I took advantage of one of the long weekends recently to explore the country of George. While we only had four days / three nights, I think we got a fairly good impression of what is a beautiful country.

I’ll split the trip into three instalments: driving up north to Stepantsminda with the backdrop of gorgeous Mount Kazbek, the wine region of Khaketi and finally the capital city of Tbilisi.

We landed in Tbilisi early on a Thursday morning and were picked up by our driver for the next two days, Irakli. A friend had recommended him. He did not disappoint and neither did his car:

Irakli’s ride.

We immediately headed north and after some time stopped at a gas station for drinks. Yes, that’s a wide range of vodkas on offer.

Vodka selection in Georgia

We continued following the Georgian Military Road up north and stopped at Ananuri, a castle complex on the Aragvi River.

Ananuri

It was built in 1689.

Ananuri

Ananuri

We made good progress – there wasn’t much traffic and the roads are in good condition. After about an hour we reached the Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument.

Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

The views of the surrounding mountains are gorgeous:

View north from the Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

View north from the Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

Just a short drive up north we reached the Jvari Pass at 2,395 metres.

Jvari Pass

We had then almost reached Stepantsminda, at the bottom of the might Mount Kazbek. We had booked the Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, probably the poshest place in town. Apart from the large group of young Russians that were on a company retreat, we really liked the hotel and highly recommend it.

The lovely terrace the the Rooms Hotel Kazbegi.

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi

The next morning we chartered a 4×4 Lada to drive us up to the famous Gergeti Trinity Church. Situated at 2,170m, it was built in the 14th century (just imagine…) and one of the most famous landmarks of Georgia.

Mount Kazbek (5,047m)

Gergeti Trinity Church

Gergeti Trinity Church

Gergeti Trinity Church

Gergeti Trinity Church

Photography inside the church is forbidden.

After enjoying the views thoroughly we drove back and made it to the hotel in time for a sumptuous breakfast buffet. It would have been nice to stay a day longer and hike in the region but we continued our road trip through Georgia onwards towards the wine region of Khaketi…

Downtown Arslanbob

The village is predominantly of Uzbek ethnicity and probably the most conservative I have seen in the region.

About 16 years ago with the help of Helvetas, the organization Community Based Tourism (CBT) was set up in Kyrgyzstan with the aim of linking up tourists with locals. The office in Arslanbob is particularly active and has managed to go from 32 tourists a year to 3’000. Still low numbers but they are getting there. As of lately they have also been trying to develop rock climbing as well as winter sports.

Getting to Arslanbob was fairly straight forward. I took a bus from Osh to Kyrgyzstan’s third largest city, Jalal-Abad and from there another bus to nearby Bazaar-Korgon. From there another bus finally to Arslanbob. It was probably just pure luck but transfers lined up nicely and I didn’t have to wait for more than five minutes in either city.

Arriving in Arslanbob, I went to the CBT office to book accomodation. They have nearly 20 guest houses and a quick call later I was booked into “Guest House Nazira”. A short walk from town, I was welcomed by Nazira (a grandmother) and her daughters and granddaughters (no men around as around 30% of Arslanbob’s male population works in Russia… side note: the Russian Ruble has lost significant value to the Kyrgyzstani Som recently). It was a simple but charming guest house with two rooms. I met another traveler there and we went back to the CBT office to organize horseback riding for the following day.

Bazaar in Arslanbob

Bazaar in Arslanbob

I had read in the guide book that the CBT office tends to over-staff the trips slightly, so I wasn’t surprised to be greeted by a tour guide and two “fixers” taking care of the horses (we were a group of four tourists). Later we were joined by a lunch cooking team of four. But I’m not complaining as the tour was still very good value at KGS1’900 per person (SGD38).

Breakfast at Guest House Nazira

We rode around the region to a small waterfall, a panorama lookout point, the world’s largest walnut forest and the big waterfall.

Small waterfall

Horseback riding

Panorama point

View towards Arslanbob

Panorama point

Riding inside the world’s largest walnut forest

Walnuts – not quiet ready yet. The harvesting season is in late September/early October

Our group

My ride. It was a bit underpowered. I think it had less than 1HP.

Crossing a bridge on the way to the big waterfall

Crossing a bridge on the way to the big waterfall

Big waterfall (83m)

View down the valley from the big waterfall

Slightly overloaded truck on the way back to Arslanbob

We were back in town after nice trip at around 4pm. The first night dinner at Nazira’s was not that exciting so we wanted to grab so food in town the second night. Epic fail. Everything was closed. We ended up eating raw tomatoes and cucumbers in our guest house.

After two relaxing days in Arslanbob I made my way back to Osh for a last day before flying back.

The whole stretch is about 8km long and took us around two hours to walk at a casual pace including a lunch stop. Even though we walked in the midday sun, we enjoyed the  excursion and got to see a new part of the city. All along the track, the paths and surrounding nature is very well maintained!

Kallang Riverside Park to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park – near Kallang MRT

Kallang Riverside Park to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park – housing in Whampoa

Kallang Riverside Park to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park – near St. Andrews Junior School

Kallang Riverside Park to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park

Kallang Riverside Park to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park – near Toa Payoh

Quick break for chicken biryani

Entrance of the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park

The first park I’ve ever seen with a McDonald’s inside. Instead of heading home, we did a small detour to Lorong Buangkok, Singapore’s last Kampong style area (traditional village). Definitely a contrast to the rest of Singapore’s residential areas.

Surau (Islamic assembly building) at Kampong Lorong Buangkok

After an interesting (but also exhausting walk) we made our way back home – using UberPool (basically sharing an Uber with others) for the first time.

Accommodation standards in Flores (maybe apart from Labuan Bajo) are not very high yet and even if you wanted to splurge, you would have a hard time doing so. One place that caught our attention was the Manulalu Bed & Breakfast (misleading name as they serve meals all day long). Run by someone with experience from Bali, it is surprisingly quirky and we really enjoyed our three nights there for a reasonable 500’000 IDR per night. Every morning we enjoyed our breakfast with a magnificent view of the valley and Gunung Inerie.

The Manulalu Bed and Breakfast…

…and the fantastic view from the terrace of the valley…

… and Gunung Inerie.

Villagers on the 4pm “bus” back from work.

Somehow I had the urge to climb Gunung Inerie while I was there. A guide was arranged at short notice and we left the next morning at 5.30am. I hadn’t done a lot of tough hiking before but I must saw that was really exhausting. As you can tell from the shape of the mountain, we went uphill for two hours straight. Have a look at the GPS data below and you’ll see what I mean:

Climbing Gunung Inerie (runtastic.com)

Around 7am on the way up

About half an hour later, finally on top

Covered in sweat we reached the top, only to meet a group of half a dozen local boys that were chilling out at the top at 2200 m.a.s.l. While I was wearing proper hiking boots, some of the guys weren’t even wearing shoes.

The small gathering at the top

Going down was tricky as well and we ended almost sandsurfing part of the descent. We were back in the hotel shortly after 10am – apparently way earlier than we were expected.

Close-up view of the crater rim of Gunung Inerie

The following days we spent exploring the area and visited two traditional villages, Bena and Luba. These two well preserved Ngada villages, the local tribe. Luckily we were there off season and were almost the only tourists. I imagine it can feel quite awkward with many tourists around. In Bena you are asked for a donation when you enter.

View of Bena village from our hotel

View of Bena

Quiet Bena on Easter Sunday afternoon

Kids playing football at the neighboring Luba village

Next to Bena and Luba, a “regular” village is growing. The vast majority of villagers is catholic and what surprised us is that apparently it is normal to have large graves with your ancestors in your front-yard. We walked around town on a Sunday afternoon and saw many people sitting (and even dancing) on the graves. Well, I guess the deceased are visited more often than if buried in a cemetery.

Catholic grave in a front-yard

On the last day we visited the market in Bajawa. While nothing to write home about, it was interesting to see the abundance of fresh produce growing on the island. The avocados were superb (three giant pieces for less than $1). A pity that we can only buy the overpriced, tiny variety from the USA in Singapore.

Chilli at Bajawa market

Delicious avocados at Bajawa market

Bajawa market

I would definitely recommend spending two nights in Bajawa. The climate is beautiful with chilly mornings and evenings. The scenery is stunning and the Ngada villages along with Gunung Inerie make for some great day trips.

Location of Manulalu Bed & Breakfast:

Getting there is fairly straight forward. There are frequent busses going from downtown to the visitor’s center. However due to traffic jams it can take anywhere from one to two hours. There are also many tour operators around but from what we read beforehand was that usually you end up visiting a bunch of shops along the way. We ended up sharing a taxi between the three of us. The fare was 150 RMB (€22) to get there and 80 RMB (€11) to get back. Not quite sure what went wrong one the way there…

At the visitor’s centre you have to get your tickets (120 RMB). No private cars are allowed inside the park area, so you have to board one of the frequently running busses which will take you to the base station of the cable car. There you pay once again for the cable (another 40 RMB one-way). We were happy to see that the cable car was of Swiss origin and hence the ride was quick and smooth.

The busses that take you to the cable car station

Entry ticket

One of the many statues that we passed along the way

Just as we were about to break through the clouds

It was a very cloudy day but eventually we broke through the cloudes in the cable cars. While still not sunny, at least there was a slightly better view. We thought the cable car would take us to the top but boy were we wrong. What followed was a one hour or so hike up (hundreds of stairs). It was a joyful atmosphere with many families out. At the top we were rewarded with good views:

The views are getting better…

…and better

It was a beautiful setting with the clouds rolling over the mountains

and a camouflaged army building.

We almost missed it, it was so well hidden

At the top

After a one hour hike straight up the mountain

How artistic is this photo please? Hashtag nofilter

On the way back

Heading down was a lot quicker obviously and via cable car, bus and taxi we were back downtown just in time for dinner (and maybe another fresh beer).

On the way down

If you’ve got a spare day in Qingdao, I’d definitely recommend visiting Laoshan. If the weather is better, I am sure the views would also be a lot more spectacular. However you do need at least 3/4 of a day. While we did the most popular hike, there are countless other hikes within the park.