Do not let the word "dangerous, not
safe, not peaceful" to block out the beauty of countries that should not be overlooked.
Because when you try to be open minded and travel to those places, you will find that the natural beauty and unpretentious beauty are tangible and very real.
Have you ever dreamed of standing among the snow in Europe? But before leaving to Europe, let's stop by the Caucasus at the edge of Asia before then.
I am also one of those who want to take ourselves out to experience new things that have not be seen on the social world. And Georgia is our destination this time.
Let's pack the bag, and continue to imagine along. I will tell you the story.
GEORGIA , Nice to meet you.
8 days 7 cities at 14,000baht expense (Fourteen thousand baht net)
European atmosphere, on a Mercedes-Benz car ride, all the meat dishes and
heater within the room.
I just realize during the journey that Georgia has a very low cost of living, it is just as same as Bangkok. But Bangkok at a temperature of -20 degrees.
Today, I will introduce you guys roughly about this country.
Gamarjoba (Gam-Ma-Jo-Ba) is way of greeting of the Georgian people.
It is located at the middle of two continents between Europe and Asia.
You need only Passport and does not require a visa to stay for a year.
No direct flights from Thailand.
Round-trip promotion ticket price is about 20,000 Baht.
The language in use is Georgian.
The taste of the food is more on the salty to the very salty side.
The cost of Living is as same as Bangkok (15 Baht = 1 Lari)
It is a country with beautiful mountains "Caucasus".
Here is safe and peaceful.
Famous wine, Cheap beer and like to drink Chacha to make them warm. (Like vodka)
Main dishes: meat, flour and cheese.
In the mini-mart, you have to be careful confusing between "soda" and "pure water"
Rice is a rare item.
Cold winter is at -20 degrees or more.
Jelly beer is very easy to make, just place it outside the balcony.
You have to take good care of you passport because the nearest Thai Embassy is in Russia.
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Puffin Coral / Photographer
Facebook : Puffin Coral
e-mail : [email protected]
This review would be a little long I will try to finish it in one review.
If you do not like to read, just scroll through the picture is more than enough.
Because the pictures are awesome ^ ^
All the detail would be summarize in the end.
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My Plan (11-19 Feb 2017)
Day 1 : BKK - Tbilisi >> Transfer flight at Dubai 1 day
Day 2 : Tbilisi - Mestia Kutaisi
Day 3 : Kutaisi - Ushguli
Day 4 : Ushguli - Mestia
Day 5 : Mestia - Gori
Day 6 : Gori - Tbilisi
Day 7 : Tbilisi - Sepantsminda (Kazbegi)
Day 8 : Sepantsminda (Kazbegi) - Tbilisi
Day 9 : Tbilisi - BKK >> Transfer flight at Dubai
I have booked a promotion ticket of Fly Dubai airlines at a price of 20,000 Baht.
Passengers please tighten you seat belts. Now our flight is about to depart.
Duck feather clothes, goose shirts are very ready because this trip would be freaking cold.
On the second day of our trip, we arrive in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia safe and sound in early morning. We sit back and wait for the dawn, then take the bus no. 37 which will bring us to the airport of Vanilla Sky Airlines to continue our journey to Mestia City.
This is the atmosphere of domestic airport. It's extremely cold.
Vanilla Sky airlines fly with turboprop aircraft, hence it will fly low level along the way for us to closely see the Caucasus in a high angle.
Wowwww!!! Let’s imagine along with me, At that moment, I have a splendid feeling.
Nonetheless!!! Unfortunately, the luck is not on our side, the sky is close,
it’s snowing and the flight was canceled.
Well, sure thing that this trip is going to be hell lots of fun from the first day of the trip.
From the dreamy girl, suddenly become a broken heart princess in the blink of an eye. OMG!!
Our destination, Mestia was changed to Kutaisi, a town that was not in the
plan.
And we need to make a call to cancel our first night accommodation too.
However in the non-expectation situation, there are still a good things in between.
"Hello, my flight is canceled and the weather is bad, I would have to cancel the room"
"Oh okey,no problem and how are you? Are you safe? I understand and I will give you a refund”
Perhaps just words and understanding, turned out to be the best unforgettable impression of this trip.
We then hire a bus ride from Tbilisi for about 6 hours to reach our destination today which we have a companion with us on this ride, a Chinese mother and daughter.
Well, as the plan changes, we need to walk-in for the hotel.
And this is the photo from the balcony, very nice view.
Now as we have got the room, let’s go for a walk around the city then.
And this is the atmosphere of Kutaisi.
First glance of Gamajoba
From Kutaisi, we take a public van for about 8 hours to Mestia. But it's not our destination tonight.
The scenery on the way here is so good, so so good.
Arrive at Mestia, we have to rent a 4-wd car to the village of Ushgili, our final destination.
Nonetheless, as Georgia have their own language and the city we live in now is in a rural area, thus, they won't understand whatever we say.
Ohhh….After a long talk, finally there is an angel come to help us. A cute Russian girl with glasses comes and helps us with the rental and negotiate.
It takes about 2 hours car ride to reach the accommodation that we have reserved.
Remember this name "Guesthouse Gamarjoba"
This place is not in Booking.com or Agoda but how did I find it, I totally
forgot.
I send the details of the trip to my friends.
"I want to sleep here"
"Alright, no problem!! Book now, I will e-mail them. "
Then the hotel replies back "Okay, there's a room for you"
On that day, we arrived there early in the evening. The path into the place
was filled with snow and ice. We have to drag the bag on the ice and did slip once
or twice.
First peek at the place, we are like….Wowww, this is an art gallery house.
In addition to being a Homestay, it is also an Art Gallery.
There are several rooms in the house; we could separate the room because that day was just us. However, we all stay in one room due to there are only one unit of heater.
The low temperature like this, who will be able to endure.
After keeping the baggage, we are very hungry.
We barely eat anything all day long and discuss that we will ask the owner to make the dinner for us.
So we go and ask Daddy and Mommy (the owner) to make some dinner for us.
"Can you cook dinner for us?"
"& # ** & <&& //% ="
And the result is they do not understand us at all. They do not
understand English. Okay, and now what?
But the owner calls her daughter who accepts our reservation and could communicate in English.
She studies at the main city and helps us as an interpreter.
Finally, we get the original authentic Georgian food for dinner in a very warm atmosphere, like we are visiting relatives in Georgia.
I want to visit our relatives in Georgia once again.
The food here is mostly beef, cheese and bread. And the other things that couldn’t miss is the Cha Cha (like vodka). People here enjoy sipping Chacha to lower the cold, thus we all try it too. Sip and sip Whoa .. Why we understand what they are talking now?
There is also a homemade bread, mommy made it at home. ^^
The bad part is that there is no water for bathing here.
During the winter, people here do not take a bath. Therefore, we are here in their city, we need to act like them as well.
The path to the dining room, we have to walk pass the thick snow and the ground that covered with ice.
Ohhh..freezing!!!
(The guest room and the main house are within the same building but not connected)
Confusing right? I do not know how to explain it. You have to see the real condition by yourselves then.
One pair of shoe and the real beauty.
During the Morning time, we go out wondering around in the freezing weather.Lol
It's pretty outside, we shouldn’t be under the warm place at home right?
Warm clothes, face, hair are covered…So let’s go out to the snow then.
Ushguli is a World Heritage City as well.
From the available information, they say that it is the highest village in Europe.
The highlight here is that every home would have a tower like this.
The whole village has four visitors, and all of them are Thai.
The people here are cute and very nice.
The city is so beautiful that the cold is not an obstacle for us to walk outside and appreciate the beauty of this place (-20 temperatures I would say). Let’s go.
Everywhere is white.
See the thickness of the snow..OMG
The snow shines when the sunlight hits them.
Apart from 4 Thai people, there are pig, horse, dog and cow walking around with us.
The dog is very friendly.
It's so cold that my feet are getting numb and painful. So cold that a friend of mine came back to sit and cry, fearing that she need to cut her legs. Lol
Why is this city so pretty!
I don't know how to describe it...so beautiful!
Time to farewell to this city that makes us realize that the beauty of the forgotten city is real.
When we take a ride back from Ushgili to stay in Mestia, it's so pretty along the way, just like a fairy town.
I then imagine of the way to the castle of Elsa. Sit and think all the way that I'm Elsa, I'm Elsa. Lol.
Everything is white. The snow shines and reflects with the sun all the way.
Oh !! When I think about it, I just can’t breathe, it’s soooo cold.
Hey… “Excuse me sir, could you please stop the car for a sec because we
would like to go down and take some photos?”
On the way, it was so beautiful that I can’t help it so I shout out loud.
The driver stops the car immediately. But it's very cold that I just open the door, leaning forward and take a shot. "Okey, sir… All done and let’s go”. Then
the car continues.
While sitting in the car. I better put my shoe on as it’s so cold.
Oh my !! Where is one of my shoe gone?
So all of us help me find my shoe all over, but still couldn’t find it.
I think about it, and realize that I might kick one of my shoe out while
taking some pictures for sure.
It’s so sad…and in my mind
What am I going to wear? Along the way is all frozen with ice.
And then everyone was sympathetic, even though it’s wasting the time but
they turn the car back to check.
At the scene, one of the shoe sits in the snow.
From Elza to Cinderella…Hahaha
Finally, both shoes arrived safely in Mestia.
And it became my favourite pair of shoes until this day.
This is the atmosphere of our room in Mestia. The accommodation named "Svan House in Mestia"
I like it…..
I love it……
This place is on the hill, we have to drag the bag up. But it is not an ordinary walk, along the way is pure ice. We slipped once or twice, Lol. I think it is funny, when think back.
Mestia city atmosphere.
Mestia at night.
Drunk people makes a story
We didn’t do anything much today as we are on the ride for the whole day fom early morning until late evening.
Tonight destination is at Gori city.
There is a heavy snow all the way and it’s getting heavier when the car parked for a meal.
The environment around here is very beautiful.
There is a snow pig wondering around also...Lol
This is my first time among the heavy snow, very impressive.
While sitting in a car, the old man about 2-3 people are drinking Cha Cha for a warmth in their car.
And then unexpected event happens. One of the drunk loses his balance but this situation causes other people problem.
Cha Cha in the glass suddenly pours in our friend's head!!!
It is very funny. OMG…hahahaha
First of all, we laugh and then we help…Lol
When we reach Gori, we take a taxi to the "Guest House Flora", then we go out to wonder around the city according to our Thai traditional style to do abroad.
Gori in the evening time, very quiet.
Gori Castle, another landmark of this city, we take a walk from the hostel for a while and then reach the spot.
Farewell tonight with a picture of roast beef.
Finding a cave town on a heavy snow day.
This morning Gori greets us with heavy snow. Hence, we go out and enjoy the unforgettable experience that couldn’t find in Thailand. ^^
Everywhere is all white, pretty beautiful. Gori Castle in the snow.
Thais in the snow, will be happy like this ^_^
Conversation while walking back to the hostel.
"Your country don’t have snow?" the guest house owner asks us with concern.
"No , sir. Thailand is very hot", we reply with a smile of Siam.
From Gori, we rent a Taxi to Tbilisi and also pay for a day tour.
I could not remember the price, so sorry.
The first place we visit is the Uplistsikhe, Cave City of Gori.
The atmosphere that day is not crowded and we do not have to scramble for the photoshoot.
The atmosphere around.
Old capital city, Miskheta, our stopover point.
This is obviously a tourism town because there are full of stores.
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is a big church which is a symbol of this city.
It has Caucasus as background. Oh ... It’s so fantastic.
Another corner.
Then we go out for a walk in the city. There is a cable car to go up for high-angle view.
And finally, we reach at the city where we will sleep tonight, the Capital of Georgia, Tbilisi.
This is the atmosphere around the accommodation. Tbilisi at night among the Caucasus.
Sepantsminda (Kazbegi) is our destination today.
What are we waiting for, Let’s go. We better rent a car so that we could stop by along the way.We rent a car from Tbilisi and take about 4 hours to the destination.
The longer distance from the capital, the colder and much colder the weather is.
Ananuri, this city is in the plan to visit. Since it is so beautiful that we couldn’t drive through without a visit for sure.
Ananuri Fortress, the Fort of this city. It is located in the middle of the lake in the white snow..... wow!!!
Gudari, is not to be missed as it is a famous ski city of Georgia.
This is a landmark spot, it is a Russia - Georgia Friendship Monument.
A spot to admire the Caucasus which is very elegant.
How enormous is it?
How is the weather?
It's so cold that just spilled the water and it does not even drop. Spill out of the bottle and then became ice.
Ohhhh….how else should I describe the temperature?
At last, we reach at the city of Kazbegi.
The city that was surrounded by the Caucasus Mountains.
The city that the mountains became golden color during the morning time.
The city where the Tsminda Sameba Church is located. The church that is located at the top of the hill among the Caucasus, and it is the important landmark scene of Georgia.
This view is visible from the balcony of our room.
See the legendary church there?, the one that is far far away.
And it's time to find a legendary church. Now we found the target and all we need to do is just go for it.
"Hey, sir. Could we go to Tsminda Sameba Church at this time?" I asked the Taxi driver.
"Oooh !! Yes, you can, but this season, you have to walk for 3kilos in the snow as the car couldn’t go through" a taxi driver answered.
Walk or not …. Walk or not … Walk or not. It’s so cold….
As we come at this point…so let’s go.
Along the way up hill, you will see this kind of view.
We have to walk 3kilos in the snow like this.
"Come on,let's head back" one of friends said.
While we walk, our footsteps are disappeared, the weather is so freezing and we are afraid that we will get lost. Hence, at last we couldn't reach our destination.
We do not regret it, because it is the best we could do.
"How about I take you to another Church which looks alike and you could see the view of the city as well” The driver told us.
"Okay, let's do it". We answer without hesitate (The driver requests for a little surcharge)
Well, it's alright, pretty alike actually.
This is the view of the city.
Kazbegi at night, very quiet.
This is our accommodation,"UpTown Boutique Kazbegi".
Morning greeting with the golden peak.
Before heading back, I need to prove something.
Walk into the bathroom, shampoo, bubble it and walk outside the balcony.
Blowing the bubble.
Ohhh…it was just like in the clip.
I used to watch the clip, they blow the bubble in a minus degree temperature.
Then it became a snowball, so I would like to try. And it really is.
This city is the coldest city in the trip. How cold?
Just my Gopro is cover by ice.
Our last night in Georgia, we then return to Tbilisi because we have to check in at the airport and prepare to get back home.
Today, nothing much just wondering around the city and buy back some souvenirs.
Tonight hotel, very very cute "์Namaste Hostel"
These chairs are still available, waiting for you guys to sit and watch the
city with your own eyes.
Ah !!! Just tell the person beside youuuuu…..
This trip we went to a country that is still exotic. And coming back to tell a story through photos and letters that Georgia is a country that should not be overlooked because it is really beautiful.
But finally, the best place for us is home.
This Georgia lesson, we have already passed the course.
Let's go home then.
Brief summary
[[Must Go]]
Ushgili World Heritage City. City of the tower. The tallest city in Europe.
[[Must Eat]]
Churchkhela, an ancient Georgian pastry made from nuts, coated with wheat flour, stirred with sugar and grape.
[[Must Sleep]]
As the story told, you can go and stay anywhere you want but you should not miss this place, Guesthouse Gamarjoba.
[[Must Do]]
Come out for a walk in the cold with a minus degree temperature and white snow all over the place. Thailand does not have this kind of those, try to do that.
How to prepare?
- Clothes to suit the season and weather.
- Plan trip and search for the information well.
- Look for the nearest embassy in case for the emergency.
- Buy travel insurance.
- Exchange from baht to euro from Thailand and then exchange to the Georgian money (lari) at Georgia.
- Download maps.me the offline maps which help us a lot because it will let us know where are we now when there are no phone signal.
- Check the flight from time to time, in case there are changes so we can plan ahead.
- Stock some familiar supplies from Thailand just in case the food is not tasty.
- Smile is a passport to friendship, so smile a lot ^ ___ ^.
Wifi
- At the airport there is free wifi available.
- The hotel, guest house in the city has wifi.
- Net sim are available, but we did not buy it. Thus, I do not know the details.
Religion
- Christian - Orthodox
Domestic travel
- Plane
- Train
- Most public buses are available in capital city, Tbilisi.
- Intercity bus (Marshrutka)
Accommodation
Mostly, we stayed at the guesthouse. We chose places which are not too expensive and do the booking through booking.com.
Accommodation matter depends on each person's preference, thus you could choose as you like.
These are where we choose to stay.
Kutaisi
This city is outside our plan. Walk-in accommodation. We chose to stay at Discovery Hotel.https://goo.gl/1t7wWB
Ushguli
You should not miss this place, Guesthouse Gamarjoba.
Facebook : https://goo.gl/9nKYPE
Website : http://gamarjoba-ushguli.com
e-mail : [email protected]
Mestia
Svan House In Mestia, the view is splendid
Gori
Guest House Flora, they has the best location.
Tbilisi
First night: Metekhi's Galavani Hotel
Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)
Uptown Boutique Kazbegi, they has the best view ever.
Namaste Hostel, it is an adorable hostel.
Food
Beef , cheese, bread and the taste would be slightly salty.
Beer, Wine and ChaCha is a must.
Especially the beer is less than 30 baht.
I keep the lid of the beer back as a souvenir.
Expense
This trip for 4 people, we spend around 34,000 baht each (including airfare). And if included the transfer flight days, then it is 9 full days.
- Round trip flight of Fly Dubai, connect flight at Dubai is 20,000 Baht
- Eat, accommodation and travel in the country, including travel insurance from Thailand costs 14,000.-Baht
The estimated expense here is just a guide line. You could not copy 100%.Lol.
This world is pretty large more than we could learn.
If you have a chance, then hurry up and go for it .. Life ^ _ ^
If you have any question, you could message or talk with us here at
Facebook Page : Travel Together / คนเดินทาง Kondentang
Click Here >> http://on.fb.me/1RhXIGk
Finally
Thank you… for all the inspiration.that drives us to go out traveling.
Thank you... for all the things that make us want to visit Georgia.
Thank you… for all the things that make us to be what we are today.
Georgia .. You are very beautiful.
Georgia .. You are touchable and you are a real beauty.
Georgia .. glad to know you and Hello Caucasus, the Edge of Asia.
And lastly .. Thank you everyone for reading this review.
Thanks for reading this far. Thank you so much.
The happiness is within our heart.
Fai
7 กุมภา
Friday, August 18, 2017 1:17 PM