Georgia (out of 3 countries that I visited, the other two being Armenia and Azerbaijan), without much planning and out of a sudden invitation from an old traveling friend, Professor Ghaz from UM. Hence the booking of my air ticket in quite a rushing manner, and I was thinking of using Turkish airlines because I want to earn milage, and the other one being Emirates which is nearer in terms of distance. And to fly to a capital of Georgia, which i didn't even know how to pronounce initially, Tbilisi (T-B-Li-C). But to simplify this, I finally used Emirates and we arrive dot Tbilisi early in the morning. And I cannot actually believe that was already in Georgia, the immigration is superbly fast and no question asked and once our luggage arrive, we had coffee in Tbilis airport as it was still very early. Coffee price seems be quite reasonable. Then taxi to the hotel, at about 30 Georgian currency, which seems to be quite reasonable (initially they want 60).
The hotel, the Artists Residence looks quite normal from outside, but once inside I think it looks good and u will be attracted as it is really full of arts and the price is not really cheap but I would say reasonable. But what I like to highlight is on their meals served at the front entrance it tasted good and delicious but what makes them special is, their personal service and also when we came back after out trip to the black sea, they just allow us to use the hotel for one hour, provided free lunch... this is something beyond my imagination. But overall, I think they are very nice people in Georgia.
Then a little night mare happens when we started driving. I mean the car rental company, Avis was quite good and accommodating ( car rental is quite reasonable but petrol is higher price compared to Malaysia) but driving there could be a challenge. I think Georgian (and may be Armenians and Azerbaijan) they drive a bit rough and crazy too. And condition was a quite bad, the worst was one stretch of road around 5KM, on the way to the black sea, Batumi. But once we reached Batumi, all efforts are well worth it. I remembered my friend, Ghaz the driver almost gave up because of this section of the road, which was very bad, and he thought we moved in the wrong direction and we almost had a big argument because of that. But finally, when the sunset, we arrived to Batumi and saw the infamous black sea. There are simply too many things to write, but I cannot write all here cause it will be too long. But at one section of the road, traffic was very bad, that slowed down our driving a lot. And one part of the place looks like Pattaya, something like that. And finally we reached the hotel, hotel is quite okay based on the rate offered by them, and it is a short walking distance from the seaside. And in the morning we went to the sea for a walk, and then quickly drove back to Tbilisi for the next agenda, that was to visit Armenia (or drive to Armenia,. that would be the second part of my story.
And after Armenia, we came back to Tbilisi for another final nite here before moving to Baku, Azerbaijan, this will form the 3rd part and final part of my story.
Anyway, a bit on driving to Armenia. We made a few rounds in the city, lost throughout with the GPS, as it was not guiding us or we did not key in the right information and it made us very tensed throughout this 1-2 hours to find the way to exit the city and move towards Armenia. Form the map, it looks like very short distance. Wow, to make short, it was really hard to find the way with the road signs not being helpful., GPS not working and people we asked along the highways, all wanted money, nothing else. But luckily my friend has his iPhone google map (a simple version to help out) and by using the hard copy map we had in hand, we started to find one city at a time and that connects us from one city to another, and finally we were at the border of Georgia and Armenia.
At this border, there are a few things happening. We drove through the immigration counter, and my friend told me we do not need visa but actually for Malaysians we need to apply for Visa on Arrival (VOA), hence we reached the immigration, they stopped us, and hold our passport. And immediately, we have to run to the Visa counter to apply but it is quite easy, we need to fill up the form, and then hand in the fees, and immediately we got the visa, it is like 30 Georgian currency. More story will be when I write about Armenia. But in short, we found the way to Armenian border, and it was a joyful celebration for us.
And on the final nite at Tbilisi, due to some personal issue taking place, I book a separate room, at Citadel, one of the 5 star hotels, with good city view in Tbilisi. It was a city hotel view, but the room was not very good, in my opinion. Only the breakfast matched its name and reputation, nothing else. And in my final day here, I walked through city, all throughout, first to the cathedral, then prescient palace, and then to the art market, before going back to the hotel for shower and moving to the train station to get to the border of Azerbaijan (another story to tell later on).
And one final point to mention before my story ends here, was that, we used the train from Tbilisi to Baku, but without doing a proper study. Visa on Arrival is required for Malaysians visiting Baku, but only applicable via Baku international airport, and not at the border of Georgia/Azerbaijan. Hence we were asked to go back to Tbilisi and either to apply to Azerbaijan embassy the next day or take a direct flight to Baku and have our visa applied at the airport. We opt for the latter and it was very smooth, and finally we made it to Azerbaijan (another story)
But Georgia is very nice, except the road conditions and the :crazy driving" but in general people are nice and helpful though u do see some people begging for money too. Georgian foods are nice and price is quite reasonable. cities are clean and I like Kazbegi the most.
Resting in one of the hotel, taking adverting of the window panel's color
one view near a church 
Tbilisi Europa Square
Butane Black Sea
Black sea -Secret photo
My favourite drink, peach fruits drink, a drank a lot
One of the beautiful view at Mount Kazbegi
I regret for not buying this piece of art, i really love it.....
Tbilisi Botanical garden
Along Kazbegi mountain range
The art market
Another church in Tbilisi, I forgot the name for now haha
Superb breakfast at Citadel Tbilisi
Nite view from Citadel hotel, Tbilisi
The road, 5KM stretch in order to teach to the main road connecting to Batumi, it is really hard to drive in this are, very challenging.
Part of Black sea after the sunset
Batumi train tation
Breakfast table at Artist residences
Mount Kazbegi, very beautiful . And very lucky that the sun appears in the morning opposite the hotel we stay, and please make sure you look at this photo carefully, for the little church on top of the hill.
Choong
Written this only on 1September 2016.
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