Extreme government service in Georgia

It’s comforting to find a tourist information centre when we reached any city. The tourist information staff always commend perfect English and is helpful in answering all questions. In Bojormi, the staff even post his mobile number at the door in case tourist have after hour of inquiries. He even helped us to translate our questions to the post office lady on the phone. There are always free map, brochure and we always find hostel information and restaurant recommendations. They sometimes arrange tours as well.

We also heard from local that those newly furnished government service building provide one-stop-shop and you queue up in one line for any inquiries about all government services. And you register a new company or renew a lost ID card in a few hours, for example.

 

There are always payment machine as many as ATM everywhere in Georgia. We could easily add-value for our phone card, bus card, retrieve train tickets and make payment for public services. Some machine will charge a commission and others not. We seldom enjoyed such 24/7 convenience in any country around the world.

In the past, the government admitted that with its Soviet influence, the police department especially was very corrupted and there was a movement that they fired most officers and tried very best to fight corruption with their new officers. While we were hitchhiking in Svaleti, we got picked up a few times by a police car. They seems to be rather friendly and helpful. My friend in Tbilisi once got his wallet stolen and reported to the police. He said in 6 hours, they called to reporting that it’s found! Amazing efficiency. I wonder how they did that!?

The love for Georgian food

We heard of a story about an authentic French restaurant in Batumi closed down eventually after 2 years, because Georgians walk in there and leave right away if they cannot find Georgian food on the menu. In Tbilisi, we also find a lot of Thai-Georgian, Indian-Georgian, International Georgian restaurants. They must love their own food so much. In fact, Georgia does have interesting menu, appetizers like Badrijani Nigvzit (eggplant roll with walnut paste), mchadi (cornbread), khachapuri (bread with cheese stuffing); main course, such as, satsivi (chicken in walnut sauce), mtsvadi (grilled meat), khinkali (meat dumpling, very similar to Shanghai dumpling), ostri (meat stew in tomato sauce), chakhapuri (meat stew with plum sauce) and desert, such as churchkhela (threaded walnut covered with grape juice and flour mixture, then hung dry).

Actually all these dishes could be included in one menu and after a while in Georgia, we do feel comforting to find the same dishes in any eatery. In a short while, we could memorize all these names and order without a menu, like a local.

The only thing is, their English menu, if a restaurant managed to have one, don’t always have accurate price. We read the menu before order and are told that we are charged more because the menu was not updated and they have new prices for everything. I guess the local don’t ask for price and don’t need to read any menu. They pay as they are told. Unfortunately, as budget travelers, we found ourselves arguing the bill with the cashier all the time.

Well, the amazing thing is, if you bump into a party at the next table, you will always hear guys singing wonderful dining a capella and they might treat you some of their local homemade wine.