AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: October 2024

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Georgia & Armenia 2024 Day 1: Welcome To Tbilisi

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Georgia-Armenia 2024 Day 1: Welcome to Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgia-Armenia 2024 Day 1: 17th September (Tuesday)

Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Georgia & Armenia:
Day 1 - Kuala Lumpur to Tbilisi:

Kuala Lumpur>Malaysian Airlines (coach share Qatar Airways)>Hamad International Airport (Doha)>Qatar Airways>Tbilisi International Airport (Georgia)>Tbilisi>Penthouse Hotel>walk>Old Tbilisi>Metekhi Church>Rike Park>Bridge of Peace>Erekle II Food St>>Metekhi Bridge>Penthouse Hotel.

This is page 1 of a 14-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

| Go to Other Days | D2: Yerevan 01 (Armenia) >

Route recommendations, here're some tips on travelling in and around Tbilisi (Georgia):

1. Traffic Directions!

Driving in Georgia is left-hand drive, with a speed limit of 60 km/h in cities and towns, and 80 km/h in other areas unless indicated otherwise. Armenia is also left-hand drive, so in both Georgia and Armenia drive/cycle on the right.

2. Immigration & Customs Requirements

For Georgia, citizens of Malaysia do not need a visa to enter for travel purposes and can stay in the country for 365 days without a visa. The travel passport must be valid throughout the whole period of stay in Georgia. A blank page is necessary for an entry stamp. Click here for a list of countries that need visa entry. Click here for the Georgia E-visa application portal and click here for guidelines on the E-visa application which costs USD20 (30 days validity).

3. Getting to and around Georgia & Armenia.

Major airlines serve both Georgia & Armenia. We flew from KLIA Terminal 1 into and out of Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport via Qatar Airways, with transit at Doha. It would have been time-saving into Armenia via Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport; but we naively erred on the side of caution. Our airfares were bought during the MATA Travel Fair via promotions by the RHB Debit Card, the return fare cost us between MYR 2,800 to 3,200.
We got around both countries by using a local long-chassis Mercedes Sprinter Van with an extended rear luggage section for the 16 of us, and a Mercedes V-Class 7-seater van for another four of us who enlisted later. The rides were generally comfortable as most were on tarred roads with some stretches of gravel roads.
For harsher rides we used smaller local vans with drivers familiar to the rougher, steeper roads - this was to the Gergeti Trinity Church, Ushguli Village, Koruldi Lakes and Chalaadi Glacier.

There were a couple of free days to explore Tbilisi by ourselves, but it is possible to use the Uber Georgia app to get further around. Other ride-hailing alternatives are Bolt, Yandex and Taxi Maxim.

4. Places & Things of Interest

Enroute were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):
a. Doha Hamad International Airport (مطار الدوحه الدولي) (GPS:25.2672, 51.55832).
b. Tbilisi Airport Railway Station (აეროპორტი II) (GPS:41.67129, 44.96457) with it's golden dome archtitecure.
c. Old Tbilisi (ძველი თბილისი) (GPS:41.69545, 44.79628).
d. Metekhi Church (მეტეხის ღვთისმშობლის შობის ტაძარი) (GPS:41.6902, 44.81116) (click here for Interactive Google Street panoramic view of the city from the church).
e. King Vakhtang Gorgasali Statue (ვახტანგ გორგასლის ძეგლი) (GPS:41.69033, 44.81063).
f. Rike Park (რიყის პარკი) (GPS:41.69300, 44.81012).
g. Tree of Life (GPS:41.69168, 44.81121).
h. Air Balloon Tbilisi (საჰაერო ბურთი თბილისი) (GPS:41.69221, 44.81038).
i. Rhike Park Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall (GPS:41.69348, 44.80964).
j. Bridge of Peace (მშვიდობის ხიდი) (GPS:41.69300, 44.80833) (click here for Interactive Google Street View of the BoP) over the Kura River.
k. Erekle II Food Street (GPS:41.69299, 44.80678).
l. Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral (თბილისის სიონი) (GPS:41.69133, 44.80753).

m. Metekhi Bridge (მეტეხის ხიდი) (GPS:41.69031, 44.80994) over the Kura River (click here for Interactive Google Street View of this bridge).

n. Tbilisi Cable Car (რიყე-ნარიყალას საბაგირო) (GPS:41.68808, 44.80718).
o. Mother of Georgia Statue (Kartlis Deda) (ქართვლის დედა) (GPS:41.68815, 44.80452).

5. Food

a. Supper (on 16/09):

Western/Malaysian Fare (Curry Noodles is not to be missed) at Premier Lounge KLIA (GPS: 2.75376, 101.7046). As it was near the Malaysian Independence Day, this time round they had muffins will the Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian flag) This lounge is open to credit card-holders of participating banks. There is an inner private lounge for OUB credit card holders.

b. Breakfast:
Meals-on-board Qatar Airways Flight QR4992 from Kuala Lumpur to Doha: Chicken Sausage with Egg & Japanese-style Omelet.

c. Lunch:
Meals-on-board Qatar Airways Flight QR255 from Doha to Tbilisi: Chicken with Omelet, and Spanish Chicken Sausage with Omelet.

d. Dinner:
Georgian Food at Restaurant Bamba (GPS:41.69140, 44.80686) along the Erekle II Food Street (GPS:41.69299, 44.80678):
1. Gobi (Georgian Pkhali - chopped & minced vegetables), 2. BBQ Pork Ribs, 3. Chikhirtma Soup, 4. Apkhazura Spicy Meatballs, 5. Adjaruli Khachapuri (Georgian Khachapuri bread with cheese & egg), 6. Pelamushi Dessert, & 7. Natakhtari Beer.

6. Accommodations

At Tbilisi, we stayed one night at the Penthouse Hotel. (GPS: 41.69053, 44.81351). The cost was included in the overall ground arrangements.

7. Tour Costs & Arrangements

Return air tickets bought during the MATA Travel Fair/RHB Debit Card promotions were between MYR 2,800 to 3,200.

The ground arrangements tour package included a 10-passenger van to take us around, starting from & returning to Tbilisi. It also included 3-star hotels/homestays. The charge per pax for this ground arrangement was at MYR7,400. This excluded meals (other than hotel breakfasts & 3 dinners at Mestia), airport transfers, most entry tickets and tips. This allows for individuals to have meals according to their own liking & budget. Allow per meal should be adequate.

On average, the overall tour cost worked out to be around RM950 to RM1,000 per day. For those interested in this tour, contact Eddie at +6012-6122600 for more details and updated costs.

For out-of-pocket spending, we exchange some Georgian Lari (GEL) and Armenian Dram (AMD) in the respective countries. Some brought along their Wise debit cards to use; one can pre-load the card with the local currency. Or let it auto-deduct the currencies existing in the card. We found that it deducted other currencies first before deducting Malaysian Ringgit.

8. Communicating with Each Other

When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest. Georgia pre-paid sim cards are easily available and cost 5 GEL to 20 GEL, depending on the provider and the included benefits. While Armenian pre-paid SIM cards range from AMD 1000 to AMD 3000. Those in our tour group pre-ordered their SIM cards through our Georgian guide.

Those who use Maxis as their telco, can purchase the Maxis Roaming Pass. The RM89 15-day Multi-country Roaming Pass covers many countries including Georgia, Armenia and Qatar.
The Pass can be bought before the trip with a designated starting time/date, BUT DO TURN OFF your data roaming just before the Roaming Pass expires OTHERWISE any subsequent usage will automatically trigger off the 1-Day Roaming Pass costing between RM29 to RM38 per day!

9. Communicating with Locals

At favourite tourist destinations, locals may speak fairly good English. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, and our local guide was most helpful in translating for us.

10. Weather

Day temperatures in the lowlands for both countries in September is around the mid-20s while evening temperatures are around the mid-10s. Up in the highlands (like Stepantsminda & Mestia) day temperatures are in the mid-10s and can close to zero at night. We were fortunate that there was a warm front, and temperatures were warmer than expected.

Useful weather forecast sites for Georgia & Armenia is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.

11. Navigation

I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.

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PRELUDE

We got to know Eddie during a 9-day 2023 Indonesian recce tour of North Bali and Sumba Island. It was an interesting tour that showed us the quieter side of Bali, and also eye-opening to Sumba with its diverse sceneries: of beautiful beaches, pristine waterfalls, green layered hills and even savanna land!

We later joined him on a 12-day tour of Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, organised by him. Most would have thought that Chiang Mai was just a short tour destination, but doing the North Thailand loop of the Lanna region centred around this city, with its cool weather, showed us that there was more to see (including the most romantic spot in the country)!

This time around he has invited us to join him on a 14-day guided tour of Georgia & Armenia, countries which most of us have vaguely heard of. But his itinerary showed interesting and beautiful places to visit.
So what does the tour hold for us? Will it live up to our expectations? Will we get to know the culture of the two countries better?

Read on to find out!

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DAY 1: KUALA LUMPUR-TBILISI

Guided Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Georgia & Armenia:

Day 1- Kuala Lumpur to Tbilisi:

(Click here for the Georgia-Armenia Day 1: Kuala Lumpur to Tbilisi Route Map)

What's this? Starting off a travel blog with a bowl of Curry Noodles?
These days after checking in at KLIA Airport early for our 2:55am flight, it has become a habit of ours to to head for the KLIA Premier Lounge. This lounge is open without charge to credit card-holders of participating banks. They serve very good food and this delicious Curry Noodles are not to be missed!

The lounge is located after entering the secured Departure area and just before Immigration.

Other good food are the Satay and cookies. And they do serve beer too.

There is a separate inner lounge for OUB credit card holders.

7:30am Malaysian Time: Meals-on-Board Qatar Airways Flight QR4992 from Kuala Lumpur to Doha. What! Eat again? Yup, this Ah Pek is a big growing boy. Pretty good Chicken Sausage with Egg, and a very nice Japanese-style Omelet for the two of us.

But this Ah Pek, being an elderly Chinese is lactose intolerant. Taking fresh milk will have me running the loo pretty often within half an hour. But I love my White Coffee, and get over this by bringing along sachets of Coffee-Mate.
Other than coffee, I love tomato juice too!

4:53am local time (9:53 Malaysian time) Landing approach to Hamad International Airport, Doha, Qatar. The sun rises early here, and the pinkish-orange sky peeped through the clouds as we descended. Upon landing, we noticed that this airport is a major one with several terminals and multiple jet bridges for each of the terminals.

Other than our backpacks, usually on our outward journey we also carry a trolley cabin bag to keep a set of spare clothes in case our check-in luggage gets lost in transit. The trouble is that it's a "third bag" and tends to be forgotten. And we DID forget about it when we disembarked at Doha! Fortunately, we had a 3-hour transit time, adequate to trace it through Airport Services and get it back. The clothes were not that critical, we HAD also kept our daily medication there! Eddie was most helpful in sorting this out for us.
Just for note on the protocol: the aircrew will leave any such left luggage with Airport Services. Affected passengers report to the nearest Information Counter for them to trace and retrieve their "left" bag. Passengers will then have to re-enter the secured Customs area to collect the luggage to clear it through Customs. Well, it's a lesson learnt.

Luggage found and hearts at ease, we were able to explore the airport a bit. Saw some interesting things: a giant 10m stall wooden statue titled "Small Lies" by KAWS - it's one from his Companion Series. Also on display were a luxury car (prize from the Million Dollar Qatar Duty-Free Car Raffle), and strings of giant golden pearls hanging from the ceiling!

10:45am (Qatar Time) - Meals on Board Qatar Airways Flight QR255 Doha-Tblisi: Chicken Omelet, & Spanish Sausage Omelet. It's a good thing that we are well-fed, as we will be walking around pretty soon after we land and will need the energy.

Aerial View of the land below on Qatar Airways Flight QR255 Doha to Tbilisi. Don't think we are over Georgia yet; from the looks of the interesting but barren hills with just some green patches nearby, I think we are over northwest Iran. Silly me didn't turn on the TV monitor to flight route mode.

1:00pm (Georgia Time)- Welcome To Georgia!
We landed at Tbilisi International Airport, and whisked through Immigration & Customs.

"Welcome to Tbilisi" posters at the arrival corridors with the tourism tagline "Emotions are Georgia". To go to the Georgia Travel website, Click Here.

Greetings from Georgian Guide Vashya at Tbilisi Airport, he's a very knowledgeable guide and will be with us throughout our tour. There were twenty of us, and soon sixteen of us packed into a Mercedes Sprinter Van, and the other four into a Mercedes V-Class 7-seater van

Opposite was the Tbilisi Airport Railway Station, with its golden that looks like the "Family of Mechanical Snails" sculpture which we will see later days at Telavi.

Checked into Penthouse Hotel, our stay in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The reception is simple, the rooms are cosy and they have a beautiful indoor garden.

After a quick freshening up, Vashya took us on a walk to explore Old Tbilisi - not the part indicated on Google Maps, but the part near our hotel. Heading downhill along Metekhi Street, passing by several souvenir shops. The houses here were simple yet quaint, and some with nice doorways.

At King David Church, we turned right onto Metekhi Rise, a steeper cobble-stone street. It was an easy walk downhill; but then a occurred to me -"What goes down must come up!" No worries, we will handle them later.... after dinner we should have the oomph!

Ahead we could see the steeple of the Metekhi Church.

At the first corner, we climb up some stairs and Viola!. It's the back entrance of the Metekhi Virgin Mary Assumption Church.

Sitting suitably high up, from its front compound was a panoramic view of Old Tbilisi, with the Kura River running along it's length.

Also at the compound is a statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, who ruled between the late 5th and early 6th Century. He was also the founder Tbilisi and reorganised the Georgian Orthodox Church.
In many parts of the world, an urban legend has Hoof-position symbolising that if the horse is rearing (both front legs in the air), the rider died in battle; one front leg up means the rider was wounded in battle; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died outside battle. A rider depicted as dismounted and standing next to their horse often indicates that both were killed during the battle. But its just an urban legend, so not sure how reliable it is.

From the church we crossed over to Rike Park; at the entrance is the Tree of Life: it's a Special Illustration Sculpture by Georgian artist David Monavardisashvili (დავით მონავარდისაშვილი). "The tree is richly decorated with fairy tale houses, birds, insects, leaves and acorns".

Further inwards is the Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall with its unique metal lattice entrance leading to a funnel-shaped hall - an interesting design by architects Studio Fuksas.

A gentle, long ramp led up to the Bridge of Peace,

It's a pedestrian bridge with a metal lattice structure and spans over both a highway and the Kura River.

A short walk from the bridge and we are onto Erekle II Food Street. It's a short pedestrian street lined with many restaurants and bars, many with el-fresco dining.

We settled into one of the restaurants, and while waiting for the food to come popped over to have a quick view of the Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral.

Following a medieval Georgian tradition of naming churches after specific places in the Holy Land, the Sioni Cathedral bears the name of Mount Zion at Jerusalem. It is commonly referred to as the "Tbilisi Sioni" to distinguish it from other churches in Georgia with the same name.
Strangely, we saw a saffron-robed Chinese monk walking out of the church. He just gave us a curious smile and walked off. He also reminded me of Jebu, the ninja-monk from the book Shike.

Meanwhile, at Restaurant Bamba, our first Georgian meal was served; on our table were:

1. Gobi (Georgian Pkhali - chopped & minced vegetables), 2. BBQ Pork Ribs, 3. Chikhirtma Soup, 4. Apkhazura Spicy Meatballs, 5. Adjaruli Khachapuri (Georgian Khachapuri bread with cheese & egg), 6. Pelamushi Dessert, & 7. Natakhtari Beer.
The boat-shaped Adjaruli Khachapuri was our first taste of Georgian breads, the raw egg staring out from the centre was tempting us to try it! But I liked the Apkhazura Meatballs better and the Pelamushi Dessert with its sweet springiness ended the meal well.

Dinner over we walked back to the hotel, crossing the Kura via the Metekhi Bridge; it's a vehicular bridge but with wide pavements to walk on.

"გემრიელი!"

(That's "Delcious!" in Georgian)

(For more photos of Day 1, Click Here)

This is page 1 of a 14-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

| Go to Other Days | D2: Yerevan 01 (Armenia) >

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