All change - people, places and weather.

No matter how much I travel, I'm still amazed to see, as you cross borders, how the people change.

The people change in nature and look. The Arabs in the Middle East have a distinct look, and now, as we head back north through Turkey, the skin gets darker and the faces rounder.

Religion is a big part of Georgian life.

Our destination was now focused on getting into real Asia, and so Turkey was just a passing point on our journey. We knew we had to pass through the Pontic Mountain range, but didn’t think anything of it.

We climbed to the top of the range (3900m), and the snow was getting worse, so we stopped for the night at a Petrol station car park along with other Trucks.

The next morning, the engine was not starting, and after a bit of sign language, we had a support crew on their way to us.

The Diesel had congealed because of the cold. We were told it reached minus 20 degrees.

They then made a fire under the truck

A change of filters, a fire under the engine sump and a serious amount of warming with a blow torch, and we were off. You wouldn’t see that in the Western world!

The border crossing into Georgia was a casual affair and small. It was bitterly cold, and snow everywhere. As we drove through a small tunnel, we entered Georgia. We left a bleak and barren Turkey, and suddenly we were confronted by a wall of neon lights flashing advertising Casinos and gentlemen's clubs… all competing for our attention. Money changers swamped our truck whilst fake officials with odd lanyards hanging around their necks demanded we buy vehicle insurance that we already had.

It was like a down market, Blackpool.

Flash cars were everywhere. The whole thing shouted Mafia to us, we drove through this border enclave and on to the nearest town, Batumi, which was much the same.

We headed east, but the snow got worse. This is a brutal place for weather, and this was exceptional. Trees and power lines were down, and we decided to haul up and chose a stadium car park just outside a town.

It was quite scary, so close to civilisation but so far away

We parked as far away from the road as possible for privacy and settled down to let the snow pass. The next day, the snow was waist-deep, and we were stuck. I decided to walk to the road to get help, but after walking a few meters, I realised I couldn’t make it, and if I got halfway and got stuck, I was in trouble. We had water and food, and so we waited it out for 4 days. That’s a long time to be inside a small box?

We tried standing on the roof and trying to get help, but everyone had their issues, and no one stopped to help.

Eventually, the snow started to melt and using 4-wheel drive and all Diff-Locks, we managed to get out, and our relief was heartfelt.

Because of the weather in February and some issues back home, we flew back to our home in Spain and returned to Georgia in May, and it was still cold, but we started to get a feel for the place and its people.

Georgia is a tough place to live, and the people have a hard time with the weather, and not much happens. The people appear coarse and not at all friendly. I think it’s a hangover from the days of Russian rule.

It’s been 34 years since Georgia had their referendum, and 99% of people voted for independence.

A street vendor battles the cold.

That said, we still had moments of kindness and had regular offers of homemade Vodka to share with people as they went about their daily work routine!

The Georgian taxi drivers also make a point of crossing themselves several times when they pass a religious building. I wondered if it was some kind of insurance, as the driving was appalling and scary to be sitting in a taxi or driving our truck.

The Joseph Stalin Museum at Gori, Stalin’s birthplace, was an interesting insight and was filled with ostentatious vases, figurines and other gold-laden trinkets gifted to Stalin by other world leaders.

Am I missing something?

A fancy Chess set for the leader.

Stalin's private railway carriage

 That would keep him warm

Overall, Georgia is a poor country that is ruled by some kind of Mafia, and the divide between rich and poor is striking. Many farmers tend their fields by hand, and you can feel the pain the bleak weather must inflict on them.

Tbilisi, the capital, is a lacklustre place with a few highlights, but not a place to dwell for long.

On the upside, virtually everyone makes wine. It’s not strong and it’s a staple, and its said, most people drink 1 to 2 litres a day?

Wine is on sale everywhere, from street vendors to high-end wine tasting cellars

Next up was Armenia, and even the capital, Yerevan, didn’t inspire much. It was like a poor Georgia, if that’s possible? And we headed for Russia to make the transit into Kazakhstan.

This is one of the best parkups we have ever had, and it was in Armenia.

The road to the Russian border, called the Military highway, was through a mountain pass, and we had snow, again! The road was winding and wet, there was a gale blowing, and the drops off the side were scary. There are times we wonder why the hell we do this.

Exiting the border from Georgia into Russia, there was an IT power outage for 6 hours. It was the day Ukraine blew up the bridge and attacked the Russian fighter jets. The rumour was, the border was about to close, and we would be stuck.

It took 15 hours to get through, but we did, completely exhausted.

Russia offered a lot of desert area that was quite dull, but then interspersed with an odd cosmopolitan town like the town bordering Kazakhstan – Astrakhan. This was a leafy, feel-good town with modern shops, restaurants. Great Architecture, a huge concert hall, and it was extremely clean.  It’s a place that would be liveable for a Westerner, if you speak Russian, that is, but because of the current situation, we wanted to get out as soon as possible, although we were probably in no danger, as Russia has a land mass almost twice the size of Europe and has a population of 144,000,000.

Ferry crossing en route to Russia

A small aside, I was stopped by the cops early one Sunday morning, and the usual document check was carried out, and then the cop wanted me out of the cab. I suspected he was asking for a bribe, but he asked me to breathe on him to make sure I hadn’t been drinking….. I hadn’t.

Kazakhstan was so inviting at this point because of the potential issues, and so when one of the military guards asked us for a gift, not money, he just wanted something foreign, and as we had dozens of coins and notes from other countries, we gave him everything we had.

He was delighted, and so were we when he told us he had never met or seen a passport from the UK; we don’t travel that way, apparently.

Random shots in Kazakhstan

Soon we settled down and started the long journey from south-west Kazakhstan to the South-East. The bit in between is just open plain and desert. When I say the bit, I mean the 3000km of nothingness. It took us a week, and we spent the days driving the terrible roads and the nights parked up at truck stops.  

At the truck stops, as always, we were big news, and we tried to talk to some of the drivers, some of whom had travelled from Poland. We couldn’t communicate well enough to find out what they were hauling.

A Georgian church. They were everywhere.

Our goal was to get to Almaty, a town in the southeast and just about the only town and being the gateway to some more interesting scenery.

Once again, as we progressed east, the people looked different. They started to look Mongolian.

Later, we met western-looking people who identified as Russians, although Kazakhstan was a part of Russia until it gained sovereignty in 1991. The Russian-looking Kazakhstani people didn’t seem to mix with the Kazakhs, who looked Mongolian.

Whatever their look, it’s a huge chunk of land for a mere 20,000,000 population.

We love these warning signs. They are all over Kazakhstan.

Whilst having a small truck repair in Almaty, I asked our Russian mechanic if it got cold in Almaty. His reply, “Not really. It might get to Minus 20 degrees C, but in the north, it regularly gets to Minus 45 degrees C.

We started playing a game to see who could spot a new one first.

I am writing this as we wait for my Chinese visa, and we will be heading south soon, and the scenery will be a lot more dramatic.

That one is real

It’s been a long few months.

Till next time, and as always, thanks for reading this. I think the next one will be awash with colour and beautiful photographs.

This was sold on every road in Georgia. We have no idea what it is.

No problem, the cigarette ash adds flavour to your bread.

No matter what else, every shop has Vodka.

Some areas of Armenia had Storks nesting on the telegraph poles.

Hangovers from the days of Russia are plentiful

Sheep and Goat herders use Horses to herd their stock.

 Father and son about their business.