Bike to Asia

The Mestia sign

We arrived to Mestia on the 13th June. It was not a difficult day, we cycled 10 km only. We took some photos at the Mestia sign when a girl came to us and said that they already have waited for us and we are the cyclist who slept at Lahamula some days before. We were surprised but soon we remembered that the guy who sold us milk and other stuff gave a phone number of a host where we can sleep. There are a few hotels in Mestia but the most common accommodation is at families who rent rooms in their homes. So we already had a place to sleep. They expected us to come one day earlier and they already thought that we are not coming. The room was 10 lari per person for a day. Fortunately the family had internet so we could send some news home but we couldn’t plug it to our computer to upload photos from Picasa, so you still couldn’t see the photos we took. After we unpacked the bikes we went to the center to meet Misha, a couchsurfer. He couldn’t host us because he was already hosted but he was very nice to show us around. He is a polish guy and volunteers in Mestia for about 8-9 months, he teaches English. We learned from him that Mestia is a city and not a village with population of 2500 people and that water and electricity is for free. Water comes from the mountains, electricity from the dam at Jvari. It is free because it is a kind of support from the government. People there mainly live from tourism, in the main season there are more tourist than locals, and they also grow vegeteblas and have animals. Although tourism is the main source of income there are only a few small grocery stores and there is not even a single sign of souvenirs. If we were e.g. in Austria probably there would have been everywhere magnets and key-case with the peaks of Ushba.
Misha took us to the top of a tower which was part of a museum. There are many towers like that in the mountain villages/cities. One tower group belonged to one family and it had a protective function. The mountains were actually never attacked, it is quite difficult to get there but the families fought sometimes with each other. After we saw the nice view from the top of the tower we went down on the steep stairs to the museum which consists of one room and it shows how a family lived in the 14-15th century. It was a relative small room if we take into account that 30 people lived there together with all the animals except the pigs because reputedly they smell bad. Our experience is that other animals we have seen on the way don’t smell nice either… Anyhow, it was interesting that the people slept above the animals to utilize the heat produced by them. When we came out of the museum someone asked us in English if the bikes belong to us. It is not very common to hear English words here. The guy was Lukas, a Canadian who was also on a bike tour with 2 other friends. They also arrived the same day and headed to the pass but later we didn’t meet so I don’t know how they felt about the pass. They route was Istambul-Baku, you can check out their blog at bakubybike.wordpress.com. After Misha arranged accommodation for the Canadians he showed us a place where spring water comes from the mountains. There are many places like that in mountains, the one we tried was sparkling, it tasted good!
We had some bad experience when we wanted to eat something in a local cafe (Cafe Ushba). First we received the same french fries that was a leftover from the previous guests. It was cold so Felix asked for a new one. Then we got some meat which we couldn’t figure out what part of which animal was. It tasted a bit as liver but it felt like sinewy eraser.
Next day we met Misha again because he came with us to the mountain Zuruld from which you can a have a good view to Ushba. I think Felix was exited because it was something he wanted to see on every account. We got up early, at 5am because he was afraid that clouds will come later and he can’t take nice photos. Well, no clouds that day but unfortunately we couldn’t reach the top of Zuruld. After a while we lost the track, the signs and tracks are not well maintained. Everywhere we went we got stucked in bushes. Anyhow we could see the twin peaks, we were only about 100 m below the top.

Ushba, Zsofi, Felix

On the way we passed by an elevator which was built for skiing but has never operated because the holder stations were not built in line so the cord constantly fell off. We got home tired in the early afternoon. Unfortunately there was some reconstruction on the water pipe line and so water came only in the evening that’s why even we slept in a house we took a shower from our Ortlieb water bag. It was a warm day so we could bear the cold water. We spent the next day by just doing nothing, having a rest. I had a really bad muscle fever, my legs got used to ride the bike but got unused to walk.
We needed the rest because from Mestia the road got more and more difficult, the quality got worse and we climbed higher and higher. Ushguli, the next bigger place was on 2100 meter and there was a pass before that with 1926 meter. There was even a creek on the road. We put on our sandals and walked through, it was ice cold, quite deep with big rocks on the bottom, so we didn’t dare to risk cycling through. That time we didn’t know that it was not the last one on the road…
In Georgia we have nice experience with policemen. On the way to Ushguli a police car stopped and wanted to take us over the pass saying that the road is very hard but Felix with his great Russian declined the offer saying that life is hard. The policeman didn’t lie though, the road was full of rocks, we couldn’t go faster downhill than uphill. It was a hard day so we decided to take the Mestia-Ushguli road in 2 days. We stopped at Bogreshi and as we were very hungry asked for a shop or a place where we can have some khachapuri.

The village of Bogreshi (Ipari)

As it is very common in Georgia the guy we asked invited us to come in and offered us to sleep there as well. Georgian people are very hospitable but sometimes they want to take advantage from tourists. This time the guy who was an forester didn’t say the price of the room but something like “there won’t be a problem, we will agree on the price for sure”. When it came to say a number he asked us how much money we have for that. We said we paid 10 lari in Mestia so we said we would pay the same. He seemed upset and said it is at least 20 lari because in Mestia it costs 30 lari. So we decided to sleep in tent. In these cases when they want money they ask us what we work or how much we paid for the bikes. We suppose it helps them to estimate how rich we are.
The son of the forester told us that the pass would be cleaned next day, it was good to know that we won’t face snow blockage.
The rain started to fall at night so next day the road was full of puddles, and in the next days it got worse and worse. We asked an old man for bread in a small village (just a couple of houses) and he invited us to eat bread and cheese – you can always eat bread and cheese here (and usually that’s all). Meanwhile, some Israeli tourists came by car and bought 2 chickens from this old man (they offered 20 lari for a chicken).
My kickstand was breaking out so I finally dropped it out – from now on I only could lean it against a wall or post or something, or Zsofi had to hold it, which is quite uncomfortable, but my kickstand was really weak for the weight of my bike. The problem is that the front wheel tends to turn out if it is not stable enough – even from the whirlwind of a truck passing by. If there was a lockable handbrake and a handlebar lock (which blocks the handlebar from turning while it is standing still) it would have helped against accidental bicycle falls. But there isn’t. This will be the next thing I will invent after I go home. (I’ve already invented the handbrake lock – which is just a velcro-strap.
We also met a family from the Netherlands in a Jeep – they were traveling with 2 small children on the Middle-east and in Europe for 6 months. They also told us that the pass will be opened the next day so we were quite confident now that we can cross the pass.
Before Ushguli, the road got quite steep and the rain began to fall. A guy with a jeep stopped next to me in the rain and asked “I know that you are tough and I am spoiled, but can I help you somehow?”
I think he offered that he can take us with his car.
In Ushguli, we met a Polish guy who was taking photos. He traveled alone from Bangladesh to home, taking photo reports. His blog is www.nomad123.blogspot.com – you can check his Ushguli-photos for example! He showed the way to the only “shop” in the village, where he used to put down his backpack during the day and he also recommended us a place to tent, he also sleeps there. The shop was rather a store, with boxes laying around everywhere so we (or she, the shopkeeper) could hardly move or step anywhere. We asked for Nutella, of course, and she told that there is, for 5 lari. We told her that we’d like to buy one. OK, she started to look for it. It is in a small paper box. After a while I offered my help to search. We couldn’t find it so she assured us that she will find it by next day (but she couldn’t). What we bought was some wafers (measured by kg on a hand-held scale). And khachapuri, of course. And we indicated that we’d like to buy 2 breads the next day. Yes, do not think on a regular shop in Europe – there are very few tourists here, only we and the Polish guy, so they carefully estimate the demand and only produce what will not be wasted. It is a very homely shop but from bra till toilet seat you could find everything – if you are lucky, with Nutella we weren’t.
And it was cold! The cloudy sky and the occasional rain (and the 2100 m elevation) cooled the air down so we had to put on our pullovers, raincoats and rain-legs, winter caps and winter gloves as we sat there by the outdoor table!
In the evening we tried to find a place for the tent – after fighting through several puddles in the mud, we set up the tent on the top of a little hill. Later it turned out that it is also a favorite place of cows and bulls. The cows seamed to be very curious and interested in the bikes so some of them licked my saddle and handle bar. Later in the evening, I had to beat the wall of the tent from the inside to stop them sniffing into my ear. When I peeped out from the tent, there was a huge bull standing just half a meter away. I have never seen such a huge bull before! There are cows, you know the size of a cow. But this was twice as wide and twice as tall at least! I imagined that it will bump into the spanning cord of the tent and fall on me with its one ton of body mass and I will die flattened out… They bulls were also producing some very frightening sound so I hardly could fall asleep. And the ground was quite uneven, very uncomfortable, a big bump right under my waist (I didn’t choose the place carefully). So I decided that next night I will pay for a room in Ushguli. We didn’t want to start next day because of bad weather, so we decided to spend a day here. I wanted to see the highest hill of Georgia, and it was covered by thick clouds.

A really big dog appeared

Next morning a light rain came, we still couldn’t see the mountains. We went back to the shop, which is also a guesthouse, we got it for 10 lari per person (instead of the original 15). We like to get the rooms early because we can enjoy the comfort for a longer time than when we take the room late at night. So even if it was a half-ready wooden house, we enjoyed that we have a room! We wanted to take a shower. OK, there is no shower in the houses (as is the case usually in Georgia) but we had the Ortlieb mobile-shower so we just needed a private place, protected from eyesight. The lady first offered us the stinking toilet, but after we made her think about a less disgusting option, she showed us the way to a half-ready “bathroom” which consisted of a non-functioning shower and a non-functioning floor-drain (the water just stayed there, didn’t flow through). The good thing is that we had warm water filled into our shower-bag! So it was a relative luxury for us.
Back in the room, we had to pull the beds a little bit further from the walls because the rain came through the half-made roof and the ceiling was dripping. In the evening I had luck with the view, because for a couple of seconds, I could have a glimpse on the highest peak among the clouds.

Shkhara - highest peak in Georgia, 5068 m

So I told Zsofi that we can move on the next day and continue our way through the highest pass in Georgia…

Tags: Mestia, Ushba, Ushguli

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 9:39 PM and is filed under Georgia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.