July 21 - Out of Romania

In order to get back to the mainstream civilization, there were still a couple of those steep hills to cross. The first highlight was a delicious breakfast in front of a village grocery shop, I got some smoked cheese, yoghurt (kefir, actually), some freshly made rolls, for 1 Lei (25 cents) the lady even gave me tomatoes, pepper and a cucumbers. Setting off, another highlight was seeing a huge herd of sheep and goats right after a summit, the only downside was the dog that apparently wanted to eat me alive, not even the shepherd was able to stop it. Oh well, I am here, safe. The dog that barks does not bite, goes a Hungarian saying.

This shot was not approved by the shepherd's dog

Then came a road through a forest, it crossed an unpaved road. A small truck was approaching and I stopped to ask if I was still on the right place. The driver wasn't so sure, but he said 'cabana Cauesescau', pointing to a clearing further up the road. Well, if it truly is the weekend house of the former dictator, then it's worth a short detour. It was indeed true and there was a kind gentleman who invited me in, offering me cold water, coffee, some fruits and even chocolates. 'Cau' had been there three times, passing his time hunting. The wife then showed up, we spoke English, some French - then she suddenly looked at me - "you have such a Hungarian accent, aren't you Hungarian...?". Her parents were from the western part of Romania - so we continued in my native tounge. Funny, eh? None of this did I expect in the middle of a forest in Romania...

The dictator's house

I was given a secret key to success, well, a shortcut (within the shortcut) was revealed and soon I was back to civilization, going on quite a well-kept asphalt. From there on, it was but a dozen kilometers or so to the Moldavian border.

The caretakers - treating me nicely

The crossing went quite well - I was allowed to sneak by a line of cars. After exchaning some money (the Moldavian Lei is a lot less nicer than the Romanian Lei and is also worth only about a quarter). On the border I met a Russian lady motorbiker, she road all the way from Siberia to Poland, down to Greece and was on the way towards west, through Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany to Belgium. She works half a year as a dispather and rides the other half. Not bad, eh?

So I arrived to Moldavia. I had a quick snack at a petrol station, where a lady gave me two cooked corns and packed in too more for the trip. I gave a few of the corn seeds to a hungry tiny dog. At the shop where I bought some supplied they were using an wooden calculator, an abacus.

Check-out at the supermarket

To all Moldavia fans, I do apologize, but somehow I found the scenery less compelling than in Romania. At first, I was on the national highway M1, it was a strong headwind, but a somewhat dull country side; there was a dried-up river bed next to the road, with lots of farm aninals grazing in it. The capital, Chisinov, was 100 km away and it was 3 pm - so I had no chance of reaching it. A road forked eastwards and I happily took it - as the main road was rather annoying. This one had practically no traffic on it and soon I found out why - it was a roller-coaster. The road would incline quite steadily, then descend abruptly, repeat, repeat, repeat all over again. It was a nice road, but somehow drier and less impressive than the ones in Romania. Maybe it was the fact that I did not stop to take pictures that I covered quite good ground, soon I was in a town called Hincesti, where I stopped at the very first pertrol station to 'refuel'. All over Moldavia, the internet connection is excellent and this was the case here, too. A sign said that Chisinov was only 35 km away - and it was quite bright still, so I decided to stay there. From this petrol station, I reserver a room, a 4-star hotel for Eur 21 - which is quite reasonable. Another reason for getting into the capital was that I had noticed a spoke was broken and the brakes were giving a weird noise.

The remaining 35 km continued through the very hilly countryside. This was a major road, beautifully paved, possible just for me. It was dark by the time I got to downtown - which, mind you, is not easy, as there was not a single sign on the road guiding you. I finally found my hotel and happily checked in, looking forward to a quick shower and the jump into the bed. Not so fast - it was a friendly young girl, with somewhat broken English - she said that the hotel was full and that they put me up in another hotel - somewhat far away, so she ordered a cab, which took 30 minutes to show up. The driver demanded that we dismantle the bike, which I had no intention to at the middle of the night, it was really close to midnight. He then demanded extra money for me following the car, which I happily paid, it was just 50 cents. Arriving at the hotel, or should I say motel, with just a bedroom without anyt extras (the bathroom was outside, no A/C, no TV), I took a quick shower and fell asleep quickly. So much for the 4-stars - but I could not have cared less, I got my good night's rest.