The walk began to create some discomfort in me with each step forward, I had the hopes that this was a brief shortcut, and that maybe it was actually used often by others. It wasn't the case. As I took each step, the environemnt felt more dangerous. More pieces of debris around, more rusted metallic sheets and rebar across the floor. The side of the cliff seemed to grow as well. I'd stop by it and look over the edge, seeing the decay of prior buildings and the lack of life. I wondered how this may have looked decades before. I wondered what sort of stories such buildings had to say, the lives that went on within them. The feeling of being part of factories in the height of the Soviet Union. One of the factories seemed to have security guards there, despite the lack of its use in present day. The view of the disgusting river opened up more, the smell was putrid. Stagnant. Green in colour. At its end was a bridge that was formed by locals, a series of of those leftover sheets of rustic metal. I did not even dare to attempt to step on it. The feeling that I'd fall through immediately probably was not far from the truth.
It was a strange feeling to look down at such historical parts of the city. From how it looks, this area does not appear to be in the city centre, right? But it was. And it was left to rot. Snippets of the true poverty of Armenia still present. It was an odd feeling that made me feel as if I had left the Yerevan I thought I knew, and entered another space entirely. Uneasy feelings, I would stop here and there to continue to take in the environment, the sign on the building that advertised the speed of something; that irony in which the fast living that resulted in this change of society, a shift in Armenia and its historical ties to Russia. Somewhat still strong, but clearly changing with each passing year. In this area, the pollution was evident. Plastic bottles and wrapping all over. Leftover furniture dumped wherever. I was surprised that I didn't come across any homeless, the sort of place you'd think would be riddled with the less fortunate, and the junkies that dump needles. None of that.
Moving forward, more dogs began to howl and bark at me from unknown locations. The hardest part was the general direction they came from were ahead. I did eventually catch a glimpse at this huge Armenian dog that looked more like a bear, jumping at a fence, howling at me. The sudden question of just what the fuck I was doing came to mind as I stepped down what Yandex Maps had told me was a pathway. It was old decayed homes. Bits of rooftops scattered around, coated in moss. Definitely not a pathway. I was still a mere fraction from the mall. I felt lost, confused at where I was supposed to go. The icon of a stairway on Yandex Maps was there, but no steps. Tempted to jump down from a small rooftop and just take the desperate shortcut as another dog behind me started screaming out its lungs at my presence.
Was this how others got to the mall from here? No way. I must've been the first in years to take this route. And I could see precisely why.
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