Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 3

If you read my blog on Monday, you’ll know that my hubby and I got very ripped off by a taxi driver in Tbilisi. He charged us 150 laris (£47.95)for a journey that should have been no more than 15 laris (£4.79). I’ve been annoyed at myself for letting him get away with it. So when I saw him in Meidan Square this morning, chatting with another driver, I plucked up the courage to confront him and Glyn followed me close behind. I took taxi driver’s photo and one of his number plate before he realised who I was. Obviously he tried to fob me off, with more nonsense about being a tourist taxi driver and there being traffic (there’s always traffic in Tbilisi). Now I knew he was lying but recently had this confirmed on ... read more

Day 13 Georgia. Thurs 22nd Sep A cable car, a Bolt and the Georgian Banksy in Georgia We have done our last trip so no alarms today!! I was awake for 8:30 but Claire managed to sleep for about an hour longer. This must be what it’s like for other people who do ‘normal’ holidays….??? I just felt lazy to be honest. The rest didn’t last long though. We were soon walking up (of course ‘up’) to the Holy Trinity cathedral which is the best religious place we have visited here. Lots of clunkers walking really slowly towards it as usual just to ruin your photos but I guess having a couple of clunkers in shot gives some scale to the size of the building. With a walkway reminiscent of the Taj Mahal leading up to ... read more

Today has been my favourite day of the holiday, I know I said that yesterday, but today has surpassed it. It was a tour west again, this time to see mostly abandoned Soviet architecture in Chiatura, plus some unusual places of interest. Our wonderful guide was Sally, plus we had a driver and just two other tourists, a couple from Amsterdam, Hanukah and Sasha who were very interesting. As always, the traffic was bad in Tbilisi, this is because of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine resulting in 60,000 Russians moving to Georgia to get away from the war. It’s not just about avoiding fighting, but because all living conditions for the Russian people have vastly declined with the worldwide sanctions and their bank accounts are suspended. Georgia is a good place for them as it’s ... read more

Today we headed west, a 600km round trip in a minibus with a bit too much aircon for my liking. But Glyn liked it. It was only a small group; a UK guy, a Germany lady, a couple from Russia and one Israeli guy. Our guide, Zuka is a very bubbly bloke from Tbilisi.Zuka told us all about the conflicts in the Causcasus area and how they differ. For example, the people of Russia, Ukraine, Georgia all mix without a problem as the conflict is political. Whereas the Armenians and Azerbaijanis hate each other, you couldn’t mix them on a tour together. When a foreign footballer went to play in Azerbaijan with his team, he wasn’t allowed in the country simply because he had an Armenian surname, he wasn’t even Armenian!Naturally Zuka talks about wine, you ... read more

Today was a relaxation day, one to recharge after all the recent day trips, ready for more tomorrow. Some years ago, I’d planned our itinerary for our self tour around Japan, ensuring not a minute was wasted. By the last few days, I was sitting in a park in Tokyo, absolutely exhausted and looking forward to the flight home so I could sit still for hours. It was awful feeling like that, when in a place as exciting as Tokyo, so since I’ve always tried to ensure we have chill days. It is meant to be a holiday after all! So no alarms were set and we didn’t leave the accommodation until around 10.30! It’s a nice enough place, but not somewhere we’d want to hang around at all day.My plan was too have a slow ... read more