Moldova

Buna!

The Moldovan border looked deceptively calm when we arrived at it, and all was going well until we got to the last desk - Moldova customs, which was a man who insisted that we fill out all these forms (in Crillic Russian) that he knew we wouldn't understand just to be awkward I think. He wouldn't budge, so in the end we had to get one of the other gaurds to let us past the gate into the stalls on the Moldovan side, to find someone who spoke English and could help us with the forms. After two trips back and forth from Moldova to correct insatisfactory entries, the second time coming back with the ladies who were translating for us who also didn't understand what what he wanted from us, he smirked, put our forms in an empty drawer, stamped our label and waved us on...

Oh well, we're in Moldova now, and it looks very nice. The roads are cool, bumpy, but wide and deserted. We will see what Europes' poorest country has in store for us, but an hour in we get off the main road and settle down for the night. That can wait for tomorow!

Moldova is a captivatingly interesting place, poorer again than Ukraine, but still everyone seems to be very busy and working hard...that is apart from the people that work in offices and hotels who have nothing to do! Another interesting thing is that in every villiage that we went through, each house would have a bench infront of it by the road that the villagers would just sit on, chat, and watch the world (and gawp at us) go by. Every house also has a well outside it, and it's amazing to see all the different colours and styles that people have made their wells, from the very basic to the very elaborate with ornate houses built around them! Everywhere you look there are big beautiful horses pulling carts, working the fields, or just tethered at the side of the road chewing grass. A silly thing to say, but they are such a magnificant animal, so much better than oxen or donkeys which you might expect to see in its place. The pace of life seems slower here, and everything simpler, and they are very much less accustomed to seeing western tourists. Wherever you go where communication might be a problem, they normally manage to find someone in the village or family member who speaks English, and ropes them in to translating for us.

I think they knew we were traveling to India when we got to Moldova, as we have just driven through a town called 'Balti', and the word for 'Hello' in Moldovan is 'Buna'! Rhona got them mixed up and kept saying 'Balti' to everyone she met!

We went to visit a monastery overlooking a river that had been carved into the side of a rock cliff by Orthodox monks in the 13th Century. We were the only people there, and the lady in the exhibition centre, with whom French was our most common language, after showing us round all the archaelogical finds, told us to go on up to the monastery on the cliff. We didn't quite understand where she was telling us to go, so we just decided to head off in what we thought was the right direction, which took us down all these terrible dirt roads through villages and eventually up to the bell tower on the cliff (which is the only bit of the monastry you can see above ground apart from windows in the cliff face). When we got up there one of the kids from the village playing about the tower gave Rhona a bunch of soft grasses that he had been collecting - how sweet! The inside of the monastery was incredible, with sleeping quarters for about 12 monks, a chapel with ornate carvings and artwork, and a door out onto a rock balcony halfway down the cliff draped with rugs and candle stands. Incredible, and all hand carved out of solid rock!

We decided to take refuge that night in a nearby hotel with great views out towards the monastry. It certainly made us laugh; The hotel receptionist didn't speak any English or French, and infact didn't really say anything. She kept ushering us to the phone whenever she wanted to tell us something so that her daughter could translate, even when we'd just walked into the room. In all our other countries we've managed to get by using our lonely planet language guide, however there is no section for Moldova!! - not good! We managed to ask for a double room for the night (through her daughter translating on the phone), but turns out you don't get sheets and you have to ask for towels. We tried to order lunch, but eventually she just pointed a dirty finger at one thing on the menu, then shuffled into the kitchen to make it for us which turned out to be lovely chicken noodle soup with bread. When it came to ordering dinner, she once again pointed at something on the menu, and we got the same soup again! - oops!

For breakfast we were half expecting to get soup again, but she said 'omelete', and came out with 2 fried eggs, slices of cheese, and about a quarter of a sausage each, along with the same stale bread we had the night before, Lovely!

Off to Chisinou after that, which is where we sit now posting this blog, so you are completely up to date. Sorry about posting 3 countries at once (don't miss Slovakia and Ukraine below), but we obviously are not as skilled at finding internet spots as we thought we might be! Off to Romainia this afternoon, and yet another language to learn.

Orheiul Vechi night: 103464