After our last post we took a great bus ride through the mountains to a little town called Yusefeli. A gorgeous place in a steep ravine, out hotel / hostel was right on the river and you could actually sit and watch rafts going down the river in front of our window! made sleeping interesting though as the noise of the river made it sound like it was throwing it down! waking up to bright sunshine and the noise of a storm was a bit confusing to say the least!
We arrived in the afternoon and although we were offered a place on a raft that day, it was with a bunch of meat-head biker dudes from the Czech rep who looked like they would have preferred to just swim down the rapids! So we left that one and decided to have a relaxing evening. We had some chay with a young guy who was the expert rafting guide from the LP. Seemed like a lovely guy but a bit lost in himself, there was something about the town and all the inhabitants that wasn't quite right.
We ended up having dinner with a couple from Istanbul who were there on holiday and they took us for a pide with the english speaking guide who had gone rafting with them that day...this is where we met Sean. The little Turkish Yank was an absolute legend, apart from the fact that he had obviously spent too long in San Fransisco he made us feel totally welcome and we had a great night chatting and even took us to his mates Sheesha bar, which happened to be some plastic chairs on the roof of his house. ( Turns out that was the last night it was in operation as the police closed the place down after we left! )
Sean was the translator for our rafting the following morning, the guide and his two sons were ace, we even went for a drink that evening with him at the local 'gentleman's club ' Nat was the only lady there not 'working'! haha good fun though.
The actual rafting was amazing there were some really hair raising moments and Nat loved it, even if she did get soaked a few times in freezing cold water! there's pics on flickr too but here's one as well.
Turns out the reason why the town has such a strange atmosphere is that for the past 15 years they locals have been told that the government are building a huge damn in the area and that their town will be flooded and they will have to move. Obviously they will be compensated but there is no time line, they have no idea when this is going to happen and therefore cannot prepare for the inevitable. On a longer term level there has been no development in town for years, why would you as a local businessman invest in your business if you know that it will be flooded at some time in the future! It was really sad to see, that these people lived in such a beautiful setting with so much to offer, at the same time as living in an awful limbo that kept them from moving forward with their lives.
So that was the rafting, we had a great time but had now decided it was time to move into our second country, Turkey was done ( for the time-being ) Georgia here we come!
The journey to the border was great only 5 hours and over the mist covered mountains, felt like northern Thailand! When we got to the border it was raining and it didn't stop for 3 days. The crossing was fine, not too long but the Georgians certainly haven't queued in England before. No rules, no etiquette. The worst are the little grannies who push in, you feel bad because they're old ( not sure how that makes them in any more of a rush ) so you let them. Only to find that they turn around and call for their whole family to join them...poor Nat was getting tutted at and pushed about, she was about to flip out it was hilarious! Sometimes it's so hard to hold the laughter in, but it was certainly worth the skin on my back to do so this time! she may have dumped me in the black see at that point!
It was only on the bus into Batumi, the border / coastal town that we realised we spoke no Georgian or Russian and had nowhere to stay and no LP for the area! Up a creak with no paddle. Luckily three french travellers jumped in and we managed to get them to take us to their hotel and found ourselves a place to stay! Relieved to say the least!
I'll let Nat go on, but I'd like to say from me anyway that Turkey was amazing, we had such a great time all the way through and it is a magnificent place to visit! We'll be coming back for sure and I'd advise anyone looking for a holiday to go too. no matter which area you go too you'll be made to feel really welcome and meet some great people long the way. Good bye Turkey, for now.
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