Day 217: Tblisi-Akhtala

Since I tried to do all the administrative stuff in, one evening and the bags needed to be packed too I did not get much sleep last night. However I managed toi get up at eight and after breakfast it was time to say goodbye to my fellow cyclists and our wonderful hosts. Its never easy and even though I had a lot of practice the last months, I probably will never get used to it. We kept it short, there is not much to be said, it was written in our faces anyway.
The clouds threatened with showers but eventually not a drop fell on my head. Later in the afternoon the sun pierced the clouds. It actually was perfect weather, 17°, no wind and a moderate sun.
Once I got out of the city I headed for small roads and landed on a dirt track leading through the plane. The earth was dry and hard, no real bumps in the road, just waves. On the fields there were huge sheep herds, some cows, a couple of horses and a few dogs usually close to the shepherds. I loved this scenery and me and wolter flying through it.
Then I faced the mountains again back on the main road which went around the first hills and then dived into the valley. Along the river most of the trees were in bloom now, mountains covered in forests turned from braun-black-gray to green and sometimes a breeze would blow some flower perfume into my nose.
Crossing the border in Sadakhlo to Armenia was very quick. This is the first country I needed a visa on this trip. Next to the passport control was a seperate booth where I got the visa for 21 days by filling out a form and paying 3000 dram within minutes.
Right after the border I stocked up, then rode another couple of kilometres into the country before getting a spot for the night.
The first impressions I got from the people were very friendly, the officers at the border were cracking jokes about my dudish facial hear, alomst every single car was greeting by a friendly short honk or by waving out of the window, even people far away from the street on the hillsides would shout and wave with both arms. Since there was not much traffic the drivers appeared respectful, except when they were about to passt other cars or if two cars crossed on my hight. Then they honk a bit differently and to avoid commotion or worse I had to get of the road. but by now I have accepted that I won't change the mentality that bicycles are like pedestrians, so with my mirror I do these manoeuvres very routinely and relaxed, instead of getting obset.

Days 213-216: Tblisi

Staying with Alex, Tako, Nanuka (Their little daughter) and Kendra in Didi-Dighomi turned out to be really cool, in this apartment on the eleventh floor of an old soviet-building it was very cozy and a veritable treasure of knowledge resides here. Kendra is an American language genius, speaking Turkish, Russian, Georgian and French additionally to her mother tongue, Tako is a Georgian Biologist, knowing a lot about the animal kingdom of this country and her husband Alex covers History and Geography. A traveler could not hope for a better constellation of people, all together in one and the same place. All of our hosts are very passionate travelers and Alex is a cyclist himself, having cycled through most parts of his country. Consequently there was a lot of common interest and a lot to discuss, during these lazy days before the Easter weekend. Sharing English as common language, we shared a lot of stories and I learned another great heap about this country that I've grown very fond of these days.
While SonJung and Jihyun were making a day trip to Kazbegi. I would stay here and run around the city to get a new pair of trousers (since I gave one pair away and the wind-stopper ones threaten to fall apart soon because of the abrasion) and replace a broken torch and a lost mirror. After half a day without much success searching through the city I saw another cyclist going in the opposite direction. I had some difficulties catching up with the local guy riding on the sidewalk with considerable speed. Once I explained him what I'm looking for, Temo spontaneously decided to take me to the bike shop. There I found some stuff, but no suitable cloths. So after some talking with the shopkeeper Temo suggested another shop. So we went together to that other place and one friend from the shop decided to ride with us. It was cool riding with them. At the second shop they had one model of long cycling trousers in exactly one size and this turned out to be my lucky day.
I needed another afternoon to get the rest of the equipment but in the evening Kendra took me for a tour around the city. She appeared to have a similar strategy when it comes to discovering a city, which is just walk around. And so we did. On the random walk I found a small amulet of St.Niklaus, the protector of the travelers. This saint can be found in most of the marschukas (taxi-buses) in Georgia. We also stopped in a nice small bar, saw churches, the presidential palace and the brand new park in the center.
The last day I tried to look out for the following weeks, and coordinate visa-stuff, but I found a lot of other things to do instead, like posting this a bit too early. However the last days were warm and there is more and more green around us. I am very excited about the milder season giving me back some of my freedom that I really started to miss during this long winter I thought I'd escaped before it really hit me in central Turkey. Tomorrow I will reach Armenia, if things go smoothly and Iran is getting closer. But before that It's goodbye-time, my dear Korean friends and I will go separate ways again after a good three weeks of traveling together. On one hand I look forward of finding my own rhythm again and on the other I surly will miss their company.

Day 212: Imera-Tblisi

That was a quiet, warm night of sleep, good it was great! And we would wake up to an rather easy day, mostly riding downhill to Tblisi.
These last two days it seemed like the order of the four seasons got messed up. We went from winter to summer and then to spring. Borjomi beeing winter, the lower plateau was feeling like summer with the strong sun and finally when we proceeded our way down towards Tblisi, there were first some flowers and a couple of trees in bloom and in the lower regions the buds just started to open and this light tone of green would color the dark-colored trees. The air was worm and we even started to seek the shadow during midday.
In Tblisi we were welcomed by Alex his wife Taco and his cute little daughter Nanuka. What we believed to be an easy day had turned out to be a rather long one with a 100km on the counter. Because we did not really  expect that, we ended up only snacking and once we arrived we were almost starving and pretty exhausted. But Taco had a soup on the stove and Alex served us excellent house wine. We could not have hoped for better.

Day 211: Ninotsminda-Imera

When we woke up this morning there were much fewer dry spots on the field. Water was flowing from the melting snow. Jihyun and Sungjongs tent was almost flooded, I was a bit luckier. However it was not quite clear why the snow was still melting during that cold night when temperatures were below zero. It took some more time to pack up with a lot if wet stuff to dry. But our mood was lifted by the tailwind, riding through this high plane was really easy after a short climb.
The sun was quite strong and after I managed to burn mt arms, nose and hands yesterday a lot of suncream was needed.
When we halted in front of what we thought to be and, abandoned building for lunch, a woman appeared at the window and waved use inside. Moments later we found ourselves in the office of a doctor and the building appeared to be a hospital. In the hospital they were quite hospitable and when the female doctor learned that we are all healthy she had her assistant make coffee for all of us and put some chocolates on her desk. We were talking in a mix of German and Russian for a while before real patients called the doctor back to duty.
In the villages we passed we saw a couple of 'storche' building their nests. shortly before reaching the 2145m pass I saw a white fox crossing the street and only a bit later a falcon almost took a small bird out of midair.
Another highlight was that I managed to chase a dog for a change, usually these barking beasts chase after me. This time however I saw it coming out of the corner of my eye, they like sneaking up in the dead angle and catch passing people by surprise. So I took a slight turn to the left and when the dog arrived at the street I turned briskly back to the right and accelerated towards it. The dog fled up the street barking me speeding after it shouting back it was trapped against the wall at the side of the street. So I chased it for a couple of meters until the wall ended and there was space to get away from the street, there the dog turned and tried to charge again, but I accelerated even more and faked and attack by dodging in its direction and and shouting fearcly. At this point it skidded to a halt, turned and fled up a small hill and there it stood and even when Sungjong passed a bit later, it did not dare to approach him.
The ride downhill was a real treat, the tailwind grew stronger and the road was steep and its surface perfect. Under these conditions I managed to break my speed record. Once we arrived at the lower plane I was very surprised myself to read 82 km/h as maximum speed from the smartphones gps application.
The tailwind blew use also over the second plane and after the big downhill strech towards Tblisi started we chose a beautiful spot overlooking the valley for the night. No village is around in a radius of ten kilometres and as a consequence no barking fuckers astray in this patch of land.
On the opposite hillside (south) some fields were burnig (like many other we've passed before) and the smoke was hanging over the valley. So when the full moon rose, it was shining orange. The scenery in the twilight with this moon and the fire crawling up the hillside was very impressive and quite unusual. We started our own fire and watched the spectacle.

Day 210: Vardzia-Ninotsminda

Even though the spot looked very promising, a couple of barking dogs managed to make night hell. They decided to have their little fights right beside our tents and I woke up several times in therr middle of the night.
The ridig was one big climb today finishing of with twenty kilometres with strong headwind. The landscapes however continued to amaze, the views offered on this high plateau (almost 2000m) were beautiful at this sunny day. The people we met in the villages and towns on our way encountered us with a friendly curiosity and I realized that if I don't speak Georgian nor Russian I won't be able to honour these meetings. So I will soon try to pick up some Russian, which will be of use later too.
It was hard to find a spot for our tents today. Most of the places were snow covered or wet and muddy from the melting snow, however we managed to find a place, not very prominent though, just a small forest next too the road.

Day 209: Aspindza-Vardzia

Getting up and out in the cold was not easy this morning, but knowing that there would be some embers left from yesterdays fire to quickly start a new fire helped. Frost covered our tents and then water in then bottles we left outside was partially frozen. It was chilly while we had our breakfast and like cold blooded reptiles we sat there a bit stiff waiting until then sun would hit us again.
The ride into then valley of Vardzia was great. The up and downs got a bit more frequent and steeper but since we advanced well yesterday, we only had few kilometres left. At a small shop the chatty owner poured me some chacha and passed it with a cookie to chase, this interesting combination I could not refuse even though it was quite early for a schnapps.
We ate lunch next to then underground city of Vardzia, before starting exploring then many caves of the place. The matter was quite similar to the vulcanic sandstone we already had seen in Kapadokia and the traces at the walls of the caves indicated similar tools that were used to dig into the mountain. Most of the caves lay open but there were also some tunnels that were spared by the erosion. It turned out to be the most interesting of the cave architectures from the first millennium I'v seen so far. The bigger caves and higher tunnels letf me suspect that this one is not as ancient as the previous ones.
Back in the valley we met a monk who spok a bit english. He explained that the cave city was actually an abbey hosting some 700 monks and that not only erosion dug away half of the this construction but also earthquakes destroyed a lot of it. However it was restored back in time and even today, the chapel is actually used and the mess is held each Sunday. Furthermore we discovered that the abbey is currently still inhabited.... by swallows...
After we got green light from the monk to camp a night, we chose the field just beneath the monastery next to the river to pitch our tents.

Day 208: Borjomi-Aspindza

The rain turned into snowfall during the night, so when we got up in the morning it looked like someone poured powder-suggar over the mountains. The sun grew stronger the last days and it managed to heat the earth and the air quickly once it shone into the valley. As the day went on we peeled ourselves out of one layer of clothes after another. The road was in perfect condition an there was hardly any traffic, on top of that there was no wind. The landscape was quite nice, the dominant color beeing brown from the earth, but also the river and the trees were in close of the light spectrum. Some remaining snow on the higher mountains (not intimidating anymore) was building the contrast and made the link to the blue sky via the clouds that its created by own evaporation.
In the late afternoon we found a small swing bridge to cross the river and get some distance to then road. On the other side we made our camp. Enjoying the rest of then afternoons sun I lay down in the grass wearing only a t-shirt in that valley 1000m above sea level. it was the first time this year I could do that and it was pure happiness.

Day 207: Borjomi

The weather forecast for todays afternoon was heavy rain, which convinced us to spend another night here.
During the rather nice morning I went to visit the thermal water park of Borjomi. The hot spring here is said to have the worlds second best mineral water after Vichy. It was not elaborated how exactly this was determined but in any case its definitely worth tasting.
While Sungjong was welding his broken luggage carrier (probably from that infamous car ride the day before yesterday), I followed the river through the park far up the valley. The hiking did me good, however I was in a strange mood this day. On the way back I tasted the two springs, first the hot one that is full of minerals and a bit bubbly and after, to rinse the slighy sulfuric weird tasty-taste out of my mouth, the cold and fresh one.
During the afternoon, I tried to find a cafe with wireless internet without success. Instead I found open networks here and there in the city and surfed outdoors until the rain started.
The rest of the day was packing and fixing little stuff. I'm looking forward on the next couple of, nice days riding again.

Day 206: Bakuriani

There is a historic train going far up into the mountains all the way to Bakuriani, a well known ski-resort in Georgia. We decided to take take this two hour train ride on our resting day as a nice pass-time. We stocked up with food and beer before takeoff for a late breakfast.
The train was full of Austrian and German tourists and another American-Canadian couple. The later ones soon started chatting with us and we kept discussing all the way. In Bakuriani there was still a lot of snow and similar to Mestia, there were not many activities we could do with our equipment this time a year. Skiseason just ended yesterday, at the ends of March. so we walked aimlessly through the town that was working in reduced modus. Jihyun spontaneously knocked at the doors of a ski-school located in a handsome house. We were taken in by an old Russian-Georgian Couple and their friend and seated at the fireplace. There we snacked and drunk some wine while asking eachother about the wheres and whys. Later another friend of, the hosts joined with a bottle of chacha (Georgian wodka). I enjoyed this place and its people a lot. I looked at them amazed how young old people can appear.
When we left for the bus I was walking on round heels and we managed to miss it. So we tried a bit of hitchhiking before eventually catching the next one two hours later.
The views from the bus turned out to be even more amazing than the ones from the historic train.
Back in Borjomi I went straight for my bed.

Day 205: Didvake-Borjomi

In the morning the police was indeed still there and followed us as we made our early take off. The road was difficult with a lot of holes in it forcing us to crisscross along the road. The trees in the valley were black and looked like burnt, giving this sunny day a spooky touch. Before joining a bigger paved road again near Surami, we needed to cross a little pass. We advanced very slowly on the bumpy road and it got worse when the climbing started. So Sungjong and Jihyun decided to render our pursuers and their jeep useful, loaded their bikes and mounted the vehicle. I wanted to continue the ride and tried to make them drive ahead, but the policemen refused and continued tailing me.  Jihyun tried to delay them a bit by asking for toilet stops and for some time it was a quite enjoyable ride. I could push with everything I got into the pedales, knowing that there would be backup if needed. I almost felt like a pro-rider. There were less than ten kilometres left until the main road, shortly before the pass and the track got steadily worse (muddy and bigger holes) when we had to take a turned into a narrow side-valley where the snow hadn't melted yet and was piling up knee deep. There were some traces in the snow, but I kept wondering what kind of vehicle is able to deal with this kind of extreme conditions. I by now I know a lost cause when I see one. These couple of kilometres cost easily three to four hours when you have to drag and carry the 50kg bike (done that) plus after a couple of hundred meters the feet are totally wet and it won't be long before they feel like clumps of ice. The policemen pointed at Wolter and their car again. I asked wether we have to go back and take the train, but they shook their heads and dragged me almost in the car. I thought we would turn around but the driver hit hard on the gaspedal and drove the car towards the deep snow, without having bothered to put the chains on. During the first hundred meters we went a dozen times back and forth to give the car momentum, this way the driver was basically digging his way through the snow masses. The motor went loud and the tires headed up and steam raised from the four corners of the car. I waited until we would turn around, but the driver kept trying and forced the vehicle slowly ahead. After we managed to pass the side-valley we went faster. The three of us were violently thrown around in the car and after our shoulders had hit the doors and our heads the ceiling we clinched to whatever we could grab.  Jihyun clambered screaming to Sungjong who bounced around in the middle without anywhere to hold on, the driver had a huge grin on his face chasing his car like a made man through the landscape, his colleague was laughing and I thought this car will be wrecked any moment. I kept checking on our bikes and luggage on the back of the jeep, worried. From time to time the driver stopped to check a hole. Even with the car these six kilometres took forever and I, was quite impressed that we made it.
In Surami we were dropped off and we said goodbye to the rally-driver and his co-worker and minutes later they were gone.
The last 30km to Borjomi it started raining and we had to fight some headwind. We arrived pretty exhausted, wet and cold. At the tourist information we were pointed to, a cheep home stay and given a lot of information about the, attractions oder the regions. When I asked the man there his opinion on our police stories of the last day he looked a bit puzzled himself and did not find any other explanation than the police just trying to be helpful.
When we arrived finally at our hosts place far up the hillside, we cleaned equipment and ourselves and dropped into our beds.

Day 204: Dimi-Didvake

We took our time in the morning before heading into the mountains in the south that were growing bigger during the last two days. Until Kharagauli the roads were nice with low traffic except a short strech through Zestapodi and it was a realy beautiful spring day. After Kharagauli we continued on unpaved roads along the river. Throughout the valley there were sparse houses, but less than the day before where one village was next to the other. And then it appeared in front of us, definitely one of the best camping spot I came across so far, I thought... There were ruins of a small castle on a small hill cutting into the valley, making it narrower. From up there one can overlook the valley and have plenty of sun, probably even see a nice sunset. The neighboring houses were lower, so they would neither hear us nor see our fire and we would be far enough from the train tracks (where a lots of freight trains passed) to have an undisturbed sleep. From bellow it looked like there must be a road leading close enough to reach the promised spot and so we decided to give it a try. Before we took off, a police car arrived. We asked if there is a road to the castle, he said that there is something more like a path, not really rideable. We tried anyway and police followed us. In the end most of the distance was just rideable pushing with everything I, had into the highest gear. The last strech was a narrow-muddy-supersteep trail. No camping in the castle, not without dragging our stuff another 50m up on that difficult track anyway. Instead we went for sightseeing and the spot turned out to be better than I pictured it in my imagination.
On the way down we discovered an alternative spot in a side-valley close to a torrent and we settled for that one. The policeman went away after some time and a bit later two new ones returned. We went about our businesses (pitching the tents, cooking...) and started wondering after sunset if they would spend the night here.
As we were sitting around the fire and older man came to us making us understand, that we should follow him to his house. Since he insisted vigorously, we gave in and went with him. At Valodias house his wife was busy in the kitchen. At our (re)appearance she looked a bit startled (we had seen her on the way to the castle earlier). Communication was very difficult, there was no common language between georgian and russian on one side and korean, english, french and german on the other. Fifteen minutes later we sat in front of a richly set table; bread, eggs, pickled vegetables, some elaborately conserved delicious aubergines, fruits in suggar water (tastes like siroup only better) and vine, everything was homemade. The fact that we had eaten a bit more than and hour ago and that my stomach was a mess again, giving me pain from some kind of cramps made me want to cry. I bearly could eat a bite and had trouble explaining my situation to our hosts, luckily my koren friends honoured the meal with both hands and 'hmmms' and 'ooohs'.
After some time, a photo session in all possible combinations and many thanks we left to find our beds in our tents. Valodia insisted to bring us back, but he took my arm on the way down these steep roads. He seemed having had a glass or two too much. Back at our tents he did not seem wanting to leave, so we sat there for a while smoking untli two shadows approached, coming from the police cars direction. They started talking too Valodia, recognised him after a couple of sentences. The police officers were talking in what I perceived as a kind voice and finally Valodia went back home and the police, after asking what time we would leave the next day, went back too their car. We were a bit confused, the answer of why they would stay all night was; 'security', and made not really sense too us. However, tired as we were we did not break our heads over this and went too sleep.

Day 203: Martvili-Dimi

We pursued our way on the small roads. Today we went away from the Caucasus on the south side of the plane where smaller but still white mountains delimit the lower areas. The weather was very good, no wind temperatures around 15°C and after a cloudy mornig the sun came out. The first fifty km were easy, slighy downhill.
When we took our lunch break in Khoni sitting in the park close to the road, a police car stopped next to us and waited. When some teenagers came around shouting stuff at us the police man shut them up, that was when we first really noticed him. Once we took off he, followed us, driving his car at low speed a couple of meters behind us. After a stop at a petrol station we were very sure that he followed us. Once we were out of town, approaching Kutaisi another police care came in opposit direction and turned around once we passed. The new car then took over the pursuit. The fact that a car blocked the road behind us forced the others to reduce speed (after honking) instead of squeezing between the cars on opposit lane and us, which was actually quite nice. In Kutaisi they asked us if we'd need anything, so Jyhan said, that we looked for internet. They instructed us to follow them and after they did the asking around for us we landed at Mac Donalds. I asked them why they escort us and one of the policemen, luckily speaking a bit of english, said that we would be safe this way. When I then asked why we would not be safe otherwise, his answer was that he was joking and started talking about the city. I was a bit confused about all this and tempted to call the embassy to hear weather they knew more. Also I did not expect any police escorts before Iran.
Later sitting in fornt of the burger barn a guy chatted up SungJong, asking if he was from Korea and explaining that he wants to go and teach english there. I explained him our situation and asked what the reason could be. He replied, that he was often followed by police or teenagers since he is a foreign looking person with his dark skin.
The police car took off during our internet session but when we left yet another policeman continued following us in a civil car. This guy started to bust my balls when he was driving too closely to us. When he finally honked when we were well out of the city and turned around waving, we though that we could at last continue by ourselves. It became quite uncomfortable having someone breathing down our necks for hours. But soon another car came from the opposite direction again. They stopped, asked where we were going and how we intended to spend the night. We said that we are on our way to Borjomi and that we would like to camp. They nodded at our answers and took off after a while. We expected that they would wait for us but they didn't, or they were discrete enough that we did not notice them.
We had trouble finding a spot to pitch our tent this eavening, along the roads there was house after house. Finally we settled for a spot between abandoned houses between close villages. Lots of dogs...

Day 202: Zugdidi-Martvili

We took the roads along the Caucasus today, a marvellous ride over small hills, with little traffic and stupendous views. The weather was great, only the air was a little cold. Spring is around the corner, some flowers are already in bloom and the leaves of the trees are about to burst out. It is great to ride small roads again, paved or even dirt tracks. In Turkey I hadn't done enough of them. Small roads are less invasive tom the rural landscapes and give the feeling to cross intact environments, even though the settlements along the roads are sometimes never ending and this triangle between southern and northern mountains seems to be rather densly populated.
We pitched the tent next to a river, its noise will let me fall in a comfortable deep sleep, I'm sure.

Days 200-201: Zugdidi

Today in the very early morning, it was still pitch dark, we took the bus to Zugdidi. After some waiting we took off and after a couple of kilometres the sunrise started. And there they were, the sceneries we were hoping for in a light you can't even dream of. Its very hard though to take pictures from a car with bad suspension 'flying' downhill.
Half the way down there was a small avalanche of dirt and rocks blocked the street, but we arrived just after the bulldozer who cleared the road again.
Back in Zugdidi it was sunny and 20°C, ideal for relaxing in the park. After another tour on the bazaar and a dinner we got and early nights sleep, tired from the short night.

The last day in Zugdidi was dedicated for maintainance, cleaning and oiling the chain, tightening some screws, applying some duct tape, fixing the head lamp (after having to rummage a lot in the dark tent) and repairing clothes. Most of the stuff looks worn out by now and some stuff is barley repairable but knowing that it will be hard or impossible to get the same or similar items again let's you try anyway.

Days 198-199: Mestia

It was a pleasant surprise that my stomach ache was gone after only one day. I still felt a bit weak though having spent a lot more time emptying myself than with refilling. However the plan was to hitchhike to Mestia, a remote small time in the middle of the Caucasus, so no great physical effort was required for that enterprise.
We walked out of the town and quickly somebody took us half the way. At a crossing in the middle of the mountains we had to wait maybe 15 minutes before a small truck picked us up for the rest of the ride. The second driver chased his vehicle up that valley, slaloming between the rocks that had fallen on the street. These mountains and its people appeared to have seen a hard winter, the road had suffered considerably under it. In a small village a small crowd blocked the road, they were gathering around a pair of fighting dogs. First I was under them impression, that they tried to seperate them, but in fact they were enjoying them spectacle. The driver killed the engine and we watched the rather violent looking fight for a couple of minutes during which it looked as one of the dogs would rip out the throat of the other.
The sceneries were quite something that appeared after each major turn, the mountainsides are steep and the peaks reach high up in the sky. The low clouds would leave us guessing how much higher the mountains would rise.
After about four hours we reached Mestia, where we were dropped of in the city center next to the tourist information. Here we learned that between seasons there is indeed not much to do, the trails are covered in wet snow and skiing season is over. So we went ton a guesthouse got ride of our stuff and went inspecting one of the many towers of the town. Back at the guesthouse we enjoyed dinner, nice thing such a full pension including dinner and breakfast. Only a little later our first day in the Caucasus found its end. Amazing how tired one can get from a car ride and a little walking up in this thin air.

Overnight there was quite a bit of snowfall. We decided to hike ton the skilift to see if we could find some wood to strap to our feet and surf the mountain. On the way up a four-by-four car took us along. When allroader took off after we hoped on its open loading space, we clinched on to whatever we could grab, Georgians do not go easy on the gaspedal, even if the road is snow covered.
Next too the lift was a small hotel where, as we arrived, a bunch of people gathered back from a small ski-tour. Among them was a group of Frenchmen from Chamonix. We walked a bit along the slopes, since the lifts were not operating today. We gazed at the mountains wrapped in clouds and fooled around in the snow. Soon we realized that of the slopes we would sink in at least knie-deep into the snow. Jep its wild here, without ski or snowshoes, you can't go very far. So we walked back down to town. A couple of hours later and after many aaahs and oohs we arrived down in the valley in the late afternoon. It was a bit ambivalent to me, in one way I was so eager to finally explore the Caucasus and in another there I found myself in, the snow again, longing for the spring finally at reach all the way down in the plane.
Then we tried hitchhiking back to Zugdidi, but on a late sunday afternoon we looked a bitte like fools in our attempt. One hour later, still in Mestia, we took a cheap room in a hostel.

Day 196-197: Zugdidi

Rainy days in Zugdidi. Brennan from Baltimore who was visiting for a couple of days took us to the city center. On the way there we picked up Hatschipuri (georgian cheese bread) and had a peek at the bazaar before going to a bar with wireless internet. That was a long quiet moment there when all of us were wired in, catching up in the virtual world.
Later Brennan left us to go back to his village and we went back to the bazaar to do the shopping for tonights feast.
After crisscrossing between the stands and shops, many suspicious looks at the meat that was hanging in bits from ropes and was fingered by the sellers while praising the merchandise tire you we returned to Blessing and Helens house. SungJong and Jihyun conjured in a very accomplished manner a delicious porc casserole, while I was struggling improvising (because I could not find the exact ingredients) a gratin with the wood heated oven. After having strained everybodys patience because of drastically increased cooking time due to lower-than-usual temperatur, we finally ate eagerly.
The next day my body, that recently was struggling staying on the healthy side, gave in into sickness. I spent my second day in bed, weak, feverish with a very weird stomach. Jihyun prepared a rice soup for me and gave me a bottle with hot water for my belly. I am very grateful for this. Thoughts about spending a sick day in my tent made me shiver even more... Yeah, this is much better...
Unfortunately I missed a crazy night with the others, I just heard the echoes as voices in the corridors late at night when the events took place for which the night deserves that previous adjective.

Day 195: Poti-Zugdidi

During the night the sky covered and in the morning tailwind blew us away from the coast. Later that day it started raining.
In Zugdidi we were taken in by Blessing from south Afrika and Helen, his American girlfried. Both of them to voluntary service as english teachers. They share a house with Adam and Ally who are also from the United States, here on similar missions. Helen prepared a delicious stew from seasonal vegetables and we spent the eavening talking cultures over beers.

Day 194: Batumi-Poti

I got a bit confused with the time shift here. We took off around 11 and still had eight hours of daylight left.
The day was beautiful again, all sunny and the air was a lot warmer. We rode along the coast over the hills and the Kaukasus mountains appeared ahead of us. I remember staring as a boy at that spot on the atlas where it said Kaukasus, this rather small mountain chain between the Black and the Caspian See holds impressively high mountains and stimulated my phantasy, let my mind wonder. And today I look at it, this majestic landscape.
In the late afternoon we found a camping spot at the coast. Before we could pitch our tents a guy in a cheep showed up, said that hey was in charge of security here, asked us where we are from, what we want and finally told us that it is a good place to camp since we will be guarded.
We cooked still in daylight enjoyed rice with pork accompanied by some red wine. More than me Sungjong and Jihyun missed the pork meat during our long stay in Turkey.
The sunset over the deep blue sea framed by white mountains on the left and the right was a true spectacle, that followed by a clear night sky left us awestruck.

Day 193: Hopa-Batumi

The sun was out so I was eager to get on the bike. I had 20 km left to the border. The crossing took some time because of the stamp mess in my passport. All the stamps of cyprus and three entries and two exits in turkey (one pair from 2 years ago) were one, the same two pages. They took me in the office and I feared that they would notice that the last two entries were separated by less six months. If they did, they were not bothered by it, they checked them regulations for my country again and sent be back to them booth to get my stamp. On the way to the Georgian controls I noticed my flat tire, so I needed to fix it in front of the duty free shop. On the Georgian side I was indicated to cut them long queue was looked at carefully during them passport control, finally got my stamp and was welcomed to Georgia.
Even though I like to think of borders between countries as mostly arbitrary lines drawn on a map (sometimes they do however coincide with natural frontiers like mountains or rivers), here one side was quite different from them other. The roads were smaller, the drivers are a bit crazier, the vegetation slighy changed, them houses looked different and the people, especially the women, dressed differently.
In Batumi I, found the house of my old Korean friends (Sungjong and Jihyun) hosts without problems. Ufugu and Prak are two Turks whose work allows them to leadan urban nomad life. They are great guys to be around. It was heaven sitting on the balcony in the sun on this warm day, sipping on a whiskey from the duty free shop, good it felt like heaven.
After a walk through the city and some shopping we started to cook all together. For dinner some of Ufugus and Parks Georgian friends joined. They introduced me to their drinking culture, where the 'ceremonial chief' says a toast before each time everyone holds the bottoms up of their glasses. And don't dare drinking before!
The food was delicious and after a couple of whiskey bottles were 'shot' away this beautiful day slowly came to and ending.