Our tour from hell with Tigran Babayan was made particularly miserable by his economic choices of hotels (he refused to spend more than $35/night for a room). Each night we would get anticipatory chills from the thought that he was on his way to a new flea bag. However, the Hotel Karahan (1 star) was the real low point in his repetoire of bad hotels.

Granted this dusty, hot, backwater town had but two hotels. I would suggest the reader seriously (and I am being serious) consider either sleeping in the car (or tour bus as the case may be) or finding a park bench.

The rooms are small, dark, dank, with a smell of old urine and feces. The smell actually eminates from the urine stained drains in the bathroom which also is decorated with flakes of stool and rust on the toilet. The beds are not only uncomfortable but have bed bugs. Armed with bug spray I managed to kill most but not before a few feasted on us during the night. There is a TV and a refrigerator but in... more