Never trust a Mercedes driver

Just to emphasis Andy C’s remarks about Tbilisi, it is a great place. We visited an antique market that I am glad Jane did not have access to as we would have needed a Lorry to carry home all her purchases. We headed into town bought some gas canisters for our Primus which were the exact same make as the one we have.

Then as we approached the centre of the town Andy C spotted a B&B, the Lion House, Tbilisi, a really friendly Landlady. After a brief discussion between the two Andy’s we agreed to stay. We unloaded our baggage, we were offered a cup of tea, while imbibing the tea the man of the house offered us a Vodka which we could not refuse.

After a good nights sleep we were presented with a Georgian breakfast that Maya, the Landlady, had every right to be very proud. The previous night the subject of Andy P’s bed and breakfast business came up, I was asked what kind of breakfast was given by Jane. Full English was the reply which I proceeded to describe only to be told Marium (the daughter) was a vegetarian. Now everyone knows my views on Vegetarians, but being the true diplomatic I kept my council. But suffice to say Maya’s Georgian breakfast was tasty and wholesome and did include Vodka if you wished.

Georgian breakfast

After saying our fond fair wells to the family we headed off to the border.

Our Landlady and husband from the Lion

It was an uneventful trip, we were hoping to have a better crossing than Turkey Georgia. As we approached the border we saw a queue of cars so pulled in behind them. A Georgian came up to us, spoke to us in Georgian which neither of us had a clue what he was talking about. The gist of it seemed to suggest that there was delays at the Border and we should go to another one. We pleaded ignorance due to non comprehension. Andy C decided to take a walk along the queue, he reported back that he did not think this was a queue for the border as there was a long gap between the end and the border gates. So he suggested we take the car forward only for us to be intercepted by the police and retuned to the back of the queue, fortunately we only lost two places. Andy C then got talking to a man from Baku Azerbaijan (born in Georgia) who had worked for BP in Scotland, so Andy had some affinity for him and got on like a house on fire. The outcome was that he and another Azerbaijani who did not speak a word of English persuaded Andy to follow them to another border post 50km away. Andy being his cautious self and being protective to Bluebell and his concern that I would have an excuse to drive like a bat out of hell, told the Azerbaijani (the one that spoke no English) not to drive too fast!!! We left the queue and within a minute they were forging ahead but we could still see them, but despite me driving at 70 mph plus, they gradually became a spot in the distance and showed no sign of slowing to allow us to catch them and eventually disappeared. Never trust a Mercedes driver!!

We decided it was hopeless, particularly as Andy was convinced he had lost the map, I kept saying he must be sitting on it! We returned to the queue to find we had lost 20 places and approximately an hour and a half. This time we were not going to budge from the queue. Andy got out of the car to see if he had left the map on the roof when we drove off, guess where the map was Andy was sitting on it!! As Andy was about to get out of the car, another young Georgian came over to us to tell us the same story about problems at the border post. We realised it was a scam to get us to follow them to another border post, supposedly quiet, for a quicker crossing and then charge us $50. Later as we progressed down the queue another Mongol rallier came up to the back of the queue and even they tried to persuade us to find another post. We relayed the Mercedes story and told them we were not budging.

Eventually we were called forward to the border gates and as we drove forward a pesky car overtook us probably putting us back another fifteen minutes, when we stopped the driver got out and disappeared into an adjacent building. Every time the queue moved he disappeared, I tried to convince Andy C that we should nip in front of him. Andy was not one for causing a potential scene. This continued all the way to the border check, we were both sure he was nipping into the building for some dental work!

The pattern was the same at this border post as it was at the Turkey border, 6hr wait and 15 minutes to travel through the two border checks. Again an inspection of the car contents, by the border guard, brought a glazed look over the eyes of the customs inspector and a resignation of the hopelessness of the situation so he just waved us through. The paper work required about six departments to check the passports flicking through the books, confusion was added as we are both called Andrew James, but with a lot of patient explanation we made it through. The only policemen on are trip that we have seen smile were the last we saw on the Georgian side (we had a long conversation while waiting for Azerbaijan) and the last check by an Azerbaijani before we were allowed into his country, perhaps they were happy as they were glad to see the back of us!!

Although Azerbaijan is oil rich the local communities appear very poor, often we saw donkey and carts on the road and farm machinery that looked like it was built in the fifties. We were very cautious about the speed we were travelling as we had heard that there are a lot of police in Azerbaijan and they like fining foreigners for US dollars. So we thought it prudent Andy C did the driving with my assumed reputation of fast reckless driving given to me by Andy

Tractor out of the fifties

Donkey and cart

As we were travelling along we heard a clacson behind us, expecting it to be the the police we looked in the mirror and saw it was a fellow rallier, and what’s more when we pulled over for a chat we discovered they were our age!! We hooked up with them and agreed to look for accommodation in Genca. We took the lead, as we approached the city I spotted a giant Ramada hotel in front of us, I said to Andy should we should ask the price, he nearly fell out of the car with laughter. I radio telephoned the following car and asked their thoughts, nothing ventured nothing gained. So I was tasked with finding out the price. For each room it was about £75 (£35 each), so in true Parker I asked if we could have a discount if we booked two rooms. This was met with a bit of resistance, they asked me if I used Baycell, I suddenly remembered that it was the name of the provider for Azerbaijan and was written at the top of the iPhone. They took my phoned dialled a couple of numbers (which they assured me were free) with no result, so I said that Sophie from Mantra Communications, my provider, in England had organised it and as soon as they heard that they dropped the price to £55 per room, thanks Sophie.

So here we are in a luxury Ramada hotel instead of wild camping.