Gorgeous Georgia

We've just crossed into Azerbaijan on the night train after a couple of weeks in Georgia. Parts of it are dilapidated to a point somewhere beyond scenic but there is a nice laid-back atmosphere and the countryside is varied and beautiful. The struggling economy has forced many people to grow their own food, and there's fresh produce for sale everywhere, but the most remarkable thing is their amazing generosity. Lots of places claim to be hospitable but the Georgians take it to extremes. At times it felt impossible to go out for a meal without someone giving us alcohol (nice but a bit exhausting after a while).

On one particularly surreal day a group of teenagers adopted us on the bus to Mtskheta - the ancient capital - and escorted us around the various churches, devoutly kissing icons and lighting candles as they went. Afterwards they lit a fire and insisted we join them for a barbeque and several rounds of vodka.

We staggered back to Tbilisi and went for a quiet supper in a local cafe but found ourselves drinking home-made wine with the owner and an elderly actor from the theatre over the road. The latter made endless elaborate toasts to England, Georgia and Shakespeare and some poor guy from the next table was roped in to translate.

Another rather different trip out of Tbilisi left us snowed into the Caucasus mountains near the Russian border. Crossing the pass into the town where we were staying the bus (really just a Ford Transit minibus) started sliding backwards and we all had to get out and push. We spent half an hour trying to get past the sticky patch before the driver reluctantly pulled out a set of chains for one of the back wheels and another 15 minutes before he cracked and got out the second set.

The rest of the day's buses were cancelled and the next morning there was thick fog and 10cm of snow on the ground. It's frustrating to know there are huge mountains all around which you can't see but luckily our homestay was a good one with warm radiators and endless plates of hot food.

Anyway, got a bit carried away. We're now in Baku which is rather grander with oil-money paying for extensive renovation of the old town and huge SUVs everywhere (favourite so far is the gigantuan and appropriately named Nissan Armada). It's odd not having to look out for holes in the pavement and missing manhole covers the whole time but we're missing the strange squigely script and herds of battered Ladas.