Georgia - It's the Little Differences, Part 2

As promised, below are some more of the not-so-little things that make Georgia different and fascinating:

The water - it's delicious, and plentiful. You can drink it out of the tap, out of a natural fountain or rivulet, or if you insist - out of a bottle. It's as clear and fresh as water ought to be. And it did wonders for my hair and face. I suppose the [mostly] unpolluted air, and the dry air, contributed to that.
As for the Georgian lemonade (which I went on about in a previous post) -- you can easily get addicted to it; I found it far tastier than stuff like Sprite and Fanta.
Can't vouch for Georgian tea (ordinary tea bags, for the most part), nor for their coffee. Both were unremarkable.

Wine & booze - Georgians are rather proud of their ancient wine-making technique, but I guess I'm too accustomed to the wooden-barrel notes in my drink, and didn't fully appreciate the clay-pots-buried-in-the-ground flavor. The local beer is fine, if you're into experimenting. If you prefer your good ol' British ale or American beer - it may be available, and it's inexpensive. If you're into something stronger, the local version is a brandy, or vodka, called chacha. Go ahead, try it and report back! Be sure to assign a designated driver!

Food warning - The baked goods, including the simplest bread, are delicious! Always super-fresh and mouth-watering. If you are trying not to gain too much weight -- beware! Also: most of the food is generously salted and often fried or cooked in plenty of oil.

Taking a bus in the city - In Tbilisi, for instance, public transport is ridiculously cheap (for tourists!), and your hotel (or Google) will tell you which bus to take. Make sure you have small change, because the driver doesn't deal with that, there's a small machine inside the bus. Don't take chances, don't try to cheat; you'll regret it when the conductor reaches you. Besides - it's pennies: a longish ride in the city, one way, cost us half a lari each. That's equivalent to  US$ 0.20; or 0.18 Euro; or 0.75 Israeli Shekel. For the sake of comparison: in Israel, a local bus ride (e.g. Tel Aviv to Rishon Lezion, where I live) costs NIS 6.- (but only 3 shekels for a pensioner.) And a propos small change...

ATM - We all take for granted ATMs and the ability to withdraw cash not just at the bank. But Georgia has taken it one step further, and has these advanced automated units which let you do a variety of financial and bureaucratic transaction. These units are located not just at the entrance to main banks, but also as stand-alone units in various spots around town:

Bank of Georgia self-service unit

If you're merely a tourist, you probably don't care much which bank's ATM you're using. But if you're interested in doing business there, opening an off-shore account, investing or the like, you'll be pleased to know that Georgia tries to make it as easy and trouble-free a process as possible.

Pharmacies, drugstores, chemist's, toiletries - Weeks before our trip, I asked on TripAdvisor whether I could easily find low-cost Western staples such as Nivea and Dove soaps and body lotions, Johnson's baby shampoo, and so forth. I was assured that Yes, no problem. Well - the situation was better than I dared to hope... You can't walk five minutes without passing an Apotheka, as it is called. And the prices are low, definitely compared to the outrageous prices in Israel for the above brands.

Nevertheless, I didn't go mad with shopping. Only what I needed... E.g. face lotion, body wash (the mug w/toothbrush just to illustrate size of bottle),

Johnson's body wash

Garnier(?) facial cleanser

  
Socks, because I'm a socks freak
   
  And cheap, lightweight sneakers, because I love anything purple (well, nearly anything.) I'm not giving you the prices, but everything was considerably cheaper than back home. And that also applies to 2 casual tops and one pair of casual pants/trousers that I bought at Mango, a brand I never buy "back home" because they're expensive. But that was sort of a last minute spending spree, at the huge East Point Mall on the way to Tbilisi airport.
Reservation re the adjective "cheap": As you know, everything's relative. What is cheap for a tourist can be expensive to a local resident.

Personal safety - Police stations are quite visible in every city or small town. I think the only consistent thing about them is the colors -- red and blue -- which are used, to varying degrees, in the construction or decor. They come is Small, Medium, Large, or Original & Dramatic. What with being used to the old, British Mandate monochromatic, squarely-uniform police stations (known as Tegart forts), I found the Georgian version refreshing and amusing. But the main thing is, that Georgia is considered a very safe country, in terms of the rate of crime and assaults. The fact that pairs of policemen were patrolling the streets practically wherever we went added to our feeling of All Quiet on the Eurasian Front.

*            *            *

I've written and written, and still feel that I have totally missed the essence of Georgia and its beauty, both natural and artistic. I'll try once more, in my next post. [Update: I did it! You can just go there and see for yourselves.]

Georgia - It's the Little Differences, Part 1

The more you travel, the more you are struck by the little differences even between seemingly-similar, neighboring countries, not to mention distant ones. My first blog post about the little differences between Country A and Country B, and the second one on the same topic, both referred to the UK. Any native-born Israeli visiting the UK for the first time is amazed by the differences, both prominent and minor. Isn't that one of the main reasons for traveling abroad?

So no wonder I took note of the unique characteristics of everyday life in Georgia. But -- unlike Vincent's comments in Pulp Fiction -- this time the differences were pretty big.

Take cows, for example. How many of you nearly bump into cows on the road when traveling between cities? This is Georgia, not India where cows are sacred. What on earth are cows doing here, roaming freely, obstructing traffic, sitting comfortably on broken asphalt in the middle of the road, barely condescending to lazily move their skinny asses out of the way?.. And yes, they are skinny, compared to the fattened cows in Israeli cowsheds on farms and kibbutzim. There's also a plethora of sheep, goats, dogs, and the occasional horse or donkey. All feel quite at home on the road.

Sorry, cows pic not very good...

... so here is the sheep version.

Other traffic-and-travel related differences:
- The near-total absence of any 2-wheel vehicles: hardly any motorcycles, scooters, nor bicycles (neither ordinary nor electric). Quite a relief, actually, after being used to murderous pizza-deliverers and this-pavement-is-mine bicycle riders in Tel Aviv. Not to mention the cohorts of scooters in Vietnam...
- Some of the buses -- notably the yellow ones -- are as old as the hills... Okay, not quite, but about mid-previous century. Last time I went on such a bus was when I was a kid! Over half a century ago!
- No RVs. In 13 days of traveling, we saw two RVs. No RV camps or parking grounds. Nowhere to rent or buy one, as far as our guides knew.
- Many cars have the steering wheel on the right... That's right, like in the UK, India, South Africa,  and other countries where you drive on the left side of the road. At first I thought it was an aberration -- some tourist who came with his car, say from Cyprus, which retained its British-era driving norms. But no; these cars were too numerous. Our guide had a very simple explanation: They're cheap. Imported from Japan, and cost about half the price of standard cars, i.e. with the driver's seat on the left. Meanwhile, it seems, the government got wise and imposed high taxes on these Japanese cars, so as to make them less attractive financially.
- Signalling before changing lanes? before overtaking or making a turn? Really? What for? Is that a "thing" where you come from?...
- Solid white line? A double yellow line? Isn't that, like, for decorative purposes?...
- "But the driver said it takes half an hour to get to Picturesque Village X, so why have we been sitting in the car for 2 hours already...?"  - That's not the driver's fault; it's the roads. Georgia, unfortunately, has been through wars, bombings, and upheavals. Of the type that smash and ruin roads. It also has considerable stretches of mountainous, rocky terrain. So yes, as-the-crow-flies, your destination is a mere 30 minutes away. But when you have to keep shifting gears and wend your way carefully through pits, cracks, bumps and rocks...
- Pit stop, a.k.a. toilet en route. What's wrong with that cluster of bushes over there?.. Well, for lack of anything better in sight, those bushes were fine. On a different occasion we resorted to a hole-in-the-ground surrounded by makeshift wooden walls, put up for construction workers. But even in places that provided a squat-toilet, it was often in pretty bad shape, compared, say, to the ones in China that were constantly washed & scrubbed. Ladies: Thought I'd share with you this helpful link: A Woman's Guide to Using Squat Toilets.
- Rest area, coffee break. You must be kidding. Why didn't you bring a thermos of coffee with you, then? Wait, I think there's a place just a few kilometers away. But don't order the meat-filled khachapuri, or chibiriki; last time we were here, it was more fat and gristle than meat. So order the classic cheese khachapuri, to be on the safe side.

Lunch stop on way to Mestia; can't vouch for the coffee...

... but the view of the Patara Enguri river from the patio was beautiful.

- Passengers in the back seat do not have to be buckled in. The horror of it! We've gotten so used to buckling in we feel suspended in mid-air if we don't. So we buckled in, no matter what the driver and guide said.
- Drivers talk on their mobile phone freely during driving. All of them. Why, you can't be expected to ignore an incoming phone-call! Who knows, maybe it's the Queen inviting you for tea (UK); or Erella, the lady from the National Lottery, informing you that you hit the jackpot (Israel). Why take the risk, when the fine, if you're caught, is merely 40 Lari. (Which is enough for a decent meal for two, including beer. More about the buying power of Georgian currency in another post.)

Anyway, main thing is we reached our destination safely.
 - Read more in Part 2 of "Georgia - it's the Little Differences"

Kakheti on the Rocks

On Friday morning, our trusty driver, Khvicha, introduced us to our new guide -- Tornike, a promising young economics student, very knowledgeable and with good English. We spent the day in and around a picturesque "complex of rock-hewn monasteries in the Kakheti region"- to quote the itinerary we got from our tour organizer. See a couple of pics below:

David Gareji Monastery

David Gareji Monastery

By now I know that the monastery was founded by one of Georgia's most admired kings, David the Builder. Stories and statues of him abound. What you can't see in the above pics nor read about, is how slippery those rocks are when climbing up them, and when sliding down them. No, you're not supposed to slide down... you're supposed to be wearing good trekking shoes, and place your well-shod feet very judiciously and carefully, and... well, I was doing fine until the last couple of yards, when my left toe hit an unaccommodating rock, my jeans-clad tush hit the trail, and my right knee hit a rough rock, and there I was, at the bottom of the trail. No harm done, really: just a bruised toe, a scraped shin, dusty jeans, and an embarrassed grin. I'm sure I was neither the first nor the last to stumble on this treacherous trail. And our guide was extremely gentlemanly throughout.

Michael, Tornike, very-smooth-rocks

Regardless of the above slip, the view from these structures is beautiful, worth every step of the climb.

That evening we discovered the Caucasian restaurant mentioned in my previous post, incidentally. And the next day, Saturday, we continued to explore the Kakheti region. But not before helping ourselves to the Saturday selection of cakes at the breakfast buffet: 

Weekend breakfast buffet, Ameri Plaza Hotel, Tbilisi

Our guide had told us about the importance of Saint Nino, the woman who introduced Christianity into Georgia, or introduced Georgians to Christianity, in the 4th century AD. I gathered her heritage, and her tomb in the Bodbe Nunnery, were very meaningful to him, and to many believers belonging to the Georgian Orthodox Church. 

Bodbe Nunnery

However, I myself am not religiously-inclined, and my interest in places of worship is, well, not of the worshippy kind. Yes, I'm interested in the culture and traditions of the countries I visit. I'm impressed by aesthetic architecture. I'm impressed by beautiful old buildings, be they atop mountains or on islands, 

Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, France

in the center of town or on an island that's in the center of town (Ile de la Cite, duh!), or in exotic places like Cambodia: 

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Anyway, by the time this trip was over, I couldn't tell one church from the other, nor remember which one was where and what was special about them. May all the relevant gods forgive me.

- to be continued... -