Out of the Caucasus, into the Middle East

From the Georgian town Ninotsminda, I tried to hitchhike towards the main coastal city Batumi. But as hitchhiking goes, sometimes your lucky, and sometimes your not. This time, I had to wait about an hour for a car to pick me up. The guy brought me a couple of kilometres further and soon after, a second lift took me to Akhalkalaki. In this small town I walked into a cafe for khachapuri. And within 30 seconds in the cafe, I was invited by some Armenians to join their breakfast and a bottle of vodka. I talked a bit with them and did some vodka-toasting, before I headed to the marshrutka stand. I decided to continue by public transport as I was in the middle of a town and planned to travel far that day. I took the marshrutka to a place called Khertvisi, in other to see the amazingly beautifull fortress overthere. The fortress is one of the oldest remaining fortresses in Georgia and has a spectacular location. I walked around there for an hour or so and continued my journey towards Batumi. Unfortunately, the road was pretty much empty and as I didn't managed to stop a car until 3pm that afternoon, I ended up taking a marshrutka again. The marshrutka brought me to a provincial town named Akhaltsikhe, where I decided to spend the night. I found a cheap place for 5 lari ($3), dropped my luggage and had Adjarian khachapuri for diner in a small cafe with a really friendly owner.

The next day, I took a marshrutka throught the autonomous region of Adjara, until the coastal city Batumi. The road was in a pretty bad condition, which caused that the journey was long and painfull. The scenery was very nice though and it seemed like the area is inhabited by some kind of Amish people. The way of living is very primitive and when three local women entered the marshrutka, they seemed like they had never been in a car before. Stepping out of the marshrutka five hours later in Batumi, I had to get used to the solid ground again. I walked a bit and found a place to stay. Soon after I went to the city-centre and walked around. Batumi is quite a nice city, it has a subtropical climate and it is the main domestic tourist destination of the country. Full of palmtrees, beaches, expensive cars and a relaxed atmosphere, I was happy to stay there for a couple of days. I haven't done much though, I used the internet quite some time, enjoyed numerous khachapuri and coffee and did some walking. Also I was supposed to meet some girls from Tbilisi who went to Batumi for a month or so, but I haven't seen them more than 5 minutes. So as I didn't spend time with them and also because I haven't met any other travellers, I felt a bit lonely after a while.

My lonelyness was the main reason I left Batumi after two days for Turkey. I took a marshrutka to Sarpi, which is at the border and after an easy bordercrossing I was in Turkey. The border is heavily fortified, with fences all over the place and it is full of Turkish trucks. As the only form of public transport from the Turkish side is a taxi to nearby Hopa, I decided to hitchhike. After changing money, kebab and coke, I walked to the main road. Within a minute I pulled out my thumb, a big truck stopped for me and brought me to Hopa. From Hopa I had a second lift to a small town in a beautifull valley and soon after a third ride to a mid-sized town named Artvin. The guy who picked me up had been living in Nantes, France, and I communicated with him in my basic French. He gave me lots of fruit and roasted corn on the way and in Artvin he found a cheap hotel for me, which he insisted on paying. Really an amazingly nice man. In the evening I enjoyed tasty lahmacun and went to sleep early. Around midnight that evening, I woke up because of Georgian prostitutes knokking on my door. I didn't open, because I knew they were working girls as I saw them in the hotel before.

The day after I had something else disturbing my sleep at 04.30am. My room had an open window and was next to the main mosque, so I woke up because of the morning prayer call. After sleeping a bit more, I started my journey towards to Iraq. Throught a travelforum I met an Irish guy, Edward, who was going to Iraq as well and we arranged to meet in the southern Turkish city Diyarbakir. So on that day, I travelled for over 700km from Artvin to Diyarbakir in two different bussus, as I had to change in Erzurum. In the second bus, from Erzurum to Diyarbakir, we were stopped by a militairy checkpoint somewhere halfway. Appearantly, it had something to do with the PKK, as I was entering Kurdish territories. I arrived on Diyarbakir's Otogar (busstation) 30 minutes past midnight and as the only way to get to the centre was by taking an expensive taxi, I decided to sleep on a bench in the busstation. The day after, I went into the republic of Iraq, but more on Iraq later on.

Bikini's and bulletholes in obscure Abkhazia

In Kutaisi, Kalin and I had a quick breakfast in the early morning, in order to catch the bus to Zugdidi. And allthought busses in Georgia are cheap and more comfortable than the packed marshrutkas, our bus to Zugdidi was annoyingly slow, with stops in almost every village. When we made it to Zugdidi, I met an English guy named Ian, with whom I agreed to travel with to Abkhazia. I guess most of you people have never heard of the republic of Abkhazia and have no freaking idea what kind of country it is. Well, Abkhazia officially isn't an existing country, because on paper it is still part of Georgia. But the Abkhaz fought in the '90s an independance war, supported by Russia, which they more or less won. Practically, Abkhazia is now independant from Georgia and the Abkhaz have there own government, which issues different visas. Abkhazia lies northwest of Georgia and shares most of its border with Russia. For me, it was quite exciting to travel towards Abkhazia, as virtually no western tourists are going there and most people still consider it as warzone. So the minutes before crossing the border were quite nervious and I was full of curiousity of what Abkhazia would be like.

Ian and I took a taxi to the border and, after showing a Georgian border guard our papers, we hopped on a free UN-bus to the Abkhaz side of the river Inguri (which is the border). At the Abkhaz side, our names were written down in some notebook and we legally entered Abkhazia. From the border we went by marshrutka to Gali, which is the first real town in Abkhazia. Gali is quite an odd place, as most of the city is deserted and I saw almost no people on the streets. Lots of empty appartment buildings and it was pretty obvious that the majority of the population left the city during the war. A couple of kilometres outsite of Gali, we were stopped by a checkpoint of the Russian military forces. The Russian soldiers were acting like absolute assholes, abusing their power and stupid uniform by asking unimportant questions and showing us they are in charge. Luckily, they didn't hassled us too much and we managed to find a ride to the 'capital' Sokhumi soon after. An Abkhaz couple with a Lada picked us up and they drove us to Sokhumi for 200 rubles (Russian Ruble is the currency in Abkhazia, Georgian Lari is worthless). On the way, we saw a lot of UN cars and the villages on the way are mostly abandoned. Most part of the area between Sokhumi and Georgia used to be the major warzone and this was still visable, allthought with the UN presence it is quite safe nowadays. Also on the way to Sokhumi, the driver hitted a small pig, crossing the road, and allthought the Lada didn't had any problems, the pig was pretty dead after. The driver didn't bother and brought us to Sokhumi within an hour.

In the Abkhaz capital of Sokhumi we found a cheap (800 ruble) homestay at a nice family. After we dropped our luggage, we strolled a bit around the city and visited the ministery of foreign affairs in order to get our visa. Ian was at first not allowed to enter the ministery, because he was wearing shorts (they said: this is ministery, not a beach!!) but we got our Abkhaz visas the day after. When we finished our ministery visit, we continued our walking in Sokhumi, which I think has a nice atmosphere. It is full of burned Russian tourists and it feels a bit like a Latin American beach town. The climate is subtropical, the city is full of palmtrees and has some beaches, which are known as the best ones in former Soviet Union. On the other site, lots of buildings in Sokhumi are abandoned, some full of bulletholes and it still feels a bit grimm. Russian is the main spoken language, the currency is Ruble and most of the products are made in Russia. Abkhazia is kind of a Russian satelite-state.

The second day in Abkhazia started with a very heavy thunderstorm, which together with crying babies and barking dogs, kept me awake in the early morning. The rest of the morning was pretty rainy as well, but I spended the dryer afternoon visiting some churches and more strolling around the plesant city. In the evening, Ian and I had diner in a nice restaurant and after a while I was invited to drink a couple of beers with two Abkhazian guys. At first sight, they looked nice and honest. But when one of them was buying cigarettes and the other man left the table for a toilet visit, the waitress told me: 'please don't go with them, they are bad boys'. Also it was pretty strange that they weren't interested in my background at all and wanted me to join them for 'a walk on the beach'. I took the advise of the waitress serious and made up some excuse to leave them. I went back to the homestay soon after.

Next morning started with instant noodles, Georgian coffee and a long walk to the busstation. While waiting for our bus, we walked on Sokhumi's trainstation, which is one huge scrapheap. There is junk and trash all over the place and the station is one of the dodgiest places I've seen. After our wandering on the railwaylines, our bus took of for Novy Afon, a town 20km west of Sokhumi, where we arrived half an hour later. The town Novy Afon is very beautifull, with an amazing monastery and a relaxed atmosphere. But also, it is packed with hordes of redly burned Russian holidaymaker.

After the monastery, we saw some caves and spended a couple of minutes on the nice beach, before catching a marshrutka back to Sokhumi. Back at Sokhumi's busstation, we were invited for cognac and coffee with Abkhaz policemen, which was quite plesant. We talked a bit about the weird Abkhazian situation and went back to our homestay after. The fourth day in Abkhazia, I spended with a bustrip towards Gagra. But after the third breakdown of the bus, I hopped of somewhere halfway and went back to Sokhumi by marshrutka. Back in the capital, I did some more walking and had diner with Ian after.

The morning after, we intended to leave Abkhazia and walked towards the southern part of town in order to hitchhike. At first, we asked in the UN base if we could go with one of their vehicles to Inguri. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go with an UN car, which caused we needed to hitchhike properly. And soon, we managed to get a ride with a nice guy working for Unicef, who brought us halfway. Not long after, a second lift brought us to a deserted crossroad, not far from Gali. We catched a bus to Gali and I spended most of the busride talking with the cool busdriver. The Russian checkpoint in Gali wasn't a problem this time and quickly we were back at the Abkhaz-Georgian border. We didn't had any problems on the Abkhaz side, but totally unexpected, the Georgian side of Inguri gave us a small headache. When we thought we managed to be back in Georgia, some fucko in a family car called us over to see our passports. As the guy was sitting in a car, wearing casual clothes, I asked who he was and I demanded to see his ID after he said he is a borderguard. We showed him our passports and Abkhaz visas, but after he returned us our passports, he kept the visas. I wanted to keep the Abkhaz visa as a souvenir and had a long discussion with the guy to keep the visa. Officially, he is not allowed to take our visas and he acted, as most of the stupid borderguards, as a little baby. Childish as he is, he demanded we made a photocopy of one of the visas in Zugdidi and he promissed us to give the other visa after. With a delay of allmost three ours discussing with this dickhead, he returned us our visas and we moved on back to Kutaisi.

In Kutaisi I went back to the same homestay, where I enjoyed a wonderfull meal and a good game of chess with Ian. I slept outside that night, on the roof of the house, because the inside-temperature was blazingly hot. The next morning, I woke up at 6, had a quick breakfast and hopped on a bus to Tbilisi. When I arrived overthere around noon, I had a rendez-vous with Kalin at Khatuna's homestay and we enjoyed gorgious khachapuri for lunch. As we decided to hitchhike that day to Armenia, we left soon after and went by metro outside of the city. Our first ride brought us halfway to a small town named Marneuli. Overthere, we were invited for beer by some old tipsy Georgian guys. I found it highly amusing to watch and talk with the slightly drunken Georgians, but after about an hour we continued hitchhiking towards the Armenian border. Quickly, we got a ride from an Armenian guy in a Lada minivan to the border and in the early evening we entered the republic of Armenia.

Impressions of Georgia: wine, Stalin and mountainscenery

On the Azeri-Georgian border, I had to wait for quite some time for the borderguards to finish their bureaucratic stuff. But while waiting, I met some nice Georgian people with whom I talked for a while. Within 5 minutes, I was busy with writing telephonenumbers of all their friends in Georgia who I should visit. Also they helped me with transport from the border, as they had a big bus full of teenagers going to 'patriot camp' and I was invited to join them. They dropped me off in the village Sighnaghi, as I asked them. Sighnaghi is a small town in the region Kakheti, in the east of Georgia. And when I arrived, I found a place to stay right away in the homestay (sleeping in someones house for little money) of an old construction worker. The same man invited me for diner and some beers in a small cafe, which I very much appreciated. The guy walked into the cafe, grabbed a big fish from the wall and smashed it on the table. Bon appetit...... The beer was nice though and it was highly amusing to watch the people in this small cafe full of semi-drunken construction workers.
Next morning, I walked a bit throught Sighnaghi. I liked the town very much, as it has a beautifull setting and some kind of Italian atmosphere. The view from Sighnaghi over the Kakhetian wine valleys was pretty amazing as well and there were some churches and lots of old buildings. Around noon I hitchhiked to Telavi, which took me allmost all day. And when I arrived in Telavi, I walked towards the homestay of an old Georgian woman. Her name is Manana and she lived by herself as both her husband and daughter died. She provided me with lots of Georgian coffee and we spended quite some time talking (in Russian off course) about her and my life. After my coffee, I went to a small park where I met a group of Georgian people, with whom I spended the rest of the evening talking and drinking. At the same time, there was a free concert in the city, it was organised by a telephone company, and it was nice to hear some Georgian music together with my beer.
When I woke up the next morning, there was a nice cup of Manana's coffee waiting for me. After I finished my coffee with macaroni for breakfast, I went to the busstation for a marshrutka to the religious site of Alaverdi. It is a huge complex with a big Georgian Orthodox Cathedral. And I found it quite fascinating to watch the intense practise of Georgian Christianity overthere. The Georgian religion is, after the Armenian, the oldest form of Christianity in the world and almost all Georgians are quite strond believers. At the Cathedral, I talked a bit with some priests and enjoyed the surrounding views, before I catched another marshrutka towards Telavi. On the way, I hopped of the marshrutka and walked towards another religious site, the monastery of Ikalto.

When I arrived at Ikalto, I met some of the people from the monastery, who invited me for Kakhetian wine and a lot of talking about Dutch football. The wine was tasty and one of the man gave me a short tour throught the pretty monastery. After, I returned to Telavi, where I watched the second concert day and spended the evening drinking and eating with another group of Georgians who invited me.

The next day, I thanked Manana and went by marshrutka to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. I got little bit sick in the marshrutka though, but when I arrived in Tbilisi I felt quite better. I met a German traveller (the first foreigner I met since Sheki) who helped me finding the cheapest homestay in the city. I stayed at Khatuna's homestay. Khatuna is a woman of about 35 years old, who lives with her small daughter Nadya and her old mother. The homestay is known as the 'Japanese place', because a lot of Japanese travellers are staying there (allthought I haven't seen any Japanese so far). I talked a bit with Khatuna and her family and went to sleep early to make sure I wouldn't be sick the next day.

My early sleeping helped, as the next day I didn't had any medical problems and could easily spend all the day sightseeing in Tbilisi. I started my walking with coffee and khachapuri (Georgian national dish, very tasty) in a small cafe. And while I was eating, I saw on the television in the cafe a news-reportage about a policeman who was shot in his car. And after I finished my lunch and walked out of the street, I saw the same car including journalists and crime investigators.The city Tbilisi I enjoyed very much, it has a charming and relaxed atmosphere and there are lots of things to see. It is full of churches, but the city feels like an European capital with an Asian way of living. In total I spended 5 days in Tbilisi and I saw a lot sights, including the third biggest church in the world (Sameba), and too many other churches. Also I spended two days with some teenagers who are living in a suburb called 'Afrika' and I was invited to view their living area full of concrete Sovietstyle appartmentblocks (and to drink quite a lot of Kazbegi-beer). Also in Tbilisi, I met two other travellers: Kalin from Bulgaria and Waldek from Poland, with whom I travelled to the mountaintown Kazbegi. We went to Kazbegi by marshrutka and I enjoyed some amazing mountainscenery on the way. The road links Tbilisi with Vladikavkaz (in Russia) and is known as the Georgian Military Highway.
In Kazbegi we found a nice homestay and we spended the rest of the day eating, drinking and talking. The next day, we hiked up to a small church on top of a mountain, with amazingly beautifull views over the Caucasus and the 5033m Mt. Kazbeg. When we made it back to Kazbegi, exhausted, we were hanging a bit around and we made our selves a diner. From Kazbegi, we shared a taxi and went to a small village on the Georgian Military Highway called Ananuri. Overthere is a very pretty fortress/church and we visited this site that afternoon. We catched a marshrutka back to Tbilisi, were we stayed for 3 more nights.

In Tbilisi, I haven't done much actually. I played a lot of pool with Kalin and we went to a 'party' in Irina's homestay (homestay with quite a lot of travellers). Also, we made a daytrip to Gori, a small city in the centre of Georgia, famous for being the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. We saw a huge statue of Stalin (the only statue of the bastard still standing) and we climbed a huge fortress in the middle of the city. And allthought Gori is quite a depressing place, were is nothing much to see besides the Stalin attraction, it was quite nice for a daytrip. Back in Tbilisi, Waldek left us that night, because he met some other Polish travellers. With Kalin I went the next day to Borjomi, another small city, but famous for its mineral water and natural springs. We stayed two nights in Borjomi in a friendly homestay and we spended our time viewing the relaxing town. Also I spended quite some time in the postoffice, to make phonecalls to the ministery of foreign affairs of the 'republic' of Abkhazia, in order to get an entry-permit. From Borjomi, we decided to take a train back to Tbilisi, which was quite some experience. The train was old, very very old, it had no windows and nothing inside except wooden benches (which are very hard). Also the train was slow, very very slow, as it took 5 hours for only 150 km (30km/h average). But the reason we took this train was, because it is damn cheap (2 lari) and an interesting experience. The next day in Tbilisi, I finaly got to speak someone in Abkhazia and I received my entry-permission by mail directly after. Also I did some climbing with Kalin (who is an experienced rock climber) in the 'alpinist club' of Tbilisi.

From Tbilisi, we went west by bus towards Georgia's second biggest city Kutaisi. As every form of transport in Georgia, also this bus was slow, but also quite relaxing. In Kutaisi, we found a good homestay again and the rest of the day we spend eating with the family and drinking wine, and I mean a lot of wine. At the end everyone was pretty drunk and we went to sleep early.

The next day was blazingly hot, the thermometer recorded over 40 degrees celcius.... And with this temperatures it is quite hard to do anything during the day, trust me. Still me and Kalin decided to visit some monasteries around Kutaisi and we chartered a taxi to take us to Motsameta en Gelati. Both monasteries were impressive and build on amazing locations, but as it was so hot, it was hard to fully enjoy it. In the afternoon we went back to Kutaisi for a cold shower and diner. The rest of the evening I spended in an internetcafe and to prepare myself for my journey toward the semi-independant republic of Abkhazia.

Welcome

Welcome on my weblog, here I share my travel experiences in Asia. Next summer I will start my trip to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Iraq. I am planning to travel in that area in July and August, so I start posting from the beginning of July. My intented route is visible on the map. For pictures of my previous journeys in Asia, see http://community.webshots.com/user/mart87.
I hope you enjoy reading my experiences and anecdotes.