{"@context":{"rdf":"http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#","rdfs":"http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#","owl":"http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#","foaf":"http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/","dc":"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/","dct":"http://purl.org/dc/terms/","sioc":"http://rdfs.org/sioc/types#","blog":"http://vocab.amy.so/blog#","as":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#","mf2":"http://microformats.org/profile/","ldp":"http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#","solid":"http://www.w3.org/ns/solid#","view":"https://terms.rhiaro.co.uk/view#","asext":"https://terms.rhiaro.co.uk/as#","dbp":"http://dbpedia.org/property/","geo":"http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#","doap":"http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#","time":"http://www.w3.org/2006/time#"},"@graph":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/5b4b76298d4b3","@type":["as:Activity","asext:Acquire"],"asext:amountEur":"0.18","asext:amountGbp":"","asext:amountUsd":"","asext:cost":"0.50gel","as:content":"Toilet use at bus stop in Georgia","as:image":{"@id":"https://i.amy.gy/obtainium/IMG_20180715_151250.jpg"},"as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-15T15:15:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/household"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/toilet"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/batumi","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"
I made it to Batumi. Which, as promised, is a super weird place. In a good way.
\r\nBut not before the bus company copped out at the border (Sarp) and said I was on my own. The border crossing itself was insane, super hot, crowded, people dragging carpets around, and even a small fight broke out. The Georgian side was more civilised, and after passport control is a helpful tourist information place, a toilet, and air conditioning. Outside the doors (you can't get back in again) is the beginning of the border town Sarpi, with an array of definitely poor-value money changers, and a chaos of busses.
\r\nI hopped in a marshrutka which set off for Batumi when it was full (entirely of locals as far as I could tell). You pay the driver on the way out, and it was 1GEL, about 20 minutes.
\r\nAfter checking into my hostel, I wandered around, tried to pick up a ferry ticket for in a couple of weeks (they told me to buy it online), picked up a SIM card, drank coffee, and went on a walking tour. And up the Alphabetic Tower, and ate lobiani in a small cafe.
\r\nDiscovered Sunday trains are sold out, and booked a bus to get to Tbilisi instead. Sooo close to getting a train, but alas. My fate is bus.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-14T01:04:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/georgia"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/tourism"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/georgian-dish","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"There's this Georgian dish - ojakhuri, \"family meal\" - of potatoes slow cooked with mushrooms, and sometimes tomatoes, onions and slightly hot green peppers. I mean. They know what I like.
(The mushroom version is the weirdo alternative to pork, obviously, but common everywhere.)
\r\nOn a related note I have extreme potato bloat right now.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-14T16:15:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/georgia"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/food"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/hostels","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"The thing I like about hostels is that it's equally socially acceptable to talk to any person about anything as it is to completely ignore everyone who crosses your path.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-14T17:43:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/life"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/hostels-2","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"The thing I don't like about hostels is, somebody else's alarm just went off for a full ten minutes and it was like an industrial siren sound. GOOD MORNING.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-15T08:44:00+04:00"},"as:tag":{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/khinkali","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"I ate ten khinkali.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-20T23:19:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/food"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/lobiani","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"I discover a new kind of lobiani every day.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-26T09:35:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/food"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/georgia"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/lolferry","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"Lol my ferry from Georgia to Ukraine just got pushed back a day and redirected to Turkey. Eh, same same. I go where the sea sends me.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-25T11:06:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/ferry"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/nomadlife","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"Nomad life is deciding what I'm going to wear this morning based on the fact I'm going to be wearing it for the next 2+ days, through 3 countries with different climates and cultures.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-11T11:28:00+03:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/life"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/ogpsummit","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"This week I'm in Tbilisi for the #OGPSummit.
\r\nI work for Open Data Services, and if you're so inclined, you can talk to me about open data for anti-corruption, beneficial ownership and open contracting, from the data standards and tools perspective.
","as:published":"2018-07-16T09:35:00+04:00","as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/ogpsummit"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/ods"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/open+data"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/sofia-update","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"Sofia update: I love it.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-11T12:49:00+03:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/sofia"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/tbilisi","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"I made it to Tbilisi a little late (it should be a 6.5 hour bus from Batumi), because the bus stopped for a few silly reasons.
Little things like cows in the road.. roof is leaking rain.. side of the bus opened and suitcases flew out and had to be rescued from mountainside..
\r\nThen I accidentally didn't get out in the city center - because I didn't think the bus was stopping in the city center. And ended up at a bus station in the south I was entirely unprepared for. I found myself surrounded by taxi drivers, one of whom told me there is no metro connection here. He may have been biased, but it sure looked like a wasteland. My general desire not to get into a taxi had the effect of reducing taxi prices by 5 GEL every minute until I gave in and took a taxi to the old town. This was still not the right place, and I walked through the rain to the vegan cafe, to plan the rest of my night.
\r\n(Current status: pizza coma.)
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-15T20:58:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/georgia"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/bus"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/time","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"oookay, time to attempt to make it the entire width of a quite wide country without buying any tickets in advance and having only a haphazard knowledge of schedules and probably no wifi. It'll be fine. See you on the other side*.
\r\n* The other side is Georgia. I'm going through Turkey.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-11T19:00:00+03:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/transit"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/tomatoes","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"Georgia's fresh tomato game is very strong, but pickling them whole is next level.
(And they make a great midnight snack.)
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2018-07-26T00:08:00+04:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/food"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/georgia"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/07/week-in-review-3","@type":"as:Article","as:content":"