Have arrived in Tbilisi after a snowy journey through northern Turkey. Our highest point was a pass at 2300m, crossing the mountains on our way down to the black sea. We camped at 1500m and were snowed on throughout the night. Pictures to follow when I manage to sort out the associated technology (Georgia is not as advanced as Turkey in this respect!) We visited a hanging monastery in Sumela (Norhtern Turkey, just south of Trabzon). It was cut into a cliff 300m above the valley floor - quite impressive, with frescos to match. Again, piccies to follow. We then reach Trabzon on the Black Sea coast and I had a Turkish haircut - quite an experience (it involved flaming cotton wool). We then crossed the Georgian border at Sarpi. This took us 2.5 hours and was the first of our \\\"fun\\\" border crossings. The next will be in Baku, in Azerbaijan, when we try and board a ferry to Turkmenistan. We spent a night in Batumi, which is a bit of a dump, but it did have dolphins playing in the harbour which was a redeeming feature. We then moved on to Kutaisi, which is the old Georgian capital. It is the city that Jason reached on his journey to find the golden fleece (Georgia being the present day location of Colchis). Georgia is a dangerous country. Four of our number were kidnapped on our first evening in Kutaisi. Fortunately they turned up five hours later having escaped - it turns out that a local family had taken them in and had started toasting them (Georgian toasts take about fifteen minutes each and end with everyone downing their glass of wine - five hours translates into about 20 standard glasses of wine). Then of course there are drinking horns, which are larger and must not touch the table. They also have to be drunk in one go - it\\\'s a bit like drinking a yard of wine. We were in Kutaisi for two days and saw many monasteries. I am now suffering from the Georgian equivalent of \\\"mosque foot\\\". Yesterday were went to Gori - Stalin\\\'s birthplace and saw the cottage he was born in, the train carriage he used to travel in and the museum that was built to honour him. Gori also contains the last statue of Stalin left standing in the former Soviet Union. Just outside Gori there is a cave city (another country, another cave city) where we camped for the night. Much warmer than camping in Turkey! We now have two more days in Tbilisi before heading further east to Azerbaijan.