Expecting the unexpected in Georgia

Georgia has the best drivers

Once a Turk told me, all Georgian drivers on the road remained by natural selection, hence, those remained on the road alive and kicking, are best of the best. Many cars on the road got smashed front window, missing bumper, broken doors, license plate loosely hammered, bumps all over and many look disastrous. Of course, they could be cheap second hand, but they could also be road warriors. With so much mountain in the Caucasus

region, roads are bad. Though most currently under construction, more are still work-in-progress and - Georgian love to speed. We saw crashed car a few times while traveling around Georgia. Police and road maintenance guys seem to be very experienced. They handled the situation with extreme efficiency. Cars will drive on the pedestrian path for parking, take some unexpected U-turn anywhere, drive backward in full speed, make quick turn at the corner and would seldom slow down to let you cross even if its a zebra crossing or a green pedestrian light. They always take priority over pedestrians. LOOK TWICE while you cross or even drive (well, we dared not rent a car) if you want to leave Georgia alive!

Life warning II

Hold on to the handrails when you are on the escalator of the metro in Tbilisi. I encountered the escalator stopping abruptly twice, during one of my short weekend stay in the capital. The long, deep, speedy escalator heading underground had then appeared in my nightmare.