Two different bloggers have coincidentally made two separate posts on the subject of motoring in Armenia. First up is freelance writer Joshua Kucera, en route to China from Istanbul via Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Central Asia, who couldn’t help but notice the love affair many young Armenians have with the ubiquitous Niva.

As some of you know, I have for a long time had a car-crush on the Lada Niva. It’s a Russian 4x4 car, and I think the style is incredibly cool. Here’s one in Tbilisi, in front of the Anchiskhati church. I took this photo because it seemed very representative of Georgia, with the palm tree, Soviet car and old church.

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Anyway, most places these cars have no particular cultural significance; they’re bought by people who want a cheap 4x4. But Armenia, I’ve discovered that they are a real symbol. The first day I was in Yerevan, I saw this Niva, and I thought it was funny to have a Niva with these fancy rims, so I took a photo:

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So asking around, I discovered that there is a certain kind of person who drives these fancy white Nivas. It was described to me by one young cosmopolitan Yerevan woman as: “macho, has money but not a lot, wears a gold chain and expensive clothes but in strange combinations, and has a girlfriend with fake blonde hair.” And he generally listens to rabiz music, the Armenian equivalent of Serbian turbofolk, Bulgarian chalga, Turkish arabesque and whatever other countries have this sort of thing.

Meanwhile, down south near the Iranian border, Josh also got to witness how hazardous the Yerevan-Tehran road can be as it meanders through the wonderful but sometimes dangerous mountainous terrain. No doubt about it, however, Siunik is glorious and well worth a visit.

The route to Meghri that I took this weekend is beautiful, through stark mountain scenery and over a 10,000-foot pass, but the road is terrible and incredibly curvy: On the way back the various cars I was in had to stop three times for people to throw up.

It’s also treacherous for truck drivers: this Iranian truck had been going around a hairpin turn when its load, huge rolls of aluminum sheeting, fell off. When we got there an Armenian crane had arrived to lift the rolls back onto the truck, and traffic was stopped. As proof that men everywhere are alike, all the guys whose cars were backed up came to the scene and shouted advice. Several were like me and took photos.

I really thought this was going to end in disaster, and you can see right at the end that it almost does. But shortly after this they got everything sorted out and traffic got moving again.

He also got to hear what he thought was Azeri being spoke on the Armenian-Iranian border which is totally possible because its well known that many of the Iranian truck drivers coming into Armenia are ethnic Azeris. When it comes to trade and business, Armenians and Azeris can actually get on, and even if Iranian Azeris can be quite different from their cousins in Azerbaijan, this fact at least illustrates that the conflict is not simply ethnic.

Garo (aka Christian Adanalian) over at Notes from Hairenik almost experienced this reality at the weekend too. Planning to visit Tbilisi, he would have first had to travel through a mainly Azeri populated region of Georgia in his Niva with Armenian number plates. As it was, however, he only got as far as the border and was turned back for not having his documents stamped.

I gave him the official registration/title of the car, which looks like a credit card, followed by the transfer of ownership which was typed in Armenian. He glanced over it, turning it over a couple of times, then asked, “What is this?” I told him but he protested. “This isn’t stamped with a seal. Why are you showing this to me? This is basically useless and besides, you don’t have a sealed Russian or English translation. Go back, you can’t cross with your car.”

In Armenia the legitimacy of all services received and capital purchased must be validated with an official seal stamped on a typed document describing the transaction made. The seal is used by government agencies and businesses considered in good standing. Agencies providing legal services also use the seal. A seal has to be round and have an exact official diameter for it to be legal.

On his return to Yerevan, Garo’s Niva was hit by a speeding Mercedes so all I can say is that I’m glad I don’t drive.