2025年9月22日 觀人觀己

和初相識的人見面吃頓飯，不難；出門同住同遊，一直只是家人和相熟朋友的玩意，極愉快；和十位三唔識七的人遊格魯吉亞共同生活八天，是人生首次經驗。

這團共有十二位人客，當中只有三對男女，唯有我倆是夫妻，一對是忘年交，另一對是好好朋友。其餘六位，包括祖母孫女，和四位獨自出門的女士。常跟團的朋友說，女多男少是慣常情況，女性較為包容又好出門，男士似乎較多要求，不喜跟團。

那對祖母和孫女，好生可愛，時常擁抱，如風大祖母覺得冷，那約十八歲gap year 休學一年的女孩，會攬著祖母為她擋風；那次行山上教堂，祖母乘車上山，臨行前大力擁抱孫女，團友說她會回來的，祖母笑說這是個會take risk 的人，得提她千萬小心。

祖母是俄羅斯人，工程師出身，慘笑說蘇聯解體後工程師太多，失業，要改行教英文維生。兒子到英國工作結婚留下，她在58歲時移居倫敦，是個有學識有經歷的人。參觀史太林博物館後，好奇問她對這個人感覺如何，她微笑然後轉臉向地下恨恨吐一大啖口水，作回應。

那女孩長髮五官甜美身段修長，天天都是普通T恤粗布褲，完全沒有打扮，異常樸素，似是在渾沌少年階段，口齒伶俐，用心聽常發問，容易交談，遇到這等有教養的年輕人，即時覺得世界有希望。

欣賞的亦有歷史知識廣博的團友，是個業餘研究歷史的人，問關於歷史的大都可以即時有文有理地回應，包括年份名字，好生欣賞那求知態度，和最令我羨慕的記憶能力。

英國公司辦的旅遊團，人客以英國人為主，在那國度長大的人，都很有small talk 的能力，一坐下就能打開話匣子，亦可以自己嘰哩瓜啦地說大堆事情。

幾天後才醒悟，不是要別人提問，才可以講自己常做的事情，可以早早主動放開懷抱吐露風聲，令人容易明白眼前人，找話題也輕鬆好多。

另外，向導遊的提問，一個在傳統觀念下長大的年輕男士，尤其關乎行程安排，或對他的講解有不同意見，有的人表達得婉轉溫文，有的心直口快，見到導遊的反應，就知道要努力壓下心急的個性。

日日同枱吃飯乘車，好多交流機會，見到不同的處事方法，談吐見識，這種種與人相處的機緣，走出 comfort zone，是旅遊增廣見聞這大前提的附加得益，小組團將會是將來去山旮旯地方的選擇。

Georgia tour - eating 7/7

One of the enjoyable part of this tour is to appreciate delicious Georgian cuisine, still undiscovered in the world market.

Outside Tbilisi all lunches were served in family homes in the village. Huge spread of various seasonal vegetables, fresh herbs and all seasoned differently and tasty.

It is the only place outside Asia, that I have eaten, everyday, every meal, so many beautifully presented and flavourful vegetables dishes.

 

There are many different styles of freshly baked flat bread with different fillings, my favourites are the beef and spinach with cheese. Giant boiled dumplings with meat, mushrooms or cheese filling are delicious too, just need to ‘waste’ the top half of the dough as they are always too thick to worth filling the stomach.

 

 

Various meat dishes are nice too but less outstanding than veg and carbohydrates dishes.

Went to see Dezerter market 2km from Tbilisi . It is an upstair wholesale market of fruit and veg, with small stores outside and around.

Impressive range of dried fruits, red berries and plums; huge bunches of various herbs; pickled veg including whole head of garlic and whole eggplant, plus other regular vegetables.

The best restaurants we have tried in Tbilisi are Salobie Bia, Modani Gastro Station and პროლოგი • 1709

Georgia tour - Gori, citadel of Rabat 6/7

A quick tour through museum of Stalin, once the glory of this town as he was born here, even the little cottage where he was born is preserved for viewing. The museum tour guide gave an unemotional account of his life, without any mention of the two millions death he had caused.

Next visit is citadel of Rabat, a fortress built as border control against Turkey. As it is in the western corner with a mix of cultures, muslim, orthodox Christian and catholic throughout the last few hundred years, many style of buildings was erected.

The pity is that most were destroyed during wars and earthquakes, the reconstruction was too over the top that they lost UNESCO status. The effect of this over zealous rebuilding makes the whole place looks like a theme park.

Last visit of the tour is the most famous Vardzia Cave town, in the south west corner next to the border of Turkey. The view from the opposite side is a hill side with many square holes, it is a good walk to get up to that level to appreciate the extent of the Cave town. Developed since 12 century by monks, then used as military garrison and hideout from attacks. 

The structure has many rooms inside room, a small church and tunnels leading to different parts of the complex and on to the river. Bread baking, wine making and water storage structures can be seen around. It is estimated there were 3000 people staying there at the peak period. 

格魯吉亞七之 避世地方

真是個觀山的國家，遊歷了東南西北的主要景點，每天在車上呆坐三至四小時，是辛苦，幸好風光一直悅目，山嶺河谷高矮闊窄變化萬千，以原始荒蕪無人煙的為多，耕種畜牧的較少，全都有可觀處。

全國有三個大規模的洞穴居住山區，在南部接近Azerbaijan 、中部和西部土耳其邊境，起初都是由僧侶找偏遠靈修的地方，而發現這些沙土岩山，容易掘窿居住，隨著歲月擴展，加入其他生存需要如煮食、儲水、釀酒等各種大小地洞。

加上接近兩大國邊境，亦成為駐守防衞地方，估計全盛時期可以住上三千多人。

這個小國，人口只有三百多萬，但無論大小城鎮、各處山頭，教堂和種種僧侶靈修的地方，比例上似異常的多！人民需要這樣多的心靈寄托或避難地方，應該和與多國接壤、不同種族多、歷來被佔領，長期在頑抗中很有關係吧。