Armenia: Land of Cleavage, Push-Up Bras & iPhones

My Smooth World, a travel blog, hits Armenia and shares its first impressions of the country. While the blog later visited Nagorno Karabakh only to be surprised that one young local with an iPhone remarked that its $500 price tag is not expensive in Armenia, its main attention seems to be focused in the same direction as most foreign men — the women.

When I stepped into the departure lounge for Yerevan at Sharjah International Airport, I saw a tired group of people. They were disheveled, their eyes were dark, and they looked a bit drunk. In support of this latter, they all carried plastic bags bulging with bottles of duty-free alcohol. The men looked beligerent and wore pointy, black shoes. The women were dressed in a style which I have since nicknamed “haphazard trashy” (something I haven’t seen anywhere else except, well, New Jersey). Seeing this sight, I knew I was in the right place: these were Armenians.

I am exaggerating a little bit for comic effect, but the men really do wear pointy, black shoes, and the women really do dress quite trashily, with tight, revealing clothes and way too much cheap make-up/perfume. Not that I’m complaining! After months in religiously conservative nations where women mostly cover up their bodies, it is refreshing to see once again such liberal displays of cleavage and excessive reliance on push-up bras. Armenia, ho!

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[…] Actually, and even though I had read that Yerevan is somewhat depressing in a post-Soviet way, I rather like all the red concrete stone architecture. And after months in dry, desolate, and over-urbanized places, the abundance of trees and greenery in Yerevan’s relaxed neighborhoods has been almost as refreshing as the abundant cleavage. […]