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I've been there during my urbex days. Frozen conflict zone, not unlike Transnistria, South Ossetia or Nagorno Karabakh. The border is militarized, except the G

I've been there during my urbex days. Frozen conflict zone, not unlike Transnistria, South Ossetia or Nagorno Karabakh. The border is militarized, except the Georgian side which doesn't seem to consider Abkhazia a threat. Lots of abandoned infrastructure because the native Georgian population was killed and/or fleed, and hasn't been harnessed for some reason. Abkhaz cross the border daily to buy basic stuff from Georgia. Only approved vehicles can cross, so most people do it walking with "taxi drivers" servicing both sides of the border. Most of the foreigners there are Russians looking for a cheap seaside vacation. There are streets named after Shamil Basayev (!). Actually I left Abkhazia illegally, since you have to collect the visa inside (as there aren't diplomatic missions anywhere) after crossing the border, and the offices were closed all 3 days that my visa was going to be valid for. So yeah, arguing with soldiers for 4 hours in my rudimentary Russian wasn't great. Border crossing: https://i.imgur.com/dFMnwsJ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/dFMnwsJ.jpg They made me delete the picture but LPT: keep the SD card aside for the rest of the trip, then run an undelete tool on it. AMA.

lsllc 6y ago
Is this the Abhazian side? The bridge not far from Zugdidi?
- Uberphallus 6y ago
  You see the Abkhazian side (pic taken from the Georgian side). Exactly that bridge! Have you been around there?
  - lsllc 6y ago
    Yes, back in '95. Fun times.
theandrewbailey 6y ago
> They made me delete the picture but LPT: keep the SD card aside for the rest of the trip, then run an undelete tool on it. Undeleting photos from an SD card saved data for me once. Just shut it off once you've noticed you messed up, and don't touch it. Thank goodness for FAT32.
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
SD cards should be pretty easy to hide as well, unless they do X-rays on your shoes and the like I guess? Could put a micro SD card in a SIM card slot in your phone maybe.
- Uberphallus 6y ago
  True. But if you check the picture carefully, you will see a soldier spotting me with binoculars :)
- tomcooks 6y ago
  Many Android phones have a slot for either SIM+SD or a double SIM, so yes
- saalweachter 6y ago
  Eh, the problem with practicing amateur spycraft is that then you look like a spy if anyone notices. Sure, maybe they're extremely unlikely to find an SD card in your shoe -- extremely! -- but if someone does find an SD card in your shoe, they're going to want to know why. Just leave it in your pocket and dump it in the X-ray bin with the rest of your pocket trash. It's unlikely anyone will notice, and if they do, you're just a tourist with an SD card for your camera. Maybe they throw it away, maybe they copy it, but it's unlikely to end with you spending four hours being questioned about why it was in your shoe.
kspacewalk2 6y ago
It's worth noting that the Georgian majority population was ethnically cleansed (with >5000 civilians killed) from Abkhazia by separatists, with full support and encouragement of Russia[0]. The preeminent Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, later responsible for Beslan school siege and other attacks, took part in this war on the Abkhaz side, after being trained for the purpose by the GRU (Russian military intelligence of the Salisbury/Novichok fame)[1]. I guess they kind of lost control of him afterwards, oops. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Georgians_in_Abkhazia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Georgians_... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamil_Basayev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamil_Basayev
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Uberphallus 6y ago
  Yeah, it was crazy. The fact that it was the majority meant loads of stuff would stay empty/unused, which remains true even today. I have footage from a massive seaside resort in the center of the capital [0] to give people an idea. Unfortunately, there are always two sides to every story, and both sides were pretty nasty to each other[1]. But agree, it's hard to side with Basayev on this war, or any other really. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSi88CLRuZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSi88CLRuZE [1] http://www.unpo.org/downloads/AbkGeo1992Report.pdf http://www.unpo.org/downloads/AbkGeo1992Report.pdf

lsllc 6y ago

Is this the Abhazian side? The bridge not far from Zugdidi?

Uberphallus 6y ago
You see the Abkhazian side (pic taken from the Georgian side). Exactly that bridge! Have you been around there?
- lsllc 6y ago
  Yes, back in '95. Fun times.

theandrewbailey 6y ago

> They made me delete the picture but LPT: keep the SD card aside for the rest of the trip, then run an undelete tool on it. Undeleting photos from an SD card saved data for me once. Just shut it off once you've noticed you messed up, and don't touch it. Thank goodness for FAT32.

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

SD cards should be pretty easy to hide as well, unless they do X-rays on your shoes and the like I guess? Could put a micro SD card in a SIM card slot in your phone maybe.

Uberphallus 6y ago
True. But if you check the picture carefully, you will see a soldier spotting me with binoculars :)
tomcooks 6y ago
Many Android phones have a slot for either SIM+SD or a double SIM, so yes
saalweachter 6y ago
Eh, the problem with practicing amateur spycraft is that then you look like a spy if anyone notices. Sure, maybe they're extremely unlikely to find an SD card in your shoe -- extremely! -- but if someone does find an SD card in your shoe, they're going to want to know why. Just leave it in your pocket and dump it in the X-ray bin with the rest of your pocket trash. It's unlikely anyone will notice, and if they do, you're just a tourist with an SD card for your camera. Maybe they throw it away, maybe they copy it, but it's unlikely to end with you spending four hours being questioned about why it was in your shoe.

kspacewalk2 6y ago

It's worth noting that the Georgian majority population was ethnically cleansed (with >5000 civilians killed) from Abkhazia by separatists, with full support and encouragement of Russia[0]. The preeminent Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, later responsible for Beslan school siege and other attacks, took part in this war on the Abkhaz side, after being trained for the purpose by the GRU (Russian military intelligence of the Salisbury/Novichok fame)[1]. I guess they kind of lost control of him afterwards, oops. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Georgians_in_Abkhazia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Georgians_... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamil_Basayev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamil_Basayev

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Uberphallus 6y ago
Yeah, it was crazy. The fact that it was the majority meant loads of stuff would stay empty/unused, which remains true even today. I have footage from a massive seaside resort in the center of the capital [0] to give people an idea. Unfortunately, there are always two sides to every story, and both sides were pretty nasty to each other[1]. But agree, it's hard to side with Basayev on this war, or any other really. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSi88CLRuZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSi88CLRuZE [1] http://www.unpo.org/downloads/AbkGeo1992Report.pdf http://www.unpo.org/downloads/AbkGeo1992Report.pdf