test [ singing non-english ] the people that come here, are the island hopping or is this the destination? island hopping happens a lot in the summer. someone that has arranged a vacation in greece will probably want to visit at least two or three islands. how many in this group? there are about 15 or maybe more. and the rest. there is a lot of history in the greek islands. zeus himself was said to live there and his son frolicked and presumably drank and danced all night. these days you have to go to mika nose for that. he runs a bar in athens but comes out here frequently to get away from it all. he would dig boarding about. it has this heir of mysticism that doesn t exist in the other island. a big laugh on the rocks. i will have a sip. it puts it into perspective when you start with a drink. it is a perfect day for the beach. i like the wind. it is one of the cool things. the breeze. it is our main pastime, talking about the wind. the wind is coming
armenia remains a dream, a subject of stories, yet still, against all odds, a place. you, what do you own the world? how do you own disorder disorder now somewhere between the sacred silence sacred silence and sleep disorder, disorder i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony: armenia is a small, landlocked christian nation surrounded by mostly non-christian neighbors. azerbaijan over there, iran down there, and turkey right there. turkey, and relations with turkey, and the armenian people s terrible history with that country being the central and defining issue of armenian identity. and a present-day political reality 103 years after what just about anyone would call genocide. turkey has always adamantly denied that, saying it was simply
[ armenian toast ], which literally means let my feet bring luck to this home . so, um, let your feet bring luck to our country, to dilijan, and to this home hosting us at the moment. sam: guys, with khash we do like lots of toasts, but it has to be short. this is the - armenian toasts are very long. arman: because people have to be concentrated on khash only, they don t. inna: no, no, because it will get the whole. sam: yeah, well, we were always between iran and rome, so we re used to being between to survive. you remember you asked the very first question, “what is the guy who comes back to armenia, what they feel?” they feel, “i survived, i did what my grandfather wanted, what his grandfather wanted.” we are here to survive no matter is it a war? we re going to still have this feast. anthony: that s a good toast. serj: that s a badass toast.
anthony: only an hour s drive from the capital sits lake sevan and some beautiful countryside. so it s the switzerland of armenia ? serj: this is, dilijan is the switzerland of armenia, it s one of my favorite spots actually. anthony: what am i eating today? serj: i think you re eating khash today. anthony: that s said to be a hangover cure. serj: that s it, yeah. it s made out of legs of cows, i think. anthony: cool, i like legs of cows. serj: i like their eyes. not to eat, but just to look at. anthony: me too, they re so dreamy. serj: they are, yeah. no, it s beautiful here. sam: i m offering it short i want to do it for armenia, for the host, and for the khash makers .
Something of a throwback to soviet days. like the cuban paladares, when private enterprise, not to mention the spending of money on entertainment could be frowned upon, and privacy was at a premium. trout wrapped and baked in lavash. this is not light cooking. serj: there s certain things about especially the last maybe 20, 30 years of the soviet union, 60s on, not the brutal early bolshevik stalinist times, but later on where in terms of investment in culture and education. pegor: well, i mean it s very much a legacy of the soviet union. armenia was kind of a nerd republic in a way. and then you specialize the different republics, and armenia was where they concentrated science, technology, particle accelerator, radio, telescope, all of that. and so we ve benefited from that and you see a lot of armenians