tbilisi black markets

in the city of tbilisi it is not hard to find old soviet left-behinds. people collect old artifacts and antiques from the former soviet union and its hard to go anywhere without seeing remnants of one of the biggest power-houses in history. it is in real memory here and still a sensitive subject for conversation however to a foreigner most people would love to share their stories. because there are so many things left behind and because the borders between georgia and chechnyan russia are so sensative it is quite possible to find things that are less than legal in the hands of questionable people. i was naturally intrigued by this and when i caught wind of the rumor that in the open market region known as 'dry bride' it is possible to find what we would consider to be the black market. its run by corrupt government officials and therefore away from the definition of illegal and from what i'm told you can find absolutely anything there. i went with Vladic, a russian friend of mine who speaks perfect english and russian. he warned me of the georgian customs which entail should we find ourselves invited into conversation with anybody. in georgia you never make a toast with a beer, that is something you do to an enemy. you never interrupt a toast and you never say no to cza-cza, a homemade alcohol not unlike vodka that georgians drink like water. eye contact is necessary when toasting and you dont turn down food. lastly you never offer to pay anything as it is a great insult to the entire institution of hospitality.

dry bridge was absolutely amazing. its crowded and hot and full of tons of beautiful old shit. it stinks of cigarettes and old beer and everywhere you go you will find something with joseph stalins famous face. slanin, of course, is from gori in georgia and therefore his memorabilia is quite popular. so in the open market, vladic and i did some asking around about how to find who is in charge and where we can find the oldest and central location of the market. this is what took us to a downstairs yet outside area almost completely abandoned and covered in dust. the only thing we found there was a table with 6-7 men drinking together. awkwardly and hesitantly we approached and asked for a light to vladic's cigarette. this would become among the most interesting three hours of my life. they were friends who gathered every night in the old market to drink themselves stupid and sing songs together.. at least thats what they told us; i have a feeling thats not all they did. from what i'm told by a friend of mine who saw the video i'm about to publish at the bottom of this entry, one of the men in this video is indeed the corrupt politician himself who runs the black markets and is responsible for a great deal of weapons trafficking in georgia. he was removed from office a while back yet his influence remains strong. the men offered us countless rounds of cza-cza and told us sketchy stories about what they do. i didn't believe much of what they said but after i showed the video to some georgian friends i learned that a few of the guys are apparently quite notorious in the area. this explains why they requested not to have their pictures taken. a man in black with a toothpick and a tattoo of a rosary on his hand looked to me and in translated russian asked me if there was anything i needed. anything i named he could get for me. theres a conviction in the eyes of someone who makes a statement like that. somehow i didn't doubt him. the night sunk in good peace for the most part but i was naturally a little frightened. they got a little weird when we tried to leave. they grabbed at us and told them we were insulting them by leaving. of course they were very drunk by this point and the friendliness was starting to fade. it was very relieving when the one guy suggested we get a taxi and told us we shouldnt be there anymore.. of course the cost of the taxi screwed us.




pictures from the outskirts of 'dry bridge' in tbilisi



shaky yet interesting video of the market collaborators. taken with a hidden camera.