1745 Back at hostel. Woke up OKish about 930 with alarm but stayed in bed til about 10 when English chap spoke to yesterday (Rob, as it turns out) came in to ask if I was still up for the trip to Davit Goreja (sp, not checking guide book as I write this). So we booked a taxi for 11 and I hastily showered etc (no hot water, sigh). Four of us went, so it was only 25 GEL each though we made it 30.
Monastery and caves sort of cool but I think the views were the best part. Slightly disturbed by (having remembered the F&CO website) the border guards at the top of the hill and the way the path on the far side is right on the border with Azerbaijan; didn't take many photos of that side and those I did were a bit surreptitious just in case (massively unlikely of course) that caused problems. A very nice friendly cat in the monastery bit. ;-)
[Quick web search back at hostel tonight suggests some people say this was not permitted, others say - pretty much as I saw - the border guards tell you to go along the path. Maybe there's more on the Azerbaijan side than I realised. Max and Rob climbed up a bit Bernadetta and I didn't want to risk, so we went round the long way, but they said they had a bit of a chat with the border guards and gave them Snickers bars. Had I been there on my own I might have turned back at the crest of the hill on seeing the soldiers - something about people with automatic weaponry, no matter how peaceful they seem, scares me, feeble I know - but for all my nerves it was fine. Had not the F&CO website mentioned it I doubt I'd have worried so much, though if I hadn't seen that the presence of border guards would have been an unexpected surprise. The path was a bit crappy in places and on the far side of the posts which apparently delimit the border, and the idea of not just falling and getting hurt but commiting a border violation wasn't appealing, but in reality it was fine. Bit nervous coming down the path on the Georgian side also due to poor footing and did one bit on my back on all fours, but it was no worse, better really, than the hill in Mestia.]
The woman who was sleeping in here last night may have gone and not been replaced by anyone, judging from the beds. I am standing here giving the phone a bit of a top-up as I write this, then I think I might go out and go to that Indian place for dinner and have a few beers after. Not really eaten all day except for a small snickers bar and a bit of khachapuri with boiled egg which Bernadetta offered round at Davit Goreja (a name which I seem to have a desperate urge to spoonerise).
Have checked facebook and no messages from the people I met in Mestia. Can't say I am all that surprised, and if they are going to get in touch tomorrow if perhaps more likely anyway.
1900 Left hostel about 1830. Have walked down to Taj Mahal having hot & sour soup, chicken karahi with yellow rice and a plain naan. Worried this might be a bit lardy but not eaten much today and I feel trekking up and down the hill at DG must have burned off a few calories.
Plan after this is to wander up to Hangar Bar, which I think guidebook says may have live music after 9, and if not is just a little off the areas I have been out in before. Really don't want to get seriously pissed tonight but this is the last night I don't have to worry too much about getting up. Be good to get to post office to send a couple of cards tomorrow and go to the national museum, but not absolutely essential. I need to check in online 4pmish tomorrow then find somewhere I can print my boarding pass.
Finished 'Cold Granite' almost completely in bed last night and read last little bit back in dormitory while topping up phone. Very entertaining.
1952 Very good, not too much either, if anything I could have eaten a little more. Chicken was on the bone but tis OK. 36.30 including 10% service charge, not exactly cheap but meh. Going to take this opportunity to break a 100 note. I only have one more 100 note stashed away for emergencies but I think I will probably leave the country with a fair chunk of local currency. Leaving an extra 1 for no clear reason. Got a 50 in change but not too surprising and still more negotiable than a 100. Not that I have had any big problems with 100s on the few occasions I have used one anyway, this is just caution on my part. Anyway, 1957, off we go.
2145 Well, weird. I am now the only customer in a basement bar off Rustaveli. I located Hangar Bar but it seemed to be closed. (Prior to that I went into the cafe of a nearby theatre with an iconic twisted clock tower; Bernadetta had gone there tonight to see a puppet show, and showed us photos in the taxi out to DG. I got a table and a menu, saw a bottle of beer was something like 12-15 GEL and walked out.) I however hung around a little confusedly and ended up chatting with the American owner (Rebecca, I believe) and she invited me in for a free beer. Basically the place shut down while she went off to the US (something about her equity partner which even if I remember correctly might be inappropriate to mention here) and is reopening in a few days. She was telling me about being open there during the 2008 war. A couple of American regulars - an oil engineer who rotated every three weeks between Texas and Georgia and his wife - came in as well. I had a brief chat with them and also spoke with the owner's best friend and sort of bar staff (Katia?), who gave me some travel advice - I think I need to go see the fortress and the Mother Georgia statue tomorrow. All very weird but nice.
Wandered up Rustaveli looking for a beer and since there was (is) loud Georgian music playing (though there was a five second snatch of The Offspring's "Why Don't You Get A Job?" earlier) I figured what the hell. Feel a tiny bit conspicuous but not really, I'm in a dark corner of the small bar and I'm sure the bar staff don't give a shit.
2159 TV is showing four people having a discussion over coffee. I think one is the Patriarch - there was a huge poster of him on a building in Mestia, and one of the Georgians I met there said (IIRC) he was the most respected figure in the country. Another is a woman who reminds me of Janine Duvitski (if I got her name right; she played the secretary in Waiting For God).
Could possibly have socialised in the hostel tonight - it feels quite friendly, and despite the huge quantity of shoes in the entrance there seem to be about 5-10 guests, most of whom are not ultra-young - and maybe tagged along to a bar, but I sort of didn't want to push it and also I do kind of like coming out and having a beer on my own and seeing what happens, that stuff at Hangar Bar wouldn't have happened otherwise for example. Will probably have one more here after this and go back; if I have a bit of a chat back there cool, but if not no worries and I do hope to be up earlyish so squeeze in what I can tomorrow.
2210 "Cotton Eye Joe" by IIRC Rednex playing. Memories of 90s top 40 stirring.
I am a bit sad I have to leave on Saturday, but I guess that's better than being glad to be leaving. Definitely things to come back here for at some point in maybe a year or two, and as I have observed before Georgia is doable as a regular-sized holiday from work.
Rob get made redudant and is taking the opportunity to travel, and Bernadetta did more or less what I'm doing - she was offered a renewal on her contract in March but decided to take some time off, I think she originally planned just six months off but is extending it. She has travelled extensively by cargo ship, including all the way to IIRC Singapore. Apparently it is expensive, much more so than flying, but there are a few companies offering it as an option. She seems to have done a lot of it, but it would be a cool option for one or two trips at some point. I should look into it, just maybe I could cross the Atlantic that way for the hell of it.
2227 "Nothing compares 2 u". Reminds me the taxi driver today had a CD on with Lisa Stansfield doing her big hit, oh, that's it, "around the world and still can't find my baby" with Barry White. We must have heard that four or five times on the journey out and back. Taxi driver was a nice guy though, spoke a little English.
2240 "Shape of my heart". Just got another, they may have been confused cos I went to the bar to order next beer, ended up paying, they thought I wanted one more as a takeawy. Hope am OK staying.
2310 Nearly finished beer and just finished "Round the world on a wheel", which leaves me oddly exhuberant. Shall down the beer and try to use bog before go back to hostel - it isn't that far but needing to find an underpass under Rustaveli may lengthen matters.
2326 Back at hostel having a coffee. They wouldn't let me into what looked like the bogs at back of bar - said they didn't have a toilet! FFS. I'd had four pints over several hours, with food, I can't believe that was the issue. But what sort of freaking bar doesn't have a toilet?
Fortunately there was an underpass about 10m away and the place was actually very close to hostel (which is 'just behind the Marriott' as I said to Katiya earlier, which is kind of a good address I guess) so I was able to hold it relatively easily til I got back. Honestly don't see why they had to be so arsey; maybe they really don't have a toilet, but come on? It's a fucking bar.
2349 I may be a little - and I do mean a little - drunk but locating the fucking Nariqala fortress on a map has been somewhat elusive. It doesn't appear to be on the Lonely Planet guidebook maps. I guess since it 'dominates the skyline' there is no need to mention where the fucking thing actually is. I think I have managed to identify the nearby church referenced in the LP guide book so that should give me a starting point tomorrow.
0055 Stupidly since have dormitory to self am uploading some photos on laptop and having a minor youtube binge. Hopefully go to bed in next 30 mins or so.
0105 Sounds likes it's pissing down outside.
0119 Just trekked all the way down to entrance to use the bog; the one on the dormitory floor has a urinal only, which is odd but wtf.
0123 Photos uploaded. Bed, and hopefully up by 10.
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