Mestia, Saturday

1057 Had alarms at 0930 and 0945, finally dragged myself out of bed at 0955 for breakfast. Yesterday must have been a tiring day.

Weather v grim, not left hostel yet. Not going to even attempt the glacier, it would be miserable. There is a museum here which I will attempt to find - owner has given me rough directions, she says 5-7 min walk. Don't think it is absolutely pissing down so let's see how it goes. Guide book says it doesn't open til 11 so hanging on here a few more minutes. Also checking weather for Tbilisi, Zugdidi and Batumi so I can try to think about where to go next, ideally after speaking to tourist information and maybe hostel owner later to see what the options are (flights? buses to Zugdidi, Tbilisi or anywhere else?)

1125 OK, let's go out. Weather forecast says it's quite nice in Batumi and Tbilisi for next few days. Zugdidi is OK, not that there's much to do there. Here it is predicting snow tomorrow then some improvement Mon onwards, but nowhere near as nice as yesterday. Anyway, let's see what happens.

1227 Fuckdusters. The museum looks closed. I need a minor non-prescription medical item. One pharmacy was closed, the other didn't have what I wanted, despite me showing them the name in Georgian script on my phone screen. Tourist information office says 'open' in the window but door is locked. Almost nowhere seems open.

It's Saturday afternoon FFS. It's a small town (2k+ people) but still.

It's continually drizzling, cool but not really cold and not much wind. I was slightly tempted to go to the glacier anyway, but there's just too much uncertainty. It might not be well signposted or obvious, it might involve inclined trails which would be treacherous in the wet, the rain might pick up hugely (my trousers are just ordinary combats, nothing waterproof, and the jacket is hardly trekking quality), even this slow and bearable drizzle might gradually soak me thoroughly over six hours. With a proper map and/or a clearer idea of the route and/or full-on hiking gear I might risk it, but as it is I must resist.

Stood outside tourist office writing this (there's a porch to shelter under). Guy just came and asked me for advice or something, he started with gamarjoba so might guest it was Georgian but could have been Russian. I told him I was English and made a deprecatory hand gesture (don't know the word for sorry) and he left.

Guide book says trekking season runs to mid-October. I think I got the last day of it yesterday. Basically I need to get out of here. All the evidence points to bus back to Zugdidi as the only real option, if I can ask someone I might be able to find out about a bus to Tbilisi.

I am wondering if I should hare it back to the hostel and see if I can get a bus back to Zugdidi today. The german women are getting one about 2pm IIRC. I am damn sure I could get a room at the hostel I was at in Zugdidi if necessary. But that all feels a little bit rushed. I dunno. I think I am going to go back to hostel and see what owner thinks and maybe do a bit of web surfing. I suppose there is no absolutely huge rush, if I stay here tonight it's not the end of the world (unless the snow makes the journey back to Zugdidi a problem).

1315 At hostel. Had quick web browse and waiting for owner to appear so can ask her advice. Basically I think I am going to go to Batumi - a three hour bus from Zugdidi, frequent at least according to guide book (and both are largish places), then I will get the (fastish) train Batumi-Tbilisi Wed-ish. I am not even going to try to go Mestia-Zugdidi-Batumi today. So I either spend the night here or in Zugdidi. If I can get a bus early tomorrow and snow isn't a problem (one weather site made no mention of snow, and the road is in theory open all year) I would rather do that - I have paid for tonight, the food is as good as, more like better, than anything I can get in Zugdidi not speaking Georgian, and I would hope it would be easyish to just get off the bus in Zugdidi and find another one right there outside the train station for Batumi tomorrow mid-morning. If I overnight in Zugdidi I have to trek or taxi out to the hostel, then go into town for uninspiring food, then back to hostel, and maybe back into town for the bus the next morning. The only reason I think I would consider rushing off today (if that's possible) is that there is no early morning bus to Mestia tomorrow.

(You can't get a train Zugdidi-Batumi, according to the Georgian railways web site. And yes, I realise Batumi station has a completely different name, I got that from guide book, that's how I checked the existence of the fast train to Tbilisi.)

If I can get a bus tomorrow morning and hostel owner can arrange it so I don't need to go try find someone who can do it, I will go back out and mill around a bit. It's really quite mild, as I say it was tempting to chance the glacier anyway but I think prudent not to. Not having done that plus the possibility of the tours around Zugdidi in summer does definitely put Georgia on my mental list of possible short (1-2 week) holiday possibilities for the future. Though I'd need to pick better flights if possible. Maybe you can fly into Batumi internally during the peak, or it might be worth just changing planes in Tbilisi to get on to Batumi. I only say Batumi as it's relatively close to Zugdidi; I think Zugdidi has an airport and you could fly from Tbilisi to there. Anyway, it doesn't matter now of course, I'm just a bit bored while waiting for owner to reappear. I could just wait until dinner tonight but I would be annoyed if it then turned out I couldn't get a bus until tomorrow night.

1339 Hmm. Just seen owner; two Georgians invited me to sit down there by fire while waiting, we had desultory but pleasant-ish no-languages-in-common conversation. Owner a bit vague, said she would call drivers tonight and see. I stressed I would prefer morning and said about wanting to go on to Batumi on the same day. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up going to Zugdidi tomorrow afternoon and spending tomorrow night there. However, it may be OK and I am kind of at her mercy anyway, since at least earlier town was just so dead. Anyway, have just popped back up to my room to pick up my bag and cap before going out for a wander. I guess the worst case is not so bad if push comes to shove, and it may be OK. I should perhaps have stressed I would be happy/expect to pay for the full three nights anyway, though that is probably not a factor anyway. Just have to wait and see.

1538 Back at hostel. Fingers bit numb from carrying bag (which split as I got upstairs) with bottle of water and chocolate bar so will write more later.

1829 Been curled up on bed reading stuff on web and uploading photos and eating chocolate. Come down for dinner now, fingers crossed for news on bus tomorrow morning.

Was getting a bit cold after walking around for so long and was a bit grim. The low cloud/mist gives the mountains more of a brooding quality which is worth seeing, and there is a gorge type thing running through town which is quite attractive, but it was wearing thin. Tempted to go into Laila but wasn't entirely sure I'd be welcome and wanted to save it for tonight if I feel like trying it again. Bought that bottle of water and bar of chocolate at one of the least threatening local shops could fine; most are small and have a couple of old women sat behind the counter. So did this one but it was a bit larger.

Don't exactly relish the prospect of trying to get an onward bus from Zugdidi to Batumi tomorrow even if I can get a bus to Zugdidi tomorrow morning, but a) has to be done, or at least tried and b) will probably be OK.

Oh, they have a wood fire here in the dining room. Quite atmospheric I suppose. No heating in bedroom as usual, it is not really cold in there but I didn't feel super cosy either. Obviously I am meant to sleep there (it's fine in bed) and that's all. I guess it should be warmer back in Zugdidi (as per weather forecast), being up in the mountains here presumably doesn't help. Sat at table off to one side of dining area as not sure if I am supposed to just go sit at table, no one else is eating yet, just one bloke with a laptop.

If owner tells me I can get a bus to Zugdidi tomorrow will need to book a hostel for Batumi tonight. Not at all sure if I will try to go out for a couple of beers at Laila, I am sort of inclined to just hunker down here and maybe go to bed earlyish if (as I hope) the bus is early in the morning.

I think I am getting better at not worrying about not speaking the language generally but it is extra intimidating here where everything seems so dead and I think I'd find it awkward to go into places here even if I were fluent. (Without ever having been to such a place, I imagine being a tourist at the fringe of the peak season on a small remote Scottish island. I imagine I'd feel awkward going into what might be a pub/restaurant but might not really be open and just have a few friends of the owner in.)

I had T-shirt, jumper and jacket on with a cap too when out today and while a bit drizzly etc it was generally OK, I wasn't shivering or anything.

2010 Booked hostel in Batumi. Host came up and knocked on my door, I had come back up after dinner during which I asked her if she'd had any luck with bus tomorrow morning. She said the bus will be here at 10, breakfast 9:30. She asked me to pay her, 40 GEL/night and she didn't charge me for the third night, pretty good value even allowing for the 10% I paid up front to hostelworld given I had breakfast and dinner.

Some other guests also knocked on door and invited me down to a barbecue (!?) which was nice, so I said I was just booking a hostel and would be down in 15 minutes. Good job I dithered and decided against going to try get a beer at Laila.

2300 Well that was odd but cool. Just had barbecue down in kitchen with five Georgian, most if not all of whom seemed to be involved in some local NGO; they had been out to visit a kindergarten at some nearby town today. A lot of toasts with some-kind of home-made vodka, I was deliberately very restrained, I hope I didn't cause too much offence by not always emptying my glass. Much listening to them speak Georgian but two or three spoke good English and would translate. It was very hospitable; my shyness and my language problems and the 'culture shock' of suddenly being in this friendly kind of environment with strangers made it a bit weird, but I enjoyed it and I hope they understood when I explained why I was perhaps a bit reticent. I may see some of them in Tbilisi before I go; I have exchanged facebook details with one of them. They invited me to join them on a trip to some village tomorrow but having already paid off here (oh, the host came down and spoke with them as well) and booked my hostel in Batumi I felt I should stick my with plans, especially if I may see them in Tbilisi. I need to pack now, I don't think I am particularly drunk. (It was just me with them, they invited me as they saw I was on my own, which was nice.)

Barbecue was cooked on the fire in the kitchen, I think two of the grounp had built that fire. I had already had a big dinner but the barbecued meat was really good.

They told me the last bus from Zugdidi to Batumi is something like midday-2pm, so I hope my bus is relatively fast to get there or they are wrong. I guess I need to be bold and just wander around saying 'Batumi?' to people at the bus terminal as soon as I get to Zugdidi. I really wish I could have relaxed more with them but on top of everything else needing to travel tomorrow made me particularly cautious with the drink.

They told me lots of cool places I should go but as I said I just don't have that much time. I do feel embarassed/annoyed that I couldn't let myself go more, but still, it was cool and I don't think they were offended.