Thursday, October 4, 2012

Tbilisi Revisited

So again it is Tbilisi. It's been almost a year that I was here the last time and I arrived exactly one day after their elections in Georgia. Sakashvili claimed that he won and wouldn't give up his chair, on the other side Ivanishvili said his party the Georgian Dream was the winner of the elections..so business as usual..nothing new! When I spoke to people I noticed that most of them voted for a change. They were not happy anymore with how the things were running here. Despite the fact that Georgia is a safer place now than it used to be 9 years ago when Sakahsvili came to power, people think that many innocent people, oppositions, landed in jail during his regime. I don't know if that is true..but I do know that one of my friends had to do some jail time because of a tax issue. That was a bit harsh I think. But I have no idea how a Russian-backed billionaire will come up with a solution for these good people of Georgia. But I do know that some things have to change. Too many beggars on the streets, especially small kids that break my heart. Yeahh..I know I became a softy after becoming a father of a beautiful daugthter. But believe me, there were less beggars in Arbil than here.Which maybe isn't so unlogical but still..
I ended up at the hotel Sharden Villa, which is situated at the entrance of the Leselidze street that leads to the nice cafes and restaurants. Right next to the Freedom Square. It is a three star hotel but it was clean and nice. Breakfast was okay and staff was friendly. Price was maybe a bit expensive for its class. I paid 360 GEL for two nights, which is like 210 USD but everything else was sold out. So I didn't want to stay back at Betsy's like the last time.
I don't know what it is but I seem to attract the dumbest taxi drivers all around the world. In Arbil I had the pleasure to share a taxi with a dancing driver..where the music was so loud that you couldn't tell the guy where you were driving to. Here I was blessed with the dumb ones. I wanted to visit a customer at Tsereteli Ave. House number was 126. I gave the driver the address and he told me he knew where it was. No problem then. After we started our drive I told the driver that I wanted to visit first another customer who happened to be on the same street just a few blocks further at house number 140. When I told him this..I swear the god, the guy reacted liked I asked him the hardest math question and he pulled the car aside and started thinking...!!!! He looked around and started to ask people..dude..- it's just a few blocks further..I thought you knew the freaking address???? Are you tripping or what?
But other than that..it was nice here..the city is beautiful and they have nice restaurants and cool jazz cafes with amazing jazz musicians. But three days is enough and I need to get back home already.