http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Moldova , Centre , Chisinau en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:07:11 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:07:11 UTC Moldova was a destination we had decided on more out of curiosity than a desire to see anything specific. It's skipped over by most visitors to the region because the small nation of about 4.5million people has little to boast about historically or culturally compared with neighbouring Romania or Ukraine.We'd heard and read a few things about its celebrated wine industry as well as corruption and http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-325707.html We slept in pretty late on the first day in Romania. Then again so did everyone else in our dorm they ended up getting in at 6 am or something. Steve and I walked around for a bit but we happened to be in Bucharest during a rare September heat wave 95 Fahrenheit so we didn't do much sightseeing. However we were both tired of sightseeing anyway. We did eat at this really nice Romanian pla http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-321859.html After much delay the driver having to go to the police station for some traffic misdemeanor we finally got to the border around 1 am straight forward procedure and we bought some Moldovan lei so we have money for taxi when we get to Chisinau. 6am we are in Chisinau and we negotiated taxi fare to the homestay we booked Jarmo and Tuuka our Finnish friends we met on the bus wanted to come with u http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-318925.html Groeten uit Chisinau in Moldavi OK wie had er al van dit land gehoord Geef maar toe Het land ligt ingeklemd tussen Oekrane en Roemeni en is een van de armste en corruptste landen van Europa... Omdat ik weer eens geen bereik heb met mijn mobiel nu alweer een berichtje om te laten weten dat ik nog leef Eerst even terug naar Oekrane. Ik had nog niet gemeld dat ik in het restaurant van http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-301767.html Ah Moldova. The joys of myriads of concrete blocks the cheerful stares you get in the streets the benign hassling from the police and the feeling of union when sharing a Mercedes Sprinter with 20 other people. I think I'm the only foreigner here despite the Peace Corps volunteers some diplomats and the Russians but you can't really consider the latter to be foreigners here. This is their c http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-264413.html MORNING GLORY Friday 345 in the AM and my Mobile plays the tune ldquothe Entertainerrdquo itrsquos my wake up call for our epic Journey to Moldova. I wake up Marina and Lisa our little 15 month old bundle of joy and we start to get dress and wait for our Taxi. So it beginshelliphellipThe Plan like all good plans are worked out well in advance and are flexible if anything goes wron http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-239389.html Our bus to Brasov was due to leave at eight in the evening so we decided to spend one last day enjoying the sights of Chisinau. We said out goodbyes to Marco as he was leaving on a different bus later on in the day. Despite having seen most of the sights in Chisinau we still had some museums and points of interest to see. First stop was the local supermarket for breakfast which we ate sitting on http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-212843.html We had decided to go to the cave monasteries today rather than risk being shot in transdnistr. We got up early with Chris and set off towards the central bus station. Lonely Planet suggested that getting to Orhei cave monasteries would be rather easy so we left Chisinau with minimal research. It took us a while to find the right minibus to Orhei and when we did the only three seats were right at http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-212837.html Half eight in the morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready as best as possible in that tiny room. A Scottish guy called Chris had arrived in the middle of the night and this morning we found out that he had no money because his cards had been rejected like ours. He had tried so many ATM's that his card had been cancelled. We didn't have much time to chat but we gave him the equivalent http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-212836.html Due to the room being full of guys and the fact we were awake most of the night we stayed in bed till everyone else had got up. We got up and sorted out some mundane necessities and left the hostel around twelve.We bought breakfast from the local supermarket which consisted of a danish pastry fruit and juice. We sat and ate it on the steps of the cathedral watching people pass. At one point a Rom http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-211300.html We woke up rather early and left the room as discretely as possible. The girl on the desk rang and ordered us a taxi and we thought told them where we were going. The driver was lovely but it was only when he gave us a map as a gift that we realised we were heading to the wrong bus station. When we did get to the right station he asked around till he found the right bus for us.The driver of the b http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-211297.html I LOVE YOUTH HOSTELS.. it might be small stuffy hot no internet. BUT it saves me from my problems at least some.... So having a very difficult time getting around and actually travel within Moldova..the microbus system is kinda....all over the place..like Mini vans in HK but its hard to find the terminus.... Anyways LUCKILY there were these Estonians in my hostel one of them spoke Russian http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-188508.html I LOVE YOUTH HOSTELS..it might be small stuffy hot no internet.BUT it saves me from my problems at least some....So having a very difficult time getting around and actually travel within Moldova..the microbus system is kinda....all over the place..like Mini vans in HK but its hard to find the terminus....Anyways LUCKILY there were these Estonians in my hostel one of them spoke Russian so http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-184748.html OkSo from Romania on to Moldova...Took the train to Iasi and then the bus to Chisinau....besides hot...nothing much.Met this Moldovian woman on the bus and she couldn't speak much English..very interesting still able to kinda communicate.She was trying to help me to my hostel but I guess she got it wrong...we got off way far from the city centre and no ATM around worksShe then paid for the ta http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-183913.html Getting to Moldova from Manchester is not easy or cheap as I was soon going to find out. I had 2 options to get there. Plan A was take a flight via Stanstead Airport near London to Chisinau easy eh But expensive 400 plus for a return flight. Plan B Take a flight to Romania via Frankfurt and then take an over night train to Chisinau. Flight would cost 188 and price of the Train Journey was http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-163136.html That is where the real adventure started. day3Easter monday arrived at 9am in Chisinau or Kisinew in Russian first challenge to find a working cash machine couldn't find one tried 2 different cards at approx. 6 cash machines walked with luggage towards city centre finally were lucky and found an open bank branch which gave us a cash advance really lucky first destination Mc http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-150366.html We wanted to share some additional photos with you all. We have more than a hundred but will limit this entry to just a few http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-117924.html Hello Friends and Family Wendy and Adrienne here. We thought we would take advantage of our last evening here in Istanbul to upload a few photos of the orphans despite the very slow wireless network.Hope you enjoy the pics. The only thing we miss about Moldova are these children. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104464.html Here are some of the photos of where we lived in Chisenau Moldova. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104462.html Hello Again Friends and Family Adrienne and Wendy here.It's our last day and time to describe all the tidbits of cultural differences we have experienced here. We hope you will be amused by them.Walking in ChisenauSidewalks as we know them in the U.S. do not exist in Chisenau. At best they are blobs of pavement but never are they without cracks holes and everpresent mud and dirt. Often th http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104461.html Hey y'all it's an entry from both Adrienne and Wendy togetherWe just left the orphanage for the last time. As you can imagine we are both very sad but we had a wonderful sendoff. The director allowed us to visit each of the groups we worked with over the past 3 weeks. We were able to get lots of hugs and cuddles see some silly dances and feel like a rock star each time we entered a room. Who http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104460.html Hi everyone. It's Adrienne and I just wanted to piggyback on Wendy's comments about what happened at the orphanage this morning. The morning had actually started out very good. Because of the weather we were inside and three of the older kids were getting new clothes because they will be starting school next week. It was really cool to see how proud they were in these clothes which are a bit http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104458.html Hello All Wendy here. Today brings some rainy weather in Moldova and the temperature has got to be in the 60's because even I feel like I need a sweater. This is a huge improvement over the extraordinarily hot weather we experienced last week.In spite of the clouds and threatening rain our group's caretaker wanted them to go outside for a little while and we soon saw why. About twenty volun http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104457.html Adrienne here. At the orphanage this morning we checked in with the director to find out which group we would be assigned to this week. We were given Group 8 which is the group of 6 and 7 year olds that we were unofficially playing with last week when we were assigned the 2 year olds that play next to them. So there was no need to learn new names or try to break the ice which was nice.When we http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104456.html Hello readers from Adrienne.As you know we have been working with 2 year olds for the past few days. For some reason however they play with the 6 and 7 year olds which has created some difficulties because the older kids want to be picked up and held just like we do with the little ones. Their neediness is heartbreakingthey are like 3 year olds in 6 year old bodies.For some reason today wa http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104455.html Hello Everyone Wendy here.Our day was made yesterday by an incident at the orphange that melted not just our hearts but all of the caretakers in our vicinity ...We were doing our thing with the toddlers when suddenly around the corner popped two of our ambulatory Downs kids at high speed running directly for us. Andre with his huge smile and distinctive gait led the way with Nicolietta clo http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104454.html From AdrienneNot that we are counting down or anything but as of tomorrow we only have one week left in Moldova It is amazing how in 2 weeks the children at the orphanage know us and look forward to seeing us. I think the softest spots in our hearts are still for our first group. This morning their caregiver took them on a walk to our area of the yard today. When Andre and Nicollietta saw http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Moldova/Centre/Chisinau/blog-104453.html