Georgia - Airport - Just one more Afghanistan visit

 1974

I thought I would include diary excerpts from our return trip through Afghanistan as it left a deep impression on us.  We travelled north on a road built by the Russians through a high mountain pass to the town of Mazar-i-Sharif  which was just south of the border with the USSR.  On the way we passed very large military bases which were almost certainly Russian.

Thursday, 13th June

After getting money from the bank we set off at about 10 for Mazar-i-sharif. The road was really superb and the scenery very beautiful. In fact it was a lovely drive. We had a bit of difficulty finding a hotel but in the end we found quite a good one. It was a very hot evening. Went out for quite a nice Afghan meal in a very strange looking restaurant and played a funny game of chess with very few pieces.

Friday, 14th June

We had a look round the town but it didn't really have much to offer. The mosque was very beautiful but the shops seemed to be geared to the Russian tourists and were full of cheap plastic things. Went and had ice cream from Mr. Dowd and decided to go back to Kabul as the suspension on the van wasn't good. Set off at about 11. Tried cooling water with ice from Mr. Dowd and also collected some from the mountains later on. Very nice drive back arriving at about 7. Went out for meal and had a look around the town.

Saturday, 15th June

We took the car to a garage on the Peshawar road for an estimate of repairs to the front suspension.  We took it to a garage next to the hotel where we decided to get it done. We stayed there practically all day with a break to work out our expenses. They did a good job rebuilding the torsion bars and fitting new shock absorbers finishing at about 7pm. We went and had a very nice meal. Went to bed quite early.

Sunday, 16th June

Started the day with some washing then went to change money and paid the rest to the garage. Had a big lunch and did some window shopping and had a shower before going for a meal. Went to bed quite early.

Monday, 17th June

Went and bought some food and a coat for Simon and found bargaining quite fun. Went back for some-thing to eat. Went on a fruitless search for the main Post Office. Spent ages buying presents and then went for a meal. Bought the rest of the gifts for our families before coming back and tidying up the van. Went to bed quite late.

Tuesday, 18th June

We started off at just after 6 with our new travelling companions, Glen a New Zealander and Robin a Canadian. Stopped at the Steak House for breakfast where no one was up. Drove to Kandahar with one stop for tea on the way. The weather got hotter. Went for a swim in the minute swimming pool at the hotel then went to a fly ridden restaurant and then to a bakery! Read a bit before having an early night.

Wednesday, 19th June

We started from Kandahar at just after 6 and had A good but a little boring ride. We stopped off for a swim in a river with a small wirlpool which was lovely and very refreshing, then stopped for something to eat. got very hot. Got to Herat at about 4.30 and found a hotel, not very nice. Went out for an Afghan meal It go and then tried to do something about the fleas.

(We suspect we got the human fleas from our travelling companions.  We eventually got rid of the fleas by putting all our clothes in plastic bags with a powder we had bought called “Rocket” which was in fact DDT.)

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Saturday 28th June

After our last breakfast overlooking the lake, the taxi arrived on time and took us to Tbilisi airport.  We are staying at the Ibis Hotel which really isn't bad at all.  They have a pretty decent looking restaurant so we don't feel the need to move from here until our early start tomorrow morning.

I will write the final blog tomorrow after we have returned to Lewes.

Georgia - Kvareli Lake - Afghanistan/Pakistan

 1974

Tuesday, 16th April

Neil still wasn't feeling very well so we didn't do anything much all day. I did some washing and when I came back from the washing line the Pakistani man was talking to Neil and was being a bit tiresome. I think he wanted us to take him to England illegally and he suggested that while Neil was resting, I should go with him to his hotel. I said I wasn't feeling well either and at last he left us. I didn't feel very well but it held off until evening. We tried mind reading with cards and it worked quite well for a while. I was sick and had diarrhoea at about 9 p.m. and felt much better for it and had a good night. The cause of our sickness must have been the rice pudding we had the night before at Sigis.

Wednesday, 17th April

As we were both feeling better we had breakfast. We wrote a couple of letters and went to post them. We were a bit worried in case they wouldn't be sent and also they were going to take ten days. We bought some pills for malaria and bread and yoghourt. Neil gave the van a service in the afternoon and I tidied up inside. We had a shower in the 'railway carriage sauna' then went out for a very nice and cheap meal at the Steak House. Went to bed feeling very happy.  

A beautifully painted Afghan lorry and its proud owner

Thursday, 18th April

It was a very very hot day. We set off with the American/German couple to the border. It took us quite a time to get through mainly because the Penn Overland Tours bus beat us there. We went through the Khyber Pass which was very pretty but not as spectacular as we had imagined. We drove through pretty scenery until Peshawar where we spent the night at a Dak Bungalow. The manager assured us that the water was fit for drinking as the water pipes were installed by the British in the colonial days. We went out for a meal in the evening of meat ball curry. A very warm night.

Friday, 19th April

Another very hot day and difficult driving for Neil. Roads very bumpy in places. Reached Lahore at sundown and in the rush hour. The traffic was horses and carts, bicycles and pedestrians all going in their own directions irrespective of the traffic flow. It was shocking and we didn't have an adequate map. A Pakistani came with us and directed us to the Y.M.C.A. where we stayed the night. In payment for the ride, our friends bought us an evening meal. It was nice to sleep in a room with a fan as it was so hot.

Saturday, 20th April

Another hot day. We had a good breakfast after which we said goodbye to our travelling companions and went to look at the town. We had to find places in the shade after a while and went in the museum, wrote some letters in the Post Office and later in the afternoon went and had some tea. We set off for the border in the late afternoon. Everybody directed us the wrong way and after nearly 40 miles of travelling we were turned back. Even the R.A.C. was wrong. We stopped at a garage just outside Lahore where the manager said we could stay the night and bought us tea and kebabs with bread (more like meat balls). We met the owner who we learnt to be the son of the Home Secretary here. We found out the right way to go to India. We had a very bad night not sleeping much because of all the mosquitos and got up several times for a massacre and once for tea.

Sunday, 21st April

We started towards the right border this time but we only got as far as a military check post and we had to stop for a couple of hours while prisoners of war were being exchanged. Quite an interesting spectacle. We went through the borders fairly quickly although we had a bit of a scare with the oil light but Neil checked everything and came to the conclusion that it was probably electrical. We gave a lift to a young lad Paul and he directed us to a guest house in Amritsar which was very nice and not too expensive. We sat and had tea for a bit before doing some washing. Then we had a shower and went out for a nice meal to celebrate having reached India.

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Wednesday 25th June

We are spending our last few nights at a lake spa resort.  It is a quite spectacular gated hotel with a lake, view over a huge valley with mountains beyond.  Our room has a balcony overlooking the lake.  There are no cars around the lake, instead there are electric tourist buses which ferry people around for free which look a bit like the Mini Moke’s from the 1960’s series The Prisoner (if you can remember that far back!)  We met the hotel manager and one of her 28(!) dogs.  On the subject of dogs, there are a lot living on the streets in Georgia.  A lot of them are tagged which means they have been neutered and have been seen by a vet and vaccinated.  Georgians really love their dogs and they seem in general to be well fed and reasonably happy.

The hotel manager (in pink) and some of her dogs

Thursday 26th June

After breakfast we borrowed bicycles and cycled around the lake.  I hadn’t been on a bike for some years so I was a bit worried I’d fall off but I hadn’t forgotten how to do it and all was well.  We then went to the pool area and had a swim in the rooftop pool.  In the afternoon we had a go at playing paddle ball.  Unfortunately Neil fell and crashed into the toughened glass screen at the back of the court.  This necessitated a visit to hospital in an ambulance, 3 stitches in his head and a ride back in a taxi.  One of the hotel staff came too to help with translation.  Somehow Neil has lost his hat which I think has hurt him most.  There were two weddings here this evening and promise of fireworks later.

Friday 27th June

We had a lazy day today.  We walked around the lake after breakfast and saw a dead Giant Peacock Moth and Neil identified quite a few birds on an app from their songs although we didn’t see any of them.  Neil did some yoga and I did some knitting.  We leave tomorrow.

Georgia - Tbilisi - Iran/Afghanistan

 1974

Friday, 12th April

We had difficulty starting the van as it had been raining most of the night and it was still raining and very cold. We reached the Iran customs at about 10 a.m. and waited about an hour to be cleared. We gave a letter and a card to someone there to post as we hadn't found anywhere. We went on to the border where there was a deal to do.  It was all very relaxed and no one was in any hurry so we decided that would be the best way to be and we finally got through at 3.30 p.m. just beat a bus load of British there so we were lucky. We gave a couple a lift all the way to Kabul as someone had stolen their passports. We stopped in the grounds of a hotel for the night and went into Herat for kebabs and bread which were good and cheap. While we were in there it hailed and they collected hailstones in the sun canopy for eating. We had a hot shower, the water came from a strange charcoal burning geyser contraption. The Afghans then played music in the hotel (under the influence of hash) and we played cards (Old Maid), exchanged card tricks and recorded some of their music. It rained, thundered and hailed all day and there was mud everywhere.

Saturday, 13th April

This was the first really hot day we had. We drove through interesting and monotonous scenery of scrub and desert land with a few odd mountains. The road was very good concrete and on some bends there are bollards down the middle of the road instead of white lines to break your axles instead of the law. We saw a great deal of mini wirlwinds in the heat of the day which were very strange. We stopped for a brew in a very small village which seemed to consist of shops only. We went through a large number of toll gates which continued right through Afghanistan. We reached Kandahar at about 5.30p.m. and stayed in the "garden" of a hotel. There seemed to be an abundance of freaky people at the hotel just out there for the 'rides'. Neil wasn't feeling very well so we only had soup and bread and went to bed early.

Sunday, 14th April

The day started with hot weather again. We left Kandahar a bit late at 11 a.m. after buying oranges and bread in the town. The bread is very similar to Iran bread which you buy by the sheet. Our Italian friends had to lend us some money as we couldn't get to the bank. It got a bit cooler and very hazy. We reached Kabul before 6 p.m. and found an hotel. We ate out at Sigis which was quite nice in a way but very British with western music and freaky people. We went to bed early. An American/German couple who are going to Kashmir asked if they could have a lift to Peshawar. 

Windmill in Afghanistan

Monday, 15th April

We went in search of a tourist office and got thoroughly fed up as we couldn't find it. We also got very fed up with the number of shoe-shine boys determined to shine Neil's shoes, belt or anything else made of leather he happened to be wearing. It was very hot. We changed some money and came back. It started to rain and was very windy. It hailed and thundered. We sat inside the hotel and played cards for a while. Cooked some egg and chips. Our Italian friends asked us if we would like to go to the bazaar which we did and it was quite an experience. Neil didn't feel well so we started walking back. While we rested on the way a Pakistani gentleman approached us and we chatted and had tea with him. We took a taxi back to the hotel and he insisted on sharing it with us. He chatted for a while before he left but was rather persistent and suggested I left Neil and go and eat with him. I refused. Neil went to bed and I played patience in the hotel and came to bed at 9 p.m. Neil didn't sleep much, having to get up to the loo about every two hours. was the first place we had seen for a long time with loos that actually worked!

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Sunday 22nd June

We took a taxi early in the morning to Batumi train station, we were taking the last train of our adventure.  We were checked onto the train at the door with tickets and passports and we were ticked off on a list.  The train was packed and a Russian speaking lady sat next to me.  Here was a good chance for me to practice my very rusty Russian.  I then realised this could mean over 7 hours of tortured conversation.  Luckily we fell asleep and the journey flew by.  At Tbilisi station we were met by expectant taxi drivers but why pay an exorbitant price for a taxi when we could make a complete mess (or not) of getting the metro?  It transpired that we managed to buy tickets, get on the right train and get off at the right stop with no problem at all.  We are staying in a comfortable apartment next to Liberty Square.

In the evening we were taken by taxi to an area high above the city where Nino, George and their children Luka and Noah live.  We got to know Nino’s family back in the 1990s when they came to England to work as University researchers and lecturers.  Nino was just a child then but now she is a successful businesswoman.  She and George started a business locating and using old Georgian designs to decorate tableware.  They now have 11 shops and hope that soon they will be selling in the UK.  The name of their brand is Blutabla.  They live in a beautiful house which they had built and moved in a year ago.  There garden is beautiful too, full of walnut trees.  It was such a lovely evening with beautiful Georgian food, wine and reminiscences.

Monday 23rd June

We spent the day exploring Tbilisi, we visited George and Nino’s shop which was in a huge modern shopping centre.  We also visited the Catholic cathedral and the Orthodox cathedral.  In the afternoon we went to the botanical gardens which were a little disappointing as so many of the paths were considered too dangerous to pass.  We went to get some money from inside a building, we had to open the door with our bank card.  Afterwards we couldn’t open the door and wondered if we would have to spend the night there.  Eventually we noticed a small button at the side of the door, phew!!!

Tuesday 24th June

Today we went on a 10 hour tour.  We had to meet in front of a metro station.  There was a woman standing there with a lemon in her hand.  She was actually begging but disguising it as selling a lemon.  In the time we were there she did remarkably well with most people stopping to give her something (by the time we left she still had the lemon).  We visited the cave city of Uplistsikhe followed by a traditional Georgian meal.  In the afternoon we visited Stalin’s museum in Gori.  He started building it before he died (I wonder if Mr Putin has started to build his?!!!). We then went to Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli cathedral.  We were with a lovely group of people but it was a very long day.  We are now relaxing on our last night in this apartment with a bottle of excellent Georgian wine.

Stalin’s birth place and where lived until he was 4

Stalin’s Railway Carriage