always (some may think insanely) keen to travel to the Russian republics of Dagestan and Chechnya. Well, if we could not make it there, then like our canned Algerian trip in 2014, we could at least look over the border from nearby Sheki in Azerbaijan. And yes, to cap it off, there was the danger element once again. All three Caucasus countries were "uncomfortable neighbours", with a history of hatred and discord, and more recently the ruthless bloody wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia. And perhaps more frighteningly, all continue to be under the powerful influence of some pretty hefty neighbouring countries. But our proposed visit to Russia and the Caucasus had become an unstoppable force - and our travel plans became reality. "But where exactly are the Caucasus?" we were continually asked.

Planned Dates

May 08, 2015 to Jun 04, 2015

Countries

6