Hotel Balti

... Moldova. So, here I was, a fugitive in the country! I didn't know how I would be able to get thru control if I didn't have any entry stamp. How can you stamp out if you hadn't stamped in?

I took a cab to immigration downtown, but it was very early (and Saturday-I traveled on the weekend, my own rule that I had broken. Anyway, since it was so early, I went to a coffee shop, and found a backpacker ...

... just tend to fleece tourists with spurious charges while passing through. I’m just not in the mood for such ********. If I want to get ripped off, I’ll go find four guys from Soweto, or maybe a Russian Mafioso with a Webley, a thief with some teeth, not some dilettantes in Sgt. Pepper uniforms shining their badges under the table.

My hostel happens to be located right behind Chisinau’s newest mall, for ...

... again, particularly one bad Kiefer Sutherland one. There are also lots of corny old Romanian folk song-and-dances like Lawrence Welk, but I settle on one live show called “FOLK YOU” (no, I don’t make this up), in which five thousand Romanians are heard singing along to ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ more than forty-five years after Dylan’s original recording, all in the Romanian language of course. That ...

... in the summer of 1994 and have never really left, I did my very best to help its people. This is my story. The country of Moldavia, was one of the fifteen old C.C.C.P republic's, that now can only be described as a place consisting of the most extreme differences one could imagine from a country that seems on the outside to be civilised. When I arrived the people were still trying to come to terms with the changes that its new freedom offered them. On the ...

... is going straight. The roads are potholed and the sidewalks are a veritable obstacle course. Driving through the countryside, you see horses and carts and wells line the streets in many villages, but the country still has amazing beauty which I'm rapidly getting hooked on. Today, two guys from the hostel and I headed for Orheuil Vechi, a cave monastery about 30km north of Chisinau. After spending an hour ...

... to get a picture of anything. Part of the highway was 3 lanes - the middle lane being for passing in either direction. But basically it was a free for all. And then the road got narrower and in worse and worse shape. I had to try to madly take a few pictures out of the car windows, but managed to capture very little. This is what we saw: every 100 meters was a cow, horse or goat grazing right at ...

... until the 18th century when it was abandoned. Today they're slowly trying to resurrect the old glory, and a new chapel has been built within the original site. Getting there involves a little bit of extra effort, but it's not terribly difficult. The modern day city of Orhei continues the site's namesake, but it's actually about 20-30km away from where the historic city was. No direct buses run from Chisinau to Orheiul Vechi, so instead you have to head towards ...

... nodded. Went to cross border bridge over river and female guard started shouting so I stopped and she spoke English. She wasn't sure if bikes could cross, so anxious wait as she contacted base on her radio that wouldn't work. Eventually said OK then as I cycled off she said stop - the others were playing her about. Said go again and she warned me she could stop me anywhere before the red line so I sprinted to it to take photos. Moldovan ...

... Euro. Das grandiose an dieser Geschichte: Er ist ja extra fuer die Bekannte nach Chisinau gefahren, um ihr zu helfen. Mit dem durch ihn zerbeutelten Taxi am Flughafen angekommen, entdeckt er ein anderes Auto, in welchem sie bereits wartet... Er war umsonst gefahren. Spaeter im Camp wird er einen halben Zahn verlieren und eben weiter mit seiner dringenden Autoreparatur nerven, die in Italien 200 Euro gekostet haette (ohne Sicherheit, ob es was verbessert) - und dann per Zufall ...

... being sure all people I exhibit are open-minded and easy-going. If there are complaints, I will remove them instantly! To see pictures of hospitalityclub meetings, use www.hospitalityclub.org -> gallery. Noroc de la Chisinau, din Moldova, Mos Martin :-D Note: If you want to have or use a picture, please contact me by clicking the link on these pages or send a direct email to mart_o-cloc@web.de.