The highway across the country is pretty much just a 2 lane country road, through lush, green landscapes. There are occasional groups of houses along the road, but Georgia doesn't seem to have many towns. For such a lush, green landscape this country definitely feels underpopulated. What happened? why hasn't this country grown more? Poor management? emigration?

The Traveler reaches a crowded, scruffy van station/market area . Definitely has a third world vibe to it There's a woman with a little army of children beggars that scurry about asking money from every one... there's a dingy little eatery where I get some breakfast... not a lot of eating options here, compared to, say, neighboring Turkey. There a vendors selling this and that. But I notice that each of them has a little printer to print out receipts--I guess it's one of Georgia's steps to Westernization: receipts for everything! Want a stick of gum? you get receipt? a 10 cent biscuit from an old lady with a basket in front of her? She'll print you a a receipt!

And next to the sprawling traditional market... a McDonald?! Got to check it out. Going inside feels like a portal into another world, with folks in business attire, oblivious to the world outside its doors.

The Traveler continues on down the road, where he pulls out his guitar in a large, left over Soviet Era park, complete with a sad looking mini-train ride with an attendant but no riders . No attentive audience this time.

Kutaisi is starting to fade away, and he still hasn't found what feels like the "city center". He heads north down a side street, where it feels like he's walking through an endless rural village with single, fenced in houses surrounded by yards/gardens.

It seems that Kutaisi was spared when the Soviet Union decided to convert its old fashioned towns and villages into cold, austere apartment blocks.

Finally, as the Traveler is ready to give up on ever finding a "city center", there it is. Across the river, is a cozy little urban core, just a couple blocks square--and like other towns, it seems like all the investment money has been poured right in here, leaving the rest of the city "as is".

There's a cozy little park with unique sculptures along the river... some elegant neo classical architecture. .. elegant cobblestone streets... and shady park and a traffic circle with one of the grandest, multi-tiered fountains I've seen in a while with sculptures of various animals all around.

There's a beautiful cathedral up the steeps slopes on the other side of the river, that he decides to check out. He's glad he does. This, it turns out is a UNESCO site, a thousand year old cathedral that is now being restored. Unfortunately can't go inside it right now. On the other side is an area of ruins overlooking the city, including the ruins of a roof-less chapel, which now it seems is a sort of pilgrimage site.

There seems to be an unusually high level of religious devotion here, visible at this shrine and throughout the country. He's noticed as he travels there are people who cross themselves at every time we pass a church or chapel--even if it be on a hillside miles and miles away! For many in Georgia practicing their faith is something they carry out all throughout the day, not just once a week at mass .

He wonders if this is more than about faith... could this also be about cultural and ethnic identity? As Georgians are seeking to reaffirm their distinct identity through their own alphabet etc, perhaps going back to their Georgian Orthodox faith could be part of that?

He ponders on this as he gazes out across the city.

He heads back to town, where he wanders around the "endless rural village" looking for a place to stay. Finally he ducks into a dingy cybercafe where everything is in Russian and the antique computers are torturously slow. Even in a cybercafe, you feel quite disconnected from the rest of the world here.

Finally he finds directions to an unmarked house that the owner has opened up as a hostel, and can finally relax.

He heads out to find some supper and play some more music. A man and his wife, invites him over to share a big bottle of beer with him. When he tells them he doesn't drink, they look at him as if he were an alien.

Nobody says "I don't drink" here in Georgia!