Hualing City

HUALING CITY

If you fly into Tbilisi after dark, from the airplane window it's impossible to miss the huge, fully illuminated box-shaped structure at the edge of the city. This is the 5- star Hualing Hotel, the prominent figurehead of the Hualing City project. Stretching down the hill behind the hotel are a collection of apartment blocks known locally as the Chinese district. Not that there is much Chinese about it except that is was built and financed by a Chinese company. The architecture is a little different and less austere than the neighbouring apartment buildings but none of the staff or residents in this complex are Chinese. There are no Chinese signs, shops or restaurants. Curiously, though, as you punch in your entry code at the front door a recorded voice will greet you in Chinese.

We were in Georgia to prepare, ride and guide a mountain bike tour in the Caucasus. While we were not on the road we had the use of a functionally furnished apartment.
During the first couple of days, not yet knowing our way around and the hotel being such a prominent landmark we would be picked up and dropped- off at the hotel main entrance, where after being greeted by the doorman and smiled at by the receptionists we made our way through the vast lobby out the rear door and on to our humble apartment. At first we had no Wifi connection so we would regularly pop into the hotel to catch up on our mails and messages or , as the apartment was not air conditioned, just to escape the heat for a while.

Walking through this project you will notice that, although it is less than three years old, bits are falling off or are broken and not everything is working quite as it should. On the other hand it is pleasantly landscaped, well maintained and watered lawns with plenty of pools and fountains where children may be paddling in the water under the 'bathing forbidden' notice. The complex is surrounded by a wall, there are guards at the entrances to give the residents a sense of security and the men a sense of having a job. There seem to be a lot of them and not much for them to do. In the daytime it is quiet, people are at work or indoors avoiding the sun. Others leave the city to spend part of the summer visiting grandmother in the countryside or mountains. In the evenings, after dark, there is a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere, some of the remaining residents are sitting around on the walls or doorsteps exchanging gossip while the children play. The adults are friendly and helpful, the children even more so, they are eager to use the few words of English they have learned at school. Since 2008 English is the official second language in Georgia, replacing Russian.

If New York is known as the city that never sleeps then Tbilisi is the city that goes to bed late and doesn't want to get up in the morning. Even in this relatively quiet corner of the city the traffic and street noises go on until deep into the night .. but in the mornings it's quiet ….in Georgia it is, so I'm told, impolite to make appointments or do business before 10am!

Opposite the lower gate you'll find a fruit and vegetable stall under a parasol and a taxi halt where the drivers wait in the baking sun for fares. You may well, like us, get to know the regular drivers quite well, taxis are cheap especially if you know the going rate and they realise you're not a 5-star tourist. The neighbouring district consist of huge grey apartment blocks in varying degrees of decay and neglect, decorated with weeds and washing lines that  add a touch of individuality and a reluctant charm.  In, under and between these concrete blocks, if you take the trouble , you will discover several small general stores, grocers and bakers. Take a short walk further downhill past kiosks where you can fill plastic bottles with cheap beer, an overgrown building site, two wrecked cars and a dubious looking garage and you will be surprised to find 'Ori Tona' an attractive, modern, bar, brewery and restaurant. A row of polished copper brewery kettles form the background and an attractive young waitress will help you choose from a variety of beers. There is every chance that someone at a nearby table will offer you a glass of vodka... and a sausage.

Even closer to the complex, on the other side of the road, between the car-wash and a second hand car tyre dealer, another surprise, the sign says take away pizza but it is a cool and pleasant place just to sit on the original and modern patio and drink coffee (or beer), the is pizza optional.

For a more perverse pleasure you can visit 'The Family' supermarket directly next to the Hualing project... simply because it is such a contrast with the rest of Georgia! Everywhere else whether in cities, villages or small towns even the smallest general stores are fully stocked sometimes leaving little space for customers. Shop owners and assistants, well - most Georgians, are open, helpful, friendly and often inquisitive. Not here! Here you will find an amazing oasis of unfriendliness and bad manners. In this, clean, fresh, well laid-out, spacious supermarket there are always some empty shelves and everyday products are frequently unavailable The staff (the family?) are at best disinterested, at worst openly irritated if you happen to interrupt a delicate nail varnishing session or an important telephone conversation.

One morning a new girl at the check-out smiled at me, we never saw her again!