What is it like to admire the shrinking flowers of the Caucasus in Nagorno-Karabakh?

It is a pity to see that Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, have another armed conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. To be precise, it is a war. Gunpowder smoke fills the land of more than 4,000 square kilometers in the South Caucasus.

The location of Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan and Armenia, these two unknown small countries, really have no sense of existence in the eyes of the Chinese people. If the sight of the tanks burning into torches hadn't been so shocking, they would have remained silent as before.

A friend asked me why they were so life-and-death, and I could only give him a bitter smile and give an absurd answer: Nagorno-Karabakh is beautiful.

As a person who regards travel as a norm, I have been to both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and I have also been to Nagorno-Karabakh, whose full name is Nagorno-Karabakh. It is a large part of the map of Azerbaijan, but it is under the control of Armenia.

I have no intention of judging its ownership. It is the tit-for-tat confrontation between religion and geopolitics, an irresolvable contradiction, blood and fire, and the fruitless outcome of the game between great powers.

I will just talk about the Nagorno-Karabakh I saw.

At that time, I entered Azerbaijan alone. I first went to the capital Baku. After visiting the ancient city, I went to the small western town of Sheli the next day. I met a middle school student who volunteered to be a tour guide and was taken to a building in the city. The library in a century-old building.

Old Library

I thought this was a surprise, so I visited and took pictures without any distractions. The middle school student knew that my next destination was Nagorno-Karabakh, and even found me a large atlas. While opening it for me, he introduced that Nagorno-Karabakh has been the territory of Azerbaijan since ancient times.

Looking at his young and serious face, I had no opinion but only felt embarrassed. The ownership of disputed areas has always been a complex issue that cannot be resolved by my admission or denial. But what can I say?

After finally listening to his introduction, I politely declined his continued company. Go shopping alone in a small town.

Beautiful Sheli

It is difficult for me to describe the characteristics of this small town. It is filled with a kind of wonder of vicissitudes of life under the golden sunshine. Like a peaceful song from the former Soviet Union, it carries a desolate stubbornness and a tenacious beauty. She is the Katyusha of time, revealing her strong and beautiful face.

Staying is never the purpose of travel. After staying in Sheli for a day, we set out for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since the actual controlling country of Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenia, the border with Azerbaijan is a heavily guarded front line. To get to Nagorno-Karabakh, you must take a detour through Armenia.

The driving process is not difficult, but there is no possibility of reaching Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh before dark. No one wants to stay up late on the road, but there is no suitable place to stay along the way. There is no tourism industry in Nagorno-Karabakh. The few hotels that can be encountered are only for wealthy Armenians, and the prices are ridiculously expensive.

A resort that you can’t afford to live in

It was completely dark at first sight. It is obviously unwise to drive tiredly on winding roads in winter, so I had no choice but to spend some money to park the car overnight in a small courtyard of a roadside house.

The residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are quite enthusiastic about me, who has an oriental face, but that doesn’t mean they will allow me to spy on me from the side of my bed. After many twists and turns, the family was finally able to convince the family at a price of 1,500 AMD, about 20 yuan, and they were able to temporarily find a place to stay for this adventure trip.

Behind the night is a small farmhouse that retains a strong Soviet style. It feels like traveling to the bank of the "Quiet Don River"; they are cooking dinner, pasta and boiled potatoes, I am shameless I borrowed hot water to make a bowl of instant noodles that are universally applicable.

The children surrounded me, as curious as the Westerners with high noses and blue eyes I saw on the streets of Chongqing many years ago.

Don't show up all night, the morning light urges you to go. Beside the road are towering snow-capped mountains.

Traveling in the Snowy Mountains

After stopping by to see the monastery in the mountains outside the village, we meandered forward and entered the area of ??Stepanakert. The symbol of Nagorno-Karabakh? We are our mountain? The towering top of the mountain. Of course I have to go up and have a look.

This is a composite sculpture of two sculptures, a man and a woman, affectionately called "Grandma and Grandpa" by the Naga people.

Grandma and Grandpa

The statue has no legs, which means they are deeply rooted in this land.

When I really walked into Stepanakert, I realized that although it is called the capital, it is not even as good as many fourth- and fifth-tier small counties in the country. There are few inns in the city that accept tourists. Almost no one travels here, and the haze of war has prevented this place from becoming a popular tourist destination.

Despite the somewhat otherworldly attitude, the current situation here is indeed lackluster. The entire city has been forgotten by time and seems to have been stuck in the moment when the Soviet Union collapsed more than twenty years ago. The cars running all over the street are Lada and Nem, and the buildings beside the road are all square box-shaped "Khrushchev Buildings".

Street scene in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh

Regardless of other factors, this is a very quiet place. However, when you casually wander around, when you find the city’s logo, the shadow of war seems to The clouds coming from the sky at any time will envelope you.

Nagorno-Karabakh city logo

Because the city logo of Nagorno-Karabakh is a T-72 covered with reactive armor!

There is also a Revolutionary Museum in Nagorno-Karabakh, which may be the only art place worth visiting here. The walls are covered with portraits of soldiers who died in the war, but the explanations are only in Armenian, so I don’t know what they mean.

There is an Azerbaijani flag on the ground of the museum that is used as a carpet. Tourists who want to visit the museum must step over it, otherwise they will be refused entry.

In the museum

After leaving the museum, drive more than 20 kilometers northeast, and you can visit Tigranakert, an ancient Greek ruin with a history of more than 2,000 years. The journey is thrilling because of the route you cross. It almost overlaps with the armistice line between Afghanistan and Asia. Along the way, you will encounter several abandoned villages with empty buildings on the roadside. It makes people imagine the cruelty and ruthlessness of war.

Ancient Greek ruins

I tentatively looked at the ruins and then returned to the city. It was still early and I went to apply for a visa.

There is a detail: after the visa is obtained for 3,000 drams, the visa officer will kindly ask you if you want to put it on your passport to avoid trouble when you visit Azerbaijan in the future. Because Azerbaijan regulations: Anyone who visits Nagorno-Karabakh without their approval will be permanently banned from entering Azerbaijan.

However, it is said that as long as you write a statement admitting that you entered Nagorno-Karabakh by mistake and absolutely support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the severe punishment will be cancelled.

Nagorno-Karabakh does not have any special attractions worth visiting, but it does not have the peace and quiet during the war, or if you have your own thoughts about the passing time, it is worth a walk here, among the mountains of the Transcaucasus. It is a very classy wandering to be in a daze of the world and accompany this little flower that always shrinks under the cloud of war.

Now, the situation here is extremely tense again. Even though we are thousands of miles away, there is still some heartache and despair in our hearts.

Finally, I still hope that Asia and Afghanistan, the two races, and the two religions can be wise and tolerant, and find a way to truly reconcile; I also hope that other countries involved in the dispute will not regard the lives of local people as nothing!