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Published: March 27th 2007
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Yes that is an assortment of 2L (plastic) beer bottles
These gargantuan bottles cost about $2.50nz each... Here in east europe a 'small' beer is a 500ml glass bottle... HaHA!
Score Tally:
Scammers: lots
Emma: 1!
Romania seems about as corrupt as Bulgaria
I arrived in Bucharest train station off the sleeper (read: tired after having been got off the train at the turkish border and kept outside in the cold at 3am for an hour just so I could get stamped out through their damn border controls who are too lazy to come on the train to do their job faster than making everyone get dressed and off the train and line up and stamped and back on the train before they can switch around the carriages and split em up and join em back together so each carriage goes to a different place).
And a nice man asks if i need help (i think aha not this time buddy) I say no thankyou but he comes along with me anyway and helps me reserve my seat on the next train, as you cant reserve the whole trip, only the international part from the country you leave. if you have to get on a national train, with say 2 minutes changeover time, tough luck because that aint enough time to get off, change/withdraw money, buy a ticket for
the next train by writing the name of the station down and handing them the paper, then trying to ask what platform it leaves from as you cant read the arrivals/departure board because its in cyrillic or whatever (actually thats not romania but you often cant read the local spelling anyway - why do tourist companies print maps and information with the english version of words only and then expect you to be able to translate it???).
aaaaaanyway, back to the story, he chats up the ticket lady and pays 2 Lei (about nz $1.20) for the reservation for me (i say why are you paying for me but let it go, i dont care, ill just pay him back as soon as i get money out), takes me to an exchange office (not the dodgy one which i start to head for) who wont change my turkish Lira (damn them, i should be used to that by now, they only ever change euro, USD, pounds, sometimes australian dollars or canadian dollars and thats it) so i go to an atm to get out local currency, buy some water to get some change, and give him back 2 Lei, at
which point he gets angry and demands 5 Lei for commission, we have a little fight (i never asked you for help, i said no thankyou, i paid you back your money, take it or leave it (the 2 Lei) thats all your getting) he calls me a stupid, stupid girl and i say thankyou goodbye and get on the train to Brasov. and seethe for just about the whole trip, i hate people making me feel guilty. i did feel rather victorious at the same time though...
HA!
of course that was just a blip in the normal life of eastern europe, the next day i got ripped off again buying my next ticket - for not checking the ticket to see the price on it - she said 80 Lei, (said=type into a calculator and show me) I later saw on my ticket 70 Lei, (which is a ripoff in any case at 20 euro (NZ$40) for a sleeper, but at least its an official ripoff) so i ended up paying 50NZD the price of a cheap hotel for a sleeper because she pretended i didnt need change! grr!)
aaaaaah corrupt romania. and then there were all
the normal taxi drivers and the people selling you tours like in bulgaria (even if you show them the ticket you just bought to leave that evening they dont shut up and leave you alone) and people offering you 'help' or 'information' that just dont give up, you finally get rid of them basically by getting so frustrated and yelling at them and then swearing at them because yelling at them doesnt work, and then they come back 3 minutes later and start all over again, because obviously you might have changed your mind from a very definitive no (F*@$%K!!!) to a ok lets go. and then the ones that seem nice-ish to begin with get angry at you because you dont want/aren't stupid enough to take them up on what they are offering and they start on this spiel about how they were only trying to help and be nice, show hospitality, if you are going to take it the wrong way screw you, then all of a sudden they are nice and actually helpful and give you some useful information, and you start to have a nice conversation, then they get all angry again, its screwed up.
im not doing too bad though, i met this english guy in bulgaria who had his last 3 Lev (about $3) to buy a sandwich for the train trip in his hand in the line at the sandwich bar, some guy just walks up to him and says 'americano?' he says yes, and the guy just takes the money out of his hand! and then a train official comes up to him and shows him his train station official ID card, looks at his ticket, wont give it back, shows him the way to the platform (doesnt even carry his bags or anything you could reasonably charge for) and then demands 10 euro (NZD$20), wont give back the ticket till he pays! so im not quite that naiive but ive had my share (just look at
Apart from the normal stuff (im getting used to scammers, they are always just as persistent, but i begin to care less, but also beggars who come up and touch you gently on the arm and say 'im hungry, im hungry, please' and then just stand there 5 minutes making a noise now and again or touching you so you dont forget theyre there, its tragic, i hate it)
brasov was very pretty. the old town was well preserved, which was the first in a little while, but the town centre was actually really small for a pop. of 300,000, not many shops at all, and hardly anyone around. nice as it was, i was kinda glad i was only there one day to break up the would-be 33-hour train trip from istanbul to budapest
(i guess romanians actually work, not like bosnians who take 3 hour lunch breaks, oh and except for the two chubby schoolgirls i passed sitting on a parkbench with mcdonalds rubbish and drinking out of mcdonalds cups who asked if i had any change, the cheek! i get so angry, at that, its like, you are well, you just had a meal, get a job, dont ask for my money when i worked hard for it, paid my taxes, and came here to support your economy with my money! and collectors who target tourists on the streets and try to guilt you out, even though the money you spend should go in taxes to the government, so the collectors should go lobby the government, instead of targeting tourists, or young ones anyway that arent rich...=pet hate sorry to rant)
so yeah romania is a beautiful country (apart from the fields of rubbish you see from the train - not rubbish tips, simply... rubbish, all over the fields, in copious amounts) but i probably wasnt there long enough to have a really good time, only one day and half a night, not quite long enough to not be pissed off at train station shenanigans. the people were reasonably friendly though, the odd smile on the street, very helpful, and when i caught the next sleeper out i was in a cabin with this middle-age romanian woman who was sooooooo lovely, she fed me, showed me photos of her when she was young (either that or mayber her daughter i dont know), didnt understand a word i said, but gave me a massive hug and a kiss when i got off.
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