Day C4: Noosh Guesthouse to Gyumri Lake

July 29, 2024

The two ladies outdid themselves with their hospitality again. It was a most wonderful night sleep in the peaceful contryside. At a nice late hour after sleeing a ton to recover from all the stress, I woke up and was treated to this breakfast feast below. The language barrier was tough but now have a vocabulary of three words. Better than nothing I suppose.

Hello - parov zeis

Thank you - merci

Wait a moment - spasta

I later offered the two large bottles of gin and rum that were carried all the way over from Dubai airport and hadn't been touched. Why I was even carrying them all this way, who knows. They received my gifts with pleasure and in turn offered a jar of apricot jam. This was a really nice touch. Then they put together a massive bag of fruit and biscuits and all sorts of stuff for the road that I could eat on the bike.

They asked for money afterwards and I paid, basically for the room and the food. Unfortunately Airbnb had already charged me in advance. While not wanting to argue with the ladies, I took it up with Airbnb later on the road. I tried to explain the situation, knowing full well a refund wasn't coming. Well, I was beginning to figure something out: using the booking apps that charge upfront in this country doesn't work. It is far better to just show up and pay cash after.

So yeah the hosts probably walked off with double cash and free gifts of alcohol, but let's be fair they earned it.

Setting off. For some reason this looks really similar to Turkey.

What do we have here? It looked to be a winery but nobody was home

I then realized an idea: I could reroute to another winery. A course was plotted and then a nearby guesthouse was found online but I obviously didn't book. I just called the number and they actually spoke English. I told them, "Guess what I'm on a bicycle and would like to stay for a night, are there rooms?" She said yes certainly, and it was quite tricky to find the property but once there it was sublime

Getting very close now, straight ahead is the Turkish border.

For obvious reasons the border is closed. If it was open this would save a ton of time and hill climbing on my route to Batumi which was already proving to be a massive killer. But there was no choice, I would have to route through Georgia itself.

So pulling up to the guesthouse, the hosts were a young couple. Anna was local, her husband Peter was from the Czech Republic. They offered coffee and we had a really nice chat. This was another rare English conversation and as you do with strangers, you go back and forth with your life stories in dribs and drabs. I told them, "Well you wouldn't believe this but I got two job offers on the road. One from Dubai, one from Kuwait, but I like the Kuwait one better."

The husband said, "Wow, maybe I should do a bike tour if this is what happens. So which job are you going to take?" I said, "Not sure, but I think it would better to call my wife about it first" They all laughed at that one.

At that point Anna started to explain more about the political and economic situation in this country. Some of what she said was, "When you hire workers, never pay them upfront. We live here most of the year and there are lots of repairs needed, but they are lazy and slow to do them. If they get money first, they spend it."

I said, "Wow that sounds an awful lot like Thailand" then went more into my condo misadventures.

She then said, "Yes, they will cheat people at the airport. It happens all the time. Listen, this is what you do next time: you run from that airport as fast as possible and then you figure out what you're supposed to do. If you stay at the airport for any reason at all, you will get cheated. Guaranteed."

It all made perfect sense. Why didn't I just unfold the bicycle and ride off into the night in some strange new country? It would have been scary as fuck but it would have been the better course of action hands down.

I then told her about the situation with booking apps and locals double dipping on the cash. She totally understood and said, "You're right, but try to understand. The reason why all this sucks is that people around here are desperate. They only live for today and nothing else. They care about whatever money they can make in the moment. Nobody wants to invest here either, locals or foreigners. Foreign investment is fleeing and tourism comes and goes, but is at a low now."

I asked her, "Why is this?"

She said, "It's because we never know if there will be another war or when it might happen. The new policies with Pashinyan are not helping either and he can't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. I mean even a simple thing like you trying to find stuff on Google maps, the businesses are closed and they don't update, this guy has no idea what he's doing"

We kept on talking and much to my surprise, she said she lived in Zhuhai for a year. Who would have thought?

Then she said, "There is a mineral pool nearby where you can chill out and soak in it. It's a cold spring. It will wash away all your pain."

I thought that would be a remarkably good idea but I was already freezing cold and shivering from the exhaustion. Little did I know then that I had caught covid on the Dubai party yacht. Add to this, the temperatures were plunging already. Apparently it gets -15 in the winter. They live here year round in this peaceful paradise of beauty. Despite all the challenges, they love it. The whole family is here too. In-laws and everything.

As if on cue they invited me to dinner with the whole family, after I settled in the room and put my stuff away etc... I totally would have loved to do that but a more pressing priority was to give my wife a video call and try to explain to her what was happening.

It was a difficult conversation. She had very legitimate concerns and I didn't have the heart to take a job offer in the Middle East and leave her behind. We tried to work it out as best as we could. It was a start. On the other hand, we both realized we are totally on board with the Thailand retirement plan. It's just the question of how to get from here to there, i.e. the pre-retirement phase. There are multiple routes possible. But it was becoming very clear to both of us that the time was ticking in China and we we had to make a move.

The words of that homeless woman in San Jose began to haunt me. "Do the right thing."

At that point I realized what my life coach had said when she quoted Einstein. "You can't solve a problem on the same level of consciousness that created it." This registered to me while observing all this amazing beauty on the Turkey/Aremnia border at this guesthouse and not just taking it in as it is, but my mind was preoccupied with all this endless midlife crisis shit.

So maybe the way forward would be, at least temporarily, not to think about this problem at all.

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 554 km (344 miles)

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