Batumi

Torn down?
Originally uploaded by Rob@SFU.

As you may have heard I was stuck in Trabzon for several hours. Finally the airport closed and we were left alone in a small reception area. When the security guards were leaving we thought we would be asked to wait outside and even the cabs were all gone so it would have been cold and miserable. Luckily he said we could stay inside. I put on a DVD and we watched Master and Commander and Gajane fell asleep. I had given her my blanket and pillow and she was amazed that someone would travel with such luxuries. She was even more amazed when I opened my suitcase and had quite the assortment of food! At one point a man walked in said something to me in Turkish, I asked if he was our driver to Batumi and he indicated that something was going to happen at 5 AM and something about Istanbul. he then walked out. by the time I got my shoes on and went running out to say that I wasn;t interested in spending that time waiting in the airport he was gone. I felt bad that Gajane was sleeping and that I hadn't woken her up to deal with the guy and sat there feeling rather frustrated that we would have a few more hours to wait... then half an hour later a different guy walked in and was obviously looking for us, I was SOOOOO relieved. So these two guy started to argue with Gajane about why we didn't indicate ourselves to him when we got off the flight. I said to him "Did you SEE ME???!!!!" and he said no, so that ended the conversation... So we're speeding along in a mercedes going rather fast and we learn that this is their third return trip between Trabzon and Batumi that day (well, it was now the next day - so within 24 hours). They are extremely tired and I can't sleep as I don't want to wake up in skid... I felt a bit better that we were in a mercedes and that it was fairly safe until I realized most of the vehicles coming at us were big trucks, traveling as fast or faster. At one point I was just dozing off when I was jolted from my seat as we were stopping rather suddenly and there was a lot of shouting. I then saw the red and blue lights in the rear view mirror and realized we were being pulled over. The two drivers got out and were gone for some time. Finally a police officer showed up and wanted to speak to Gajane. He was showing her a piece of paper that showed the ticket was 250 TYL, about $150. She didn't have any money on her and was saying she didn't. I had the money but didn't want to say so in front of the police. Finally we realized he was letting us off because we were foreign guests, so we were on our way. The drivers kept switching off and would be talking loudly and hitting each other, I assume to stay awake. Finally at one point I suggested I drive as I was the most awake of the group, despite having had little sleep the previous two nights! Once we got to the border the fun began, Gajane has a Belarus passport with a visa to the USA. The guards did not like this and were looking at each and every page of her passport under a bright light. Eventually the called me forward and had me stand in front of the bright light, I still don't know if the light was to blind us so we couldn't see who we were talking with or if it was to clearly see us. Either way the liked me and stamped me through easily. The real fun began when the car was being processed. It was only permitted to cross the border once a day and as it had been used a couple of times the day before they didn't want to let it pass. Eventually after much yelling we were permitted to leave. The drivers were very aggressive with the guards which surprised me as I thought they would end up in jail, however it worked and we were let through. When we arrived at the hotel it was just getting light out and we had time to check into our room, shower, and a bit of work on my presentation (baed on my talk with Gajane as to who was attending) and it was time to leave. My keynote was at 12:40 and I was exhausted. The talk went really well and I had some great comments. The chair said it was the best presentation he had seen at these meetings because I had provided numerous questions to ask when implementing ICT rather than giving the "answers" which can be completely taken out of context or were inappropriate in other contexts. I also demonstrated 5 unique ICT solutions that we had used at SFU that they enjoyed. It was a long talk and by the end I was mentally and physically exhausted. We walked to lunch which was chicken kiev and very enjoyable. After the big meal I was very sleepy and had a very hard time staying awake through the afternoon. I did find myself waking up here and there and felt bad as I was in the second row! The room we are in is part of the Georgia National University, which is located in an old palace. It is right on the Sea and it very opulent. The room reminds me of the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver with a beautiful chandelier and velvet curtains and comforatble seats (maybe that is why I fell asleep, it reminded me of my dad at the Orpheum when we would see the VSO,,,,). After the conference we went onto a giant ferris wheel that is on the campus and gave us an incredible view of Batumi. We then went for a long walk as a large group along the sea and a few people went wading into the sea and enjoyed the cool water. We got back to the hotel where I was to collect my phone I had left on the registration desk that morning and I had my first run in with the Russian mafia. The owner of the hotel, who drove a brand new HUGE Hummer, complete with fancy mag wheels and blackened windows was called to the desk to give me the phone back. This guy swaggers up, leans on the counter while saring at me. Gives me a look of "okay, what is this worth to you", slowly pulls out his cigarettes, and lights up. Takes a puff and blows the smoke at me. Then he starts questioning me on the phone, what is the model number, (I have no idea), what are the phone numbers in it??? This is all through the front desk staff translating, and they are very uncomfortable. This guy is about 6'6 and 300 pounds. I tell them that there is a photo of my wife on the screen and she is wearing an orange shirt... still he won't give it to me. I then explain that I can show him a photo of me on it if he gives me the phone, just to get control of it. So he hands it to me and I find a photo (self taken, cheesy smile) and imitate the photo with a cheesy grin to make the situation a bit lighter.... He didn't respond so I just put the phone in my pocket and thanked him profusely and made sure he knew that I knew he was in charge... I then went to bed and slept for 12 hours.... I went for a brief walk in the morning and got some photos of the derelict buildings. I'm not not sure why, but there are several large buidlings that look like they are under construction, and some are, but others look like they are being demolished and were once lived in. I'll have to get the story on them. You can see different rooms have been pained and there are still doors on some of the patios, but they are vacant. These are large buildings, some 20 stories high! There is a HUGE building next to the campus that was to be a 5 star hotel that is now about 3 acres of concrete jungle. I would love to jump the fence and have a look around it. I'll post a photo of it on Flickr. The presentations have been good, luckily I was an early keynote because there is a lot of duplication, which is good I suppose as we all have the same thoughts on ICT enabled Distance Learning...