Hotel Charm Tbilisi

With Pete leading Baz and myself in the Landy, we travel led across Azerbaijan without too much trouble and arrived at the border with Georgia in the late afternoon.

After the 'excitable' customs officers and the ridiculous bureaucracy of the entry into Baku, we were expecting another lengthy and confusing farce. A smiling Customs officer took the three of us into his office and demanded all our documents given at ...

... finally climbed to the top of the hill where the temperature suddenly plunged. The windows fogged up, but between putting on my hat and mittens and wiping off the condensation, I could see the white snow covering the ground all around us. Snow-capped ridges surrounded the road. The bus followed along the top of the mountain we were on, then began its way through the Jvari Pass (at 2379 meters) and finally reached the village of Kazbegi ...

... do in Prague;). 13.9.2008: Mtskheta I got up at 10am and went to the metro station Politeknikuri to meet up with Tamar. By the way, the street between Tbilisi's homestays neighbourhood and metro station became quite a home for me in those two weeks - it's nice when beggars and shop assistants recognize you [even smile at you, a thing georgian assistans/waitresses/etc never do]. There is even Popular western-style supermarket [funnily, their size is indicated in the banner: from S to ...

... that stuck to his chin he was not an appetising sight. The boat docked and we were in Azerbaijan so more customs and all told the 12 hour ferry took us 36 hours from one port to the other. We were wrecked by all the hanging about. 4/. Azerbaijan is a wierd mix of a country . their ecology is about the worst I've known. Open pools of oil and wasteland - just dreadful and there is a cemetery dedicated to children who have problems due to the poisonous ...

... gherkin", where there is a heavy security presence. See a local pulled out of a car from which he is filming something. He is escorted away, but the tone of the "arrest"seemed pretty friendly. MP careful to ask before taking photos in the other direction, of a precariously bulging building wall. Further down the street photo a tall building with the verandah posts hanging in space. Try to cross the road here but pretty ...

... most reliable evidence for Georgian middle-ages architecture. We were alone up there on the hill, and the church itself was closed. Actuallym it was locked - a common thing in Gerogia: you should know who holds the key and where you can find him - and this is the only way to enter the church is there's no Mass inside or other prayer. The church's location is impressive. It was chosen punctiliously by the architects - on the top of the hill that a tremendous view of the whole ...

... I felt for all these people, and the suffering was apparent. But at the same time the joy of song was still there, as was the Georgian spirit and many signs of vitality were in the air. On the second day, my destination was Davit Gareja, a Coptic Syrian monastery from the sixth century and a day trip from Tbilisi. I took a marshrutka to Rustavi through wine country and arid steppes. In Rustavi, I bargained with some taxi drivers to reach Davit Gareja ...

... Jäin hiljaks ja maksin traditsioonilise trahvi, 1 kohalik ühik minuti kohta (1 lari=7EEK), aga siiski oli ka peale mind saabujaid, kellele sai pidulikult latern üle antud :). Edasi läks sõit Teliani viinamarjaistandustesse, kus me korjasime 2 tundi viinamarju. Loomulikult olid kohalikud orgunninud meie turgutuseks korjatava vilja lõppprodukte. Tänu sellele jäi ära "Harvester of sorrow" (Metallica lugu:) ning 2h möödus linnutiivul. Olime tunnistajaks, kui kohalikud otsustasid ühe ...

... for initiating my son into the mysteries of pubs, all caution and adult control thrown out in the pursuit of Arsenal. Nairobi was an absolute hit. The verdict was that Kenya needed revisiting. We received absolute pampering in Nairobi and you know the Katsandes respond positively to any form of cosseting. Landing in Zimbabwe, we were ready to party - my cousin was getting married ...

... and frantic note (as all good adventures should). After arriving at the Armenia/Georgian frontier at 2pm with my dad flying at 2am (plenty of time) we were told that we Australians weren't able to get visas at this particular border. It was only later that we learned of the hidden costs (bribes) of cross border traffic in this part of the world. So as we saw our minibus speed of into the Georgian countryside, we ...