Compared to the relative cool of the mountains, Borjomi and Gori were hot, humid, and just not as impressive. Borjomi, a town famous for its mineral springs, was at best a bit sad. The Mineral Water Park was a far cry from what we expected from a place that was the Romanov's holiday destination. More of a rundown carnival than a relaxing, natural environment. We walked for 2.5km to the natural spring swimming pool, only to find an empty cement tank, and a rubbish strewn "picnic area". For a town under massive construction, it seems to have forgotten what peope would go there for!

To make things interesting, the tourist information guide had recommended a "hotel" (Fintan and I suspect it was his mate). The bathroom was literally being plumbed as we put our bags in the room. Neither of us realised until later that:

1. The door did not shut, let alone lock,

2. There were no curtains... so very limited privacy, hiding between the door and the window was about the limit!

So once again, the tourist information don't seem to be in touch with whats happening outside the office!

Off to Gori then. Another town that is run down and seems to be struggling with its identity. Famous for being the hometown of Stalin, they do have a museum and have protected his home and private rail carriage... they don't seem that keen to actually have ownership of this part of history though. Perhaps understandably so. Standing in his personal rail carriage, thinking "This is the sink that Stalin trimmed his moustache over" is a surreal and eerie feeling...

One of the things we have noticed is all the construction that's going on is being done by men in their late forties to sixties. Where are all the young men?Is there conscription? Are they in the city? So far we haven't found them.

There is a different pace of life, as they'd say about Cornwall. Here in Georgia, nothing is really open before 10am. Lunches typically last 1-2 hours and involve several beers, or bottles of wine. Not such a bad thing, but can be frustrating when we are trying to organise paperwork, or even getting a cup of coffee.