Finally I saw the border and I thanked the driver who took me 15 km further from his way to make my life as easy as possible so I would have no trouble hitchhiking on the small road that had very few cars . I stepped off the car and went to the crossing point .
At first you have to show your passport to the guard that is on the Turkish side and then you can start your steps into a small checkpoint where you will get your stamp – I had to wait in between 10 minutes and I was free to leave building to the second checkpoint where the guy also checked my passport for the stamp .Then I could go to the 3rd and more modern checkpoint where the guard took a good look at my face , made a picture , checked my papers and I was finally let to Georgia .
On the other side I saw a nice landscape full of trees , hills and the first abandoned buildings on the other side .My plan for the first night in Georgia was to stay at an abandoned building but I couldn’t get sleep in the first abandoned building and the abandoned gas station didn’t seem such a good place either so i decided to walk and hitchhike that took me around 10 minutes .
The first hitchhike in Georgia was a positive one , the Georgian guy in his 60s with his old Lada brought me further maybe 30 km . In his car we didn’t speak much cause like most Georgian people they knew Russian and Georgian , but somehow we got over the language barrier and he let me off near a cheap hostel in the first small city .As I told him , I didn’t have “Georgian lari” so I continued on foot to get out of the city , find a nice abandoned building and sleep there . Well even though saw a lot of abandoned buildings – destroyed buildings… I didn’t find one that could have given me shelter for the night so I continued in this cold rain till I got to the other end of the city “The travel took me 2 hours ” .
As I then found a monument and the rain had stopped I tried sleeping infront of the monument while the bushes were giving me little shelter from the rain . I spent there 2 hours and maybe had sleep for 1 hour . It had been so far the worst experience in finding shelter .
I woke up , packed my bag and started walking in the direction of the capital while it was still dark .I walked for an hour until I found a normal bus stop with at least a normal roof that would give me shelter from the rain .I set up my sleeping mat and stayed there for the night .”First time in Georgia . First time alone so far away from home …5000km .” those were my last thoughts before falling asleep .
The Morning …
Slowly I opened my eyes to find a Russian guy looking at me …I can understand that completely – Some foreigner sleeping in a bus stop on a mat – Must have been very interesting for him . My first words to make this less awkward were “hello” , “privjet ” and whatever the first words were to come out of my mouth . I told him that I had traveled a long way here and am on my way to wherever life leads me to .After the first contact I offered him some cigarettes that we immediately smoked and started my journey to a new place .So I went to the other side of the road to hitchhike while smiling at him . Soon another Russian guy joined him and they just stood there looking at me making conversation to each other.
It took me 10 minutes to get on a car and the driver seemed very nice so he asked me where I was going – so i told him – I don’t know , Id rather know where you are going ?
We didn’t have much to talk about so I just looked at the landscape that was amazing : the green nature , the small roads , small farms , lots of caves , a river by the road and the big hills we were surrounded by . But I didn’t see the whole road . I fell asleep halfway until we arrived to the capital of Georgia “Tbilisi” .
We said our goodbyes and I stepped of the car in the middle of the city somewhere with no direction , no plans with just the new culture surrounding me and me just standing on the road smiling 🙂 It was 11 am .
Raimond Soon 