Baku -> Tbilisi

The Famed Midnight Train to Georgia

Georgian Customs Declaration Form

The train ride was fairly standard. 11 hours to the Azerbaijan side of the border, a one hour wait there, another 30 minutes to the Georgian side of the border, a 2 hour wait there, then finally a 2 hour jaunt from there to Tbilisi. They say the best bet is to take a taxi from the Georgian side of the border to circumvent much of the waiting.

To our surprise, the Georgian customs declaration form was completely in Georgian. If you've ever seen Georgian script, you'll know that it is as indecipherable as Arabic. One author described it as "paperclip" because each letter looked like bent paperclips. All we were told was to write our name, passport number, nationality, and what we were bringing into the country. I have no idea what the other 15 questions were asking.

Finally we rolled into warm Tbilisi at about 11:30. The first thing you notice is that the train station (a carbon copy of Warsaw Central) is simply a shell that looks like it has been bombed out. The second thing you notice is that Georgia is most certainly not Azerbaijan. Here it rains money, there it rains campaign posters symbolizing five promises made by the current president. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, posters don't buy you new apartment blocks or BMWs in the garage.