My mode of transportation to Bucharest was by minibus. I would have preferred the slow, lowest category train, but there was only one option at an inhumane early hour, so I opted for the Mercedes Sprinter bus instead, spent a bit more on the fare and got to sleep in. These minibuses are very popular for long distance travel. Depending on the length of the journey there will be 10-15min breaks now and then. Our driver pulled over to a roadside diner after just over an hour where he had a hearty meal waiting for him, and every one else rushed of to the toilet or had cigarette.
I managed to get the last seat in this Sprinter and sat for 3.5h in the far left corner of the back row, talking to a Bulgarian medical doctor and a Dutch Samaritan next to me. Apparently doctors are paid so little that they ask patients for gifts (cash or otherwise) when they seek treatment. There doesn't seem to be a moral limit to it however; one local told me you can be asked to pay 1000€ for the doctor to have all the right equipment read in case there are complications during giving birth. Ouch!!!My last post might have given the impression that the whole of Romania is one giant scrapheap, but that is not quite true. In the surroundings of Braşov I saw quite a few newly setup companies, the old town looked pretty decent and in Bucharest too there were signs of investment. In fact, the run-down and abandoned factory yards I have seen here don't really differ from some places in East-Germany (just take a train that passes through Leipzig), but the frequency of such sites is much higher here.
This shot is showing the backside of the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, where dogs feed of the garbage dumped by locals. There was a small park that I wanted to pass through, but there were just too many dogs, some of them seemed to operate in packs, and with no other people around I opted for the street instead. When one of the dog gangs came running over to my side I got a bit nervous for a second. I didn't want to turn around though, instead I caught up with some other people and followed them at close distance. This seemed to work, the dogs ignored us and I got to keep my sandwiches this time.
The whole area where the Palace of Parliament is situated got completely “restyled” by Romania's last communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. Huge housing quarters had to be demolished to build his new “concrete city”. As sick as this may seem, looking at these concrete blocks I find many of them have a lot more style than the ones I grew up in in East-Germany.
Communism did not go too well with religion. The modern concrete buildings were often placed in such a manner that the view of churches and monasteries was obstructed. I had already heard of and witnessed this practice in Warszawa, but here they seemed to have mastered it.
I had read on the internet that buying an international train ticket at the station can stretch ones patients well beyond the limit. The hostel staff however saw no need to buy my ticket to Bulgaria in advance, being the quiet winter season and all that, but since I had no plans for the evening I decided to pop over to the station anyway. I was the only customer there at the international ticket booth, and despite the fact that there were three sales women in the office behind the window it wasn't until half an hour later before I was handed my ticket. First they had some important money counting to finish and then one of them went off to get new calculators for everyone (they use them to show foreigners like me how much tickets cost). I was glad I wasn't in a rush for my train.
Check out the big bottles on the bottom shelf of the fridge. They are plastic beer bottles and come in 2l, 2.5l and sometimes even 3l. At about 35 cent for half a liter it is the cheapest drink to buy. I had quite a few already during my time in Romania. They last me for more than a day (of course!) and go flat pretty soon, but if they come chilled from the fridge, I don't care that much.
No comments:
Post a Comment