Originally Posted by
BuildingMyBento
The Georgian script and Armenian script are totally different from each other.
And I encountered rip-offs galore in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Baku was another bizarre city, with very wealthy districts, a "Parisian" neighborhood, and some real unpleasantness in between.
However, Azerbaijan, in spite of being a relatively small country, it is very biodiverse. Not too many countries where you can get locally-grown quince and feijoa on the same menu. Perhaps OP didn't mention this country due to its visa requirements.
I’ve had to chip in for the customary border post bribe on a Tblisi-Yerevan marshrutka. Cyrillic is different from the script(s) in use in either Georgia or Armenia.
I’m not sure I’m getting your point to be honest. The whole area is/can be dingy; it’s not for nothing that one of the best things I often heard about hotels in rural Kazakhstan (or other ‘Stans) is that they had indoor plumbing. But at the end of the day that’s part of the adventure I guess.