Tblisis

 I haven't got much to report. I was up last night fixing India stuff. There was a hotel I had booked that felt like a scam. When I booked them they said my booking was marked as tentative until I sent 40% of the price to a private bank account, but at the same time I couldn't cancel this "tentative" booking. I contacted booking.com but didn't hear back. I didn't really follow up because this trip was already full on and India was at the end. Last night I booked a 5 star hotel right near the airport and sent booking.com and email saying I didn't feel safe staying with these scammers, which is true. I then organised a taxi from the airport in Goa to the hotel, which is an hour and a half drive. Hopefully I get a refund. The 5 star hotel was actually reasonably cheap and having that as my last night way has made me feel better.

I'm currently in the hotel bar, and one of the workers has gone down with a sciatic problem. There has been much screaming. They are now on the phone to the ambulance but I think that's something that might not work so good here. This bloke is stuck here forever. The entire staff is checking on him, but they are too close that I can pour my own drinks on the sly.

Today I slept in after my late night of organising India. I went out to a coffee shop for breakfast, because the breakfast here is shit. I then went for a walk, which basically followed the walk I went on yesterday, but on the other side of the road. 

I went down an alley and came across the leaning tower of Tbilisi. It is a clock tower that is falling down, but held up by a steel beam. I loved it, because I thought it was legitimate. When I saw it I thought "you couldn't build that if you tried". It was so haphazard and broken, like a giant child had stacked it up. Unfortunately, I googled it, and it was built that way back in 2011,which ruined it a bit for me. But at the same time, someone tried to build it that way and managed to, so I'm impressed by that. It was almost 2pm when I visited and on the hour an angel comes out of the tower and hits the bell. I waited for the angel and when she didn't arrive I checked the clock tower and it was 5 minutes fast, so I'd just missed it.

On the walk back I came across the old city walls. They are not a tourist attraction, they just exist here. The main road goes over the top, and I too a photo of a building built on top of (or maybe as part of) a tower. It was quite interesting to see. 

I came back to the hotel and had my first ever professional massage. My back has been killing me and I thought this old battle axe might fix it. She said "strong massage ok?" and I said "yes strong massage ok" but she didnt fix it and her massage didn't seem strong. I can feel in my back where the problem is, and I want someone to dig their claws into it.

I've been at the bar here for a while, talking to the barman. He says most of the staff here are Iranians. I was asking about places to go to learn more about history and he suggested Iran. He's planning on coming to Australia when he graduates as a doctor.

I shall probably go for a wander soon. Last night I came down stairs for a sneaky kebab and the police had shut down the road off the square where the protests were, while some young freedom fighters/dreggs of society shoplifted from the local supermarket. They must be broke because the supermarket is so cheap.

I've got a plan for my day tomorrow, but don't want to share it in case it goes to shit.

The guy with sciatica has stopped screaming. He may have passed out.

Also, I did find out that Georgia was in a war in the north at some point, maybe back in the early 2000s,and some of the refugees from that war settled in a luxury hotel. This is a photo of that settlement. It has now been switched from a refugee camp back to a luxury hotel, and it is covered in reflective glass panels. But I thought it was cool and downloaded this picture of when it was a refugee camp.