NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE 2: trapped in the Caucasus
Hi! You liked my last "NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE" so much that I decided to tell you more about my most extreme situations I've been in. You can read the first part from here.
As the headline tells you - I was trapped in Caucasus. We had just landed in Tbilisi and we had reserved a minibus for our group (my family+another family). The drivers were Georgian and they didn't speak English, so it was really hard to communicate with them.
We had traveled all day and it was about 11 o'clock in the night so we were really tired. I was the only one awake while the bus climbed up the mountains. It was raining and it seemed very dark outside. The driver spoke in Georgian to somebody. The rain started to change into snow. Suddenly I saw a huge line of trucks. For about two kilometers, the side of the road was full of trucks. It was very weird and I couldn't understand why all of them had parked there.
The road changed into a smaller road and the snowing became heavier. We passed some cars that were stuck in the snow. It was really quiet, my family was sleeping and I could only hear the snow flakes splashing into the windows. The sun had set many hours ago, so it was really dark.
Suddenly I saw a car in front of our bus. It was stuck in the middle of a steep hill. Our driver cursed and stopped the bus. He opened the window and yelled at the people in the car. Apparently they couldn't get their car up the hill. Everybody was awake now. I was afraid since all I could see in the right side of the bus was a deep gorge. And slowly, our bus started to slide towards the gorge. We slid faster and the driver started to panic. The kids from the other family screamed. Our driver was spinning the steering wheel around, trying to keep us on the road. It was certain that if the bus would slide down to the gorge, we all would die. My heart was racing faster than ever. I pressed my hand against the cold window and hoped for the best. We were getting closer to the edge every second and I knew there wasn't many seconds left before we would be smashed into the cold river which was running in the bottom of the gorge. Our speed slowed down and finally the bus stopped sliding. We were almost at the edge. Our driver breathed out and I could see he was sweating. Slowly he tried the gas pedal. The bus started to move slowly. I could see that the driver's hands were white because he was squeezing the steering wheel so hard.
We were back on the road and I was feeling so relieved. But the bus driver seemed worried. He turned to us and tried to say something. From his hand signals we detected that the bus couldn't climb up the hill so we had to wait for proper cars to come and get us to our destination.
"15 minutes"
The driver showed us his watch and smiled. We were relieved and thankful that we were alive. Our driver went out to smoke a cigarette. Some other Georgians came to talk to him since they were trapped as well. We waited inside the bus since we didn't have proper winter clothing on. The temperature inside the bus started to fall. I was shaking because of the cold. We had to open our suitcases to get warmer clothes.
The driver came back inside:
"15 minutes"
2 hours later...
Still trapped. The driver was laughing outside with his new friends. The temperature in the bus was the same as outside, probably around 0 degrees of Celsius. It was still snowing outside. We started to prepare ourselves for sleeping inside the bus. And then - finally - two jeeps arrived. Our driver beckoned to us to come outside. We grabbed our bags and went outside. The jeeps were nice and warm and I started to feel quite good.
It didn't take longer than 15 minutes for the jeeps to get us to our destination. It was about 2 o'clock and I had been awake for 24 hours. Luckily we got our rooms fast and we went to sleep immediately.
The rest of the trip went well. We heard from the locals that this kind of weather wasn't normal. Luckily the snow melted a bit in a few days before we went back to Tbilisi and we got there safely.
It was quite an experience, but I'm happy that I experienced it. Now we laugh at it, but while sitting in the bus that was sliding towards a deep gorge - I was more scared than I had ever been before.
Hope you enjoyed the post and remember to take care of yourself while traveling!
-TH
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| Kartlis Deba, Tbilisi |
As the headline tells you - I was trapped in Caucasus. We had just landed in Tbilisi and we had reserved a minibus for our group (my family+another family). The drivers were Georgian and they didn't speak English, so it was really hard to communicate with them.
 |
| Fresh vegetables in Tbilisi |
We had traveled all day and it was about 11 o'clock in the night so we were really tired. I was the only one awake while the bus climbed up the mountains. It was raining and it seemed very dark outside. The driver spoke in Georgian to somebody. The rain started to change into snow. Suddenly I saw a huge line of trucks. For about two kilometers, the side of the road was full of trucks. It was very weird and I couldn't understand why all of them had parked there.
The road changed into a smaller road and the snowing became heavier. We passed some cars that were stuck in the snow. It was really quiet, my family was sleeping and I could only hear the snow flakes splashing into the windows. The sun had set many hours ago, so it was really dark.
 |
| Gudauri, Georgia |
Suddenly I saw a car in front of our bus. It was stuck in the middle of a steep hill. Our driver cursed and stopped the bus. He opened the window and yelled at the people in the car. Apparently they couldn't get their car up the hill. Everybody was awake now. I was afraid since all I could see in the right side of the bus was a deep gorge. And slowly, our bus started to slide towards the gorge. We slid faster and the driver started to panic. The kids from the other family screamed. Our driver was spinning the steering wheel around, trying to keep us on the road. It was certain that if the bus would slide down to the gorge, we all would die. My heart was racing faster than ever. I pressed my hand against the cold window and hoped for the best. We were getting closer to the edge every second and I knew there wasn't many seconds left before we would be smashed into the cold river which was running in the bottom of the gorge. Our speed slowed down and finally the bus stopped sliding. We were almost at the edge. Our driver breathed out and I could see he was sweating. Slowly he tried the gas pedal. The bus started to move slowly. I could see that the driver's hands were white because he was squeezing the steering wheel so hard.
 |
| Even the police came to check the situation though they didn't speak English either |
We were back on the road and I was feeling so relieved. But the bus driver seemed worried. He turned to us and tried to say something. From his hand signals we detected that the bus couldn't climb up the hill so we had to wait for proper cars to come and get us to our destination.
"15 minutes"
The driver showed us his watch and smiled. We were relieved and thankful that we were alive. Our driver went out to smoke a cigarette. Some other Georgians came to talk to him since they were trapped as well. We waited inside the bus since we didn't have proper winter clothing on. The temperature inside the bus started to fall. I was shaking because of the cold. We had to open our suitcases to get warmer clothes.
The driver came back inside:
"15 minutes"
Still trapped. The driver was laughing outside with his new friends. The temperature in the bus was the same as outside, probably around 0 degrees of Celsius. It was still snowing outside. We started to prepare ourselves for sleeping inside the bus. And then - finally - two jeeps arrived. Our driver beckoned to us to come outside. We grabbed our bags and went outside. The jeeps were nice and warm and I started to feel quite good.
 |
| The jeeps were luxury in comparison to the bus |
It didn't take longer than 15 minutes for the jeeps to get us to our destination. It was about 2 o'clock and I had been awake for 24 hours. Luckily we got our rooms fast and we went to sleep immediately.
The rest of the trip went well. We heard from the locals that this kind of weather wasn't normal. Luckily the snow melted a bit in a few days before we went back to Tbilisi and we got there safely.
It was quite an experience, but I'm happy that I experienced it. Now we laugh at it, but while sitting in the bus that was sliding towards a deep gorge - I was more scared than I had ever been before.
Hope you enjoyed the post and remember to take care of yourself while traveling!
-TH
Some experience! Great you all made it safe and now it will always be an interesting story to tell. We once got trapped in snow and were forced to find a place to stop for the night.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you made it out safely! Travelling often comes with some risks but in the end you have some amazing stories like this one to tell! That what makes it so fascinating!
ReplyDeleteOh I'm so glad you guys made it! It's always tricky to travel during winter in Europe because of the bad weather conditions. When it's not delayed flights, then it's road accidents... that's why we often choose to explore places closer to home in winter.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that you made it out safe and sound. The positive? You had a fun story to share. :)
ReplyDeleteQuite good that your adventure finished with happy end.
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ReplyDeleteWhat a frightening story! Therefore very interesting. Journeys like this are probably fascinating and memorable ones as long as they don't escalate at all more dangerous...
ReplyDeletePuh. Happy end. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat was a nailbiter! I think I'm way too risk-averse for this sort of thing... even if I could bear it, my mom certainly could not (if she found out)!
ReplyDeleteOh my god! I heard many crazy stories about drivers in Georgia, but they were more like drinking while driving. This is so far the creaziest think I heard. Glad that everything ended up well. I am about to visit Georgia, and... I still think this is unlikely that it would happen to me...
ReplyDelete