Zugdidi, Wednesday

1851 No sign of vegetarian restaurant. Not gutted, I might as well live on raw vegetables from supermarket and save hassle. Walked 10 or so mins into down. In some cafe place which had an English word outside. No food beyond gateaux things, so having a beer. 3 GEL (I went to bar cos I'm not sure WTF to do) Can't read name from the back to front curtain obscured neon while inside.

Gonna see if guidebook says anything useful about place. I got about the most conspicuous fucking table in the place. Still, I can't be a tourist here whatever it looks like. It would be like finding a horse in the bathroom.

No, there's nothing to do here except one museum and apparently the staff at my hostel organise day trips out into the surrounding countryside. Two restaurants mentioned in the guide book, one of which I already saw and nearly went it (Taverna Pirate!) because I thought it had a slightly threatening vibe. I am obviously a bit down on the place right now but I am almost wondering if I should try to fuck off to Mestia tomorrow morning. However, my inclination is to maybe spend tomorrow making a booking etc for Mestia and perhaps reading up on the guidebook to see if there's anything at all to do or to eat there, then fuck off first thing Friday morning and write off the third night's accomodation. I can always spend tomorrow lying on the bed while reading and waiting for my brain to seep out of my ears.

I suppose it's my own fault for not reading more of the guide book before coming, but it always seems so much effort. The guide book implies lots of people get the night train here from Tbilisi and then pile straight into buses on to Mestia. But I think it also says there are buses direct from Tbilisi to Mestia, in which case, why the fuck would anyone fart around with the night train like that? Maybe there aren't any such buses, in which case I will have to come back here from Mestia.

Hmm. The buses from Mestia all leave 5am-6am (joy) and it's 5-6h between here and there and 11-12h between Mestia and Tbilisi. Do I really want to go to Mestia? I guess I have to. I will see how bad the 5-6h bus is on the way there and then I can make a call as to whether I'll chance a 11-12h one back to Tbilisi. Just possibly there will be clear information on the existence of flights back in Mestia itself.

I think I need not to plan anything tonight, I'm too down on the whole place. I will finish this beer, wander town centre a little (I can be a bit more relaxed now I have dropped my bag off) and maybe try that pirate bar for food and/or beer if all else feels. Remix of Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 is playing.

Someone just got what looked like proper food, not cake. I wonder if I should ask if they have a menu. No, they don't. One of the two waitresses speaks a bit of English. I am getting a small pizza (I could have had large, but let's not go crazy here) of some description. It was that or katchapuri. Maybe I should have had that, but sod it.

Oh, there are no lockers in the room at the hostel. There are a couple of wardrobe things but they have blankets in so I didn't feel it would be on to lock one up. I have fastened the bag round the wardrobe leg with my chain. It's not as if anyone is there to steal it.

Now I've left I will say I was at Nest Hostel in Tbilisi.

This place's idea of giving directions, apart from falsely claiming to be in the city centre, is to say - pretending the address is 24 Smith St - "the hostel is super easy to find. Go down Smith St, which starts at the station, until you get to number 24". FFS... To be fair, had they not said it was in the city centre I'd have found it, I just didn't want to hike out into the sticks and be both lost and taxiless.

1940 Small pizza reasonably substantial and quite nice, though there seemed to be this white sauce-ish substance in it which I've seen before and always make me edgy. Still, did taste OK. Think I will have another beer here and then maybe back to hostel. I don't want to be back too late. There is a bar at the hostel but since it would just be me and the owners I'm a bit dubious. If I just have one more here there's plenty of blood alcohol headroom if I decide to go to the hostel bar, even if I'm not OK on the long-term liver damage scale.

If the wifi works well enough for youtube I might do a little bit of research on Mestia hostels and then pick up a series of lectures on France since 1870 I was watching on youtube a while ago. I could also do my Spanish homework, but that might be a little worthy. Let's see. Think will have another beer here anyway, and I can maybe try that pirate bar tomorrow around lunchtime and see how that goes. Suppose I could also look at the Georgian language videos tonight, it might still be useful, I'm only three or four days in. Anyway, just ordered another beer (the first one was GEL3 excluding any tip as I paid at the bar since I'm an awkward foreigner, so it is at least cheapish).

I am going to provisionally draw a parallel between Zugdidi and Chañaral in Chile. I'm quite glad I went to the latter despite there being very little there ostensibly for the tourist. But three days of it was perhaps pushing it, and I left a half day or so early.

Maria (hostel owner, can't remember her husband's name) said something about it being easy to be a vegetarian in Georgia as they fast so much - she said they were fasting today (Wednesday). I assume this is an eastern Orthodox thing; it's never been a massive issue but all I ever knew about was the Catholic 'fast' thing where I think (probably completely wrong) they eat fish instead of meat on Fridays.

Attitude a little on the up, I think. There is a bizarre romance to being somewhere which feels this obscure and where perhaps most people spend even less time than I do. Very unlikely to hare off tomorrow but I think I might ditch the third night. I might even be able to negotiate to move that night to use here for a single night if I come back this way from Mestia, if not no harm done. It's undeniably cheap, and I'm glad I didn't spring for a private room given I've effectively got one anyway for the price of a dorm bed.

The city centre itself seems pleasant enough, quite green in parts and fairly well kept.

Also some mention of laundry service in the hostel kitchen. I might see if I can get them to do mine, I've been a bit frugal with clothes (wore same shirt two days in a row and surreptitiously washed jumper and one set of underwear at Nest) but it would be helpful and be one less thing to faff with in Mestia. It's not as if there's any risk of them mixing my clothes up with other guests. ;-)

It is slightly tempting to have a third beer here but it is basically dead (I am the only customer right now, a few others earlier) and I'd rather be practically sober when I get back to the hostel, not to mention trying to moderate overall consumption.

2012 Place is Kafe Diadema, just off Rustaveli. Owed 8, paid 10. Still cheap. Said gamarjoba as I left, moron!

2117 Owners just gave me towel and showed me round again prior to leaving for the night. Apparently there is a woman downstairs so I am not on my own. No problem I guess. They have lent me a book on the region...

Have booked single private room (no dorm option anyway) for three nights in Mestia starting Friday, i.e. I am not staying third night here. Not said anything to owners as I intend to pay anyway for that third night. Asked about laundry, there is a machine in kitchen they said I could use but they said it would be better to leave it until tomorrow as it creates humidity. They will be back by 9:30 in the morning I gather.

Have precached map of Mestia anyway.

2230 This room is - I noticed earlier - extremely gloomy. I guess the light shade is perhaps deliberately extremely blocking given it's a dormitory, although I still can't see it being weak enough to turn on if people were sleeping. Made myself a cup of tea earlier, will have to go back out to clean teeth before bed, hope it isn't too creepy...

Uploaded some more photos, quick look on Wikipedia suggests the main sight here is the main museum which used to be some kind of palace, so I guess the plan for tomorrow has to be to get up not too late, sort out laundry, head over to that museum and maybe talk to owners if there is any need to reserve for a bus to Mestia tomorrow. Feel slightly guilty for skipping out on the city, I hope they were not planning on offering me a tour - the photos in the book they gave me are impressive, but the guide book says they only do tours for 2-3 people in a group. I might be back here after Mestia depending on how I feel about an 11h bus to Tbilisi or whatever anyway.

2314 Just cleaned teeth. Naturally I forgot my bottle of water the first time so had to come back. Locked dorm room door each time as the balcony between this room and the 10 bed dorm on the way to kitchen/bathroom is open to the street, some kids going past did turn to look at me. Was slightly creepy but not unbearably so. I do wonder if there really *is* a woman downstairs or they just told me that. :-)

0002 Skyped parents briefly. Doing some Spanish homework now but want to go to bed soonish. Dog barking out in street. Setting alarm for 930 and one for 1030, don't think there is huge rush on tomorrow but let's see.

0013 In bed but have laptop on for a little bit of surfing but am moving towards sleep proper. Completely not how I expected to be spending tonight, with an entire hostel to myself instead of just a dormitory bed, but we are old campaigners we Flinthams, we do not repine. (And this isn't actually a double bed, it's two singles pushed together. I know because I banged my knees on the join crawling across it to check on my bag.)