SuzyBlue goes east 2019: Georgia, more than I thought.... , 23.-31.05.

.....just to be straight from the beginning: this originally planed to be a short post is now quite a long one... so sit down, take a cup of coffee, make yourself comfortable and enjoy ;-)

As expected Wednesday morning the weather finally turnes to the bad side - it's the first rain since I left a month ago!! - and I have to drive in pouring rain towards Georgia. First I had planned to take another mountain road but with this weather I prefer to drive along the coast and have a stopover in Batumi. The border crossing on the Turkish side is quite strange. There are only two lanes open: one for the many trucks and one for the rest. After half an hour in the rain it's my part. A man controls my passport and hands then all the papers to his colleague. She tips it into the system, waits, makes a call, waits again and then says that I shall park my bike and come back. Whaaaat? Did I do something wrong? Have I been driving too fast somewhere? I park my SuzyBlue at the dutyfree shop and walk back to the counter with mixed feelings. 
She makes a call again.... and gives me my papers back, everything is ok. Phhhh.... all my concerns for nothing. But good anyway. So I drive on to the Georgian side. The window of the customs is in a hight of about 180cm.... defenitely thought for trucks and buses and not for small little motorcycle ladies like me ;-)
She tips everything into the system and hands me together with my documents a paper with the information about the cumpolsary insurance. That's all.... wow, that was quick. I can buy the insurance right after the customs and do not hesitate. It just costst CHF 6.50 and you never know anyway.......
It is still raining but I just have another 40km to Batumi. As warned in advance the driving style of the Georgians is quite different. In nice words!! The don't show any respect, honk all the time, overtake from all sides and sometimes incredibly near as well. But in comparison to Southamerica it is still quite ok. And as soon as I feel being too much wiphsawed by a car I just drive a little faster than him and "flee" ;-)

that's how many of the cars look like.... no wonder ;-)

I find my hostel quite easily; thanks to my navigation-app OsmAnd. It really works fine even in remote countries. I guess without it I often would stray around for hours. My sense of orientation is not really over average..... nicely said! While I take off my luggage a young German couple starts to talk to me. It is Ruben and Kathie who will pass from Kyrgistan to China and Pakistan in the same group. They have seen the Swiss number plate and thought it might be me. What a coincidence. We meet for a couple of beer in the evening and have lots to talk about. It is quite sure that we will meet on the road again before crossing into China.
I stay another night in Batumi and walk around the whole afternoon as I like to see as much of the city as possible. And walking gives you a great view as you can go anywhere. The differences I see everywhere are really incredible. At the seafront they are building skyscrapers at least 30 levels high with the impressive names like: skytower, twintower, 7thheaven, etc. One more luxurious than the other. And just one row behind, some even in between, you can see the sometimes rotting houses of the Georgians. They remind me of the Soviet time buildings: nothing nice to look at but just functional. I do some research and find out that it is a huge real estate investement company building- and selling - all these buildings. I didn't find out exactly but referring to Georgia's history it is not really difficult to tell which country "hides" behind it being able to invest such huge amounts of money. But even more terrifying was to see that on the prospects all the houses actually standing between the new ones will be gone. And I presume that the people living in there now will not be treated as they should when they have to move out. In a couple of years there will be the really nice Rustavi-Boulvard directly at the seafront and right after it the shiny skycrapers and casinos. Only somewhere behind then the "real" Batumi will be seen. And that has absolutely nothing to do with shiny and luxurious.

 

Of course Batumi has some nice parts as well. The old town has it's own flair, many cafes and restaurants invite you to sit outside and enjoy a nice local wine. Best of all: I find by pure accident a restaurant in the old town with the name "Bern"; the name of Switzerland's capital city. And not only the name but also the pictures and decoration show it. Of course I have to go in and have dinner there ;-)

The next morning I pack my belongings and go back on the road; today Tbilisi is the goal. As the weather still is quite instable I stay on the main roads instead of heading into the mountains. As everywhere in Georgia you find all sorts of animals on and next to the streets: cows, goats, pigs, gooses.... you name it... they cross the street just as they like. It's the drivers job to take care of them. And they seem to know

On my way to Tbilisi I "catch" my first fine for a long time. I overtake a really slow old car, missing the white line just for some centimeters. Something all Georgians do all the time. But unfortunately there is a police car just some meters further away. And of course he has seen my offence. Well, it was my mistake so no way to argue in any way. It costs appr. 15$ what is quite a high fine for here. The funny thing about it is that you're not allowed to pay the fine directly to the police officer but there are automats - looking like ATM's - in every bank. There you can pay the fines - seems to be a good business in Georgia ;-)

In Tbilisi I rent a little apartement through AirBnB just near the old town and the major sightseeings. Saturday and Sunday I stroll through the city; mainly Sunday which happens to be their Independence Day. The main Rustaveli Avenue is blocked and next to a huge firework in the evening you can admire an impressing military parade, numerous little stands with local specialities, many informations about their national and succesful sportsmen. It feels like half of Georgia is here but the atmosphere is absolutely relaxed and I sort of enjoy it to be in the middle of it.

 

Next to the Rustaveli Avenue I also visit the famous flee market on the "dry bridge". Asbolutely stunning what you can buy there: lots of kitch, groceries, paintings, souvenirs, etc. While I admire a stand with many old cameras the owner finds out that I'm from Switzerland and he even finds some old Swiss bills in his fundus. As they are not valid anymore I buy them. He cannot use them anymore and for me it's sort of really old memories. I give him a good "exchange rate" for them and he seems to be really happy about  it.

To round up a nice sightseeing day I take the funicular up to the TV-tower... and I'm absolutely not surprised that the famous Swiss company "Garaventa" has built it - like all the other gondulas in Georgia. From the TV-tower you have a wonderful view down to the city. And after a nice walk through the forest up in the hills I reach the fortress and the statue "mother of Georgia".

  

 

I get back to the hostel just in time before a heavy storm including hail hits Tbilisi. MeanwhileI have a nice talk with George, the owner of the hostel. He tells me a lot about Georgia and how it is to live there nowadays. Because of the many occupations - mainly the last from russia - the country has lots to catch up; in every way: economically, politically and socially. The number of people has decreased within the last 20 years, many mainly young Georgians with a good education leave the country as they hardly have any perspecitves here: next to a little bit of agriculture and more and more tourism there's not much. About 30% of the people live under the poverty line. That explaines the great gaps between rich, luxurious and poor buildings and also the many mainly elderly people begging on the streets. It is a sad picture and I sometimes really have to struggle bearing it. But there's not much I can do about it. I always buy my food and what I need in small little local markets. The least I can do. Life is incredible cheap for us here and the food really delicious.

The next day I leave Tbilisi and drive towards the mountains as I intend to meet Tommy, a German friend. He stored his bike in Georgia over the winter and as he knows the country already quite good we will travel together for a couple of days.
On my way to our meeting point I visit some of the many beautiful and interesting monasteries Georgia is famous for.

The next day we head into the mountains. We plan to visit two mountain valleys before travel on to Aserbeidschan.
The first valley brings us on 80km gravel road over the "Datvis-Jvaris" pass (2689m) to Shatili, a remote little mountain village (1450m). This little village was also like a fortress for the Georgian Kingdom as it is only 5 kilometers away from the Russian border. It still has it's old buildings and there are even some people living up there the whole year. Although they are cut off the rest of Georgia for about 3 months during winter.
The "road" leading up there has to be renewed alsmost every year as the snow and the many storms cause always damages. That means that we have to pass quite some tricky parts where the caterpillars are working. Not always easy and I sometimes need quite some adrelanin to get over some heaps of earth ;-) but the scenery is breathtaking and worth the effort.

The next day we drive on to the next mountain valley and it's little village "Omalo". After wild camping at the river we start early as this ride will be even harder than the last one. It is only 25km to the Abano pass (2826m). But an elevation of about 2500m within this short distance means steep switchbacks. Even more than on the last road you can see that winter and some massive rain storms of the last few weeks have caused heavy damages. The road is really narrow and there are no fences to prevent you falling down the cliff in case of a fall. I need all my concentration to find the best line over the really bumpy and rocky road and keep more on the mountain side at the same time. Of course at one point a hit a big rock with my front tyre, try to get away from the cliff and therefor hit the mountain side. And my SuyBlue lies on the ground. Nothing happened and I'm glad that Thommy helps me to lift it up as that would have been quite some work with all the luggage.
After many switchbacks and quite some water crossing we reach the pass, the last few meters with meterhigh snow-walls on the side. But what a pity. We have to realise that the other side of the pass is still closed due to the snow. They already started to clean the road with huge machines but that will take some more days until you can drive down to Omalo. Phhhh.... I really loose my motivation for some minutes. It means now that we have to drive back the whole way right away. There is no possibility to camp on the pass. Well..... there's no alternative so we drive down. Driving down is less hard as my SuzyBlue is really a sturdy little bike and as long as I let her go - of course with decent speed - she finds her way. And meanwhile I even can enjoy the great scenery ;-)

   

       

On our way we meet again the shepherds with their huge herd of sheeps and goats, some fully loaded horses and shepherd dogs. We had met them already in the morning and they just are having a lunchbreak. For them it's a long and hard way as well. They bring the herd up to the valley through the summer. They spontanously invite us to share their lunch: cucumbers, tomatoes, aromatic goat chees, bread and cooked sheep. And to be honest, I didn't try the sheep; it looked quite special as it seemed that they had cooked the complete sheep and just torn it into pieces. But anyway. It was a really great and heartily encounter.

Back on the main road we drive another 75km as far as Lagodekhi which is only 5km away from the Aserbeidschan border. There we stay at a really nice little hotel. I'm totally done. My upper body is completely stiff, my head seems to glow. I guess I suffer a little bit from altitude sickness. Although I'm really used to be in the mountains from back home we had covered more than 4500m in elevation today mixed with much effort.
We decide that we take "a day off" and relax before traveling on to Aserbeidschan.
SuzyBlue looks like a dirty little pig and needs a proper bath again. Like that I cannot cross the border!

My days in Georgia had been really great and I'm happy that I had the possibility to spend some more days here than initially planed. A great country worth a visit!

SuzyBlue goes east 2019: Turkey's southeast, across the country, 12.-21.05.

After the great days in Göreme (Cappadokia) with ballonflight and offroad day Iˋm on the way now in stages eastwards. Meanwhile Iˋm riding with Jürgen and we will probably be on the road together until Usbekistan, eventually even Tadschikistan - in case I adapt my route a bit to his. After that he will travel on to Kasachstan, Mongolia, Russia and back home to Belgium. And I will spend first quite some time in Kirgistan and then travel on through China to Pakistan, north of India and finally Nepal. Not traveling alone anymore makes a big difference: you can share all the great impressions but on the other hand you have of course to be considerate of each others plans and ideas. Jürgen probably drives a bit slower now but on the other hand he makes a lot of photo stops as he is a passionate photographer as well. Thatˋs perfect as it means that I have enough time to catch up and admire the scenery - next to taking some pictures on my own of course. Most of the time we take small side roads or mountain roads what often leads us to unpaved, twisty gravel roads. Just great!! Hills, little mountain passes, up and down. Sometimes down to 1200feet and sometimes up to 7200feet. One valley more beautiful than the other, the colours of the rocks and stones remind me sometimes of the southwest of USA. Vast infinity, hardly any cars on the road, tiny villages with traditional dressed people. The colours of the landscape change from shiny green grassland to rocky stone deserts in white, yellow and red. Every possible spot is used for agriculture. Itˋs amazing!

We are still driving southeast - and are meanwhile just 200km away from Aleppo, Syria. Somehow a frightening thought as there isnˋt any evidence of that terrible war next to some military checkpoints when driving on main roads.
On the way towards Georgia we visit our probably last historic site in Turkey: Mount Nemrut, famous for its huge stone statues on 3 different terraces - of course in line with the cardinal directions. In front of the sitting statues the archaeologists placed the fallen heads; the statues show the most important Greek gods like Zeus. The site was built by king Antiochus 1., who had placed his own statue in the same row as Zeus and with that wanted to show how important and immortal he was. Archaeologists presume that his grave is underneath the mountain but as it contains mainly from loose gravel followed from solid rock in the middle they have not been able to prove that to now. The sight from Mount Nemrut with its almost 6500feet into the surrounding landscape is absolutely stunning.

But what stands out the most here in Southeast-Anatolia are the many dams. There are more than 13 of them just in the headwaters area of Euphrat and Tigris (now Iˋm honest... I didnˋt have ANY idea that these streams have their origin in Turkey... must defenitely have had a place at the window in Geography!!).  Some of them as big as 1000km². They all are part of the worldwide controversial "GAP-Project" that was already started during Atatürks governement. Some of them are still not finished. Only in the region of Euphrat and Tigris there are 22 barrier lakes with 19 hydro-electric power stations which produce about 27 Billion kWh per year!!!
Next to the electricity the remaining water is mainly for the use of the few squires who have endless monocultures and use tons of chemics and pesticides for a maximum output.
These sheer numbers but also mean for some hundred thousands of simple living people and little farmers that they lost their land, their only income without being paid out. Most of them moved either to poor mountain land or into the cities which exploded in the last 20 years (in some the population increased from 25ˋ000 to 350ˋ000 within 10 years) and where the unemployment is between 50 - 70%!! As good as power from renewable energy is, it is also a non-reversable damage for nature, biodiversity, archaeology and disturbs the complete biological system. And not only for Turkey but also for Syria and Irak which before used these two streams as well for their agriculture and the water for humans and animals. Turkey has it now in his hands.... a sort of terrifying thought. Although there would be international standards concerning the construction of such huge dams the governement of Turkey didnˋt pay any attention to these standards and did neither reforest nor paid the prior landowners nor created new jobs. A really poor handling. Nature will pay it back sooner or later.
Nevertheless the barrier lakes are amazing to look at and thatˋs why I still would like to show you some photos:

On the way we just meet some shepherds with their sheep herds. They always look very astonished when we slowly pass by. I guess they hardly have any tourists coming into their region. Always part of the herds - next to a donkey - at least 1 or 2 sheepdogs. Turkey has its own race, the "Kangal": a whitish, tall (up to 80cm high) great looking dog. I meet them always with big respect. But inspite of most of the dogs in Central- and South America these dogs hardly bark or run after us. They just stand alert next to their herd and watch us. It seems as if they know how much respect they create with their sheer presence.

Most of the time we start already in the early afternoon to look for a place to set up our tents. Again something I didnˋt do as long as traveling alone: wild camping. The place we look for should be quite flat, enough space for two tents, if possible next to a river or a lake and not visible from the street. And meanwhile with some shade as well ;-)
That means that we quite often drive into the countryside, away from proper roads. Jürgen has "an eye" to find such places and we mostly spend quiet peaceful nights in the middle of nowhere. Only "disturbed" from the calls of birds, frogs and crickets.

Another highlight on our way to Georgia is the "dark canyon". A small gravel road that leeds for 10km along a river in a deep canyon and through many unlighted tunnels. What a fun ;-)

Now we had in mind to get back to the mountains - exactly to Erzurum - a last time and from there head for a small border crossing into Georgia.
Unfortunately Jürgen had quite a bad crash into a roadside ditch. Because he had lost his left mirror during an earlier fall he had looked back while driving to check whether I had taken the right turn. His motorcycle stood - after a salto with a complete turnaround (as it seems) in the ditch. Just looking into the wrong direction.
Jürgen was quite lucky... next to some scratches on his helmet and his leather jacket no dmage or injuries. But the frame of his bike and one pannier was in bad conditions. We managed to drive back to the gas station we had fueled up some minutes ago.  Full of Adrelanin Jürgen was able to bend the frame with a steel bar back into its former shape. But he had also to remove the complete front, get out all the little stones that stuck everywhere and to hammer the pannier back into shape. We realised that all that work would take hours. So I asked the owner of the gas station whether we could set up our tents next to the gas station. He was happy to help us and within minutes I guess almost the whole village knew about us. Some men came by and offered their help. Really great people. We even had been invited for dinner from a neighbour. It was a simple dinner but it seemd that he was proud to have us as his guests. These situation showed me once more how hospitable and helpful people are most of the time - even to complete strangers.

 

The next day we drive straight to Trabzon at the Black Sea. It is time to relax a couple of days, had we been driving for 6 days now with sometimes really quite challenging roads. And meanwhile Jürgen also showed symptons of a light nausea.
We have rented a little house in the hills above Trabzon for a couple of days and will use the time for maintenance on our bikes as well. We found a small motorcycle garage where we can change the oil and use the tools for everything we like to do on our own. A great service and really friendly guy there. So in the end we and our bikes will be fit again for the coming kilometers. My SuzyBlue is doing with 5500km more on the tacho a great job and that should stay like that :-)

  

For Georgia and Aserbeidschan the weather forcast is not that could right now. So we will decide Tuesday whether to drive along the coast or again into the mountains.
We do not have any appointments any more as it is clear by now that we will neither drive to Iran nor to Turkmenistan but take the ferry from Aserbeidschan to Kasachstan.
Due to the fact that a law that forbids motorcycle with a bigger motor capacity than 250ccm to enter Iran now. It would be possible to buy (for quite some money) a special transit visa of max. 8 days to cross the country from Armenia to Turkmenistan. But there we also have just a transit visa of 5 days. Iran has far more to see and to experience than you could see in just 8 days. The political situation - thanks to the American Clown - is not that good as well. So better to skip it at the moment anyway. I was quite disappointed at the beginning when it was clear that we have to change our travel plans. Iran was thought to be one of the highlights of my trip. But on the other hand: to postpone it does not mean not to make it.... good to know that I still have some things on my bucket list the coming years ;-)

But before we still have Georgia and Aserbeidschan to experience. I'm really looking forward to it and just hope that the weather gods will be as nice to me as so far. I didn't had any rain for one month now and temperatures raising everyday up to 32°C meanwhile. Jürgen said this fact alone would be enough reason to travel with me ;-)