Barlad be my name
The Bulgarian part of the hitch was less than impressive, I waited 3 hours in hardcore sun next to these guys who were waving loads of cash about - black market money exchangers. The guy was a little bit irritating, kept on offering his driving services for an insane 80 euros.. I was inclined to headbutt him.. the cheeky sod!
My sun cream was at the very bottom of my bag and I'd been too lazy to reach for it.. the results were not particularly inspiring!! Anyway after 3 hours, one guy took me about 10km and after about 30 minutes a bus stopped and agreed to take me to Silistra for free after I explained that I had spent all my Bulgarian money already.. a free 120km bus ride, is not too shabby.
I love the Silistra border crossing, it's very special - I must be one of the only foreigners that uses it but everybody is very kind there. The bus driver dropped me right next to the border and I was through in no time, all the border guards were full of smiles and there were a lot of puppies playing on the border for some reason.
The Silistra-Calarasi border is pretty cool, after you clear Romanian customs, you turn left and then right and within about 800m you reach the River Danube.. every 30 minutes a raft takes you across to the other side for free. From the other side, I hitched a car that was coming off the raft and it took me into Calarasi.
Romanian hitching is legendarily easy, everyone will tell you that drivers ask for money but it's not true.. I've never been asked in all my hitching there, they expect money from locals and of course it's accepted if a guest gives it but no one will ever ask. From Calarasi, I got a lift from a brewer to Slobozia and from there a truck to Galati.. this truck driver had spent a lot of years driving to Iraq and spoke fluent Arabic, Turkish and Russian, he let me ring Andra (my host in Iasi) to tell her what was happening and then wouldn't let me hitchike a car, so he flagged all the trucks down himself and found me a ride to Tecuci.
Tecuci is a bit of a shit hole but I almost managed to get a ride from this Moldovan chap with a stunning girlfriend who was going to the border, however his boss who was Chinese.. said no. Fucking businessman. I did succesfully get a ride from a trucker going to Barlad, Barlad is about 140km from Iasi and when I arrived there, there was no traffic at all. The local gypsys in a bar next to the hitching place were drunk and I was arousing an interest which I didn't like too much. Something happened in the bar.. seemed like a bit of a riot and an elderly woman started to throw everyone out with a stick.
I decided to enter the factory that the truck had drove to, to see if I could sleep there. I talked with the security and they said I could sit with them in the room until the morning. Around 2am, they changed shifts and they failed to tell them about me, this was unbelievable! The new guys come in and they're like.. who the fuck are you? I try to explain that I'm sleeping there for the night and there like no no, taxi, taxi, taxi, centre. I'm like... no, no, sleep, sleep, here (in a german accent for some reason) and oh shit, I have to leave.
I see a mini bus going the other direction from Iasi-Galati.. so I thought it would be a wise decision to go to a bank machine and get some money incase one goes the other way. I got the money out, put my bank card in my pocket and then felt something hit my foot. I got a bit bored of waiting to see if a mini bus would come and went for some kip in a field (just sleeping on my backpack, as I failed to bring a sleeping bag or tent.. pah, who needs them..only girls), the field actually turned out to be loads of ant hills, which is also the reason it was a tickling field.
Wake up in the morning because of the heat and I realise that I've lost my bank card.. I also realise I have a huge hole in my pocket, great it was that thing that hit my foot my the bank machine. Anyway, hitch to Iasi wasn't too difficult and I arrived about 11;30.
My sun cream was at the very bottom of my bag and I'd been too lazy to reach for it.. the results were not particularly inspiring!! Anyway after 3 hours, one guy took me about 10km and after about 30 minutes a bus stopped and agreed to take me to Silistra for free after I explained that I had spent all my Bulgarian money already.. a free 120km bus ride, is not too shabby.
I love the Silistra border crossing, it's very special - I must be one of the only foreigners that uses it but everybody is very kind there. The bus driver dropped me right next to the border and I was through in no time, all the border guards were full of smiles and there were a lot of puppies playing on the border for some reason.
The Silistra-Calarasi border is pretty cool, after you clear Romanian customs, you turn left and then right and within about 800m you reach the River Danube.. every 30 minutes a raft takes you across to the other side for free. From the other side, I hitched a car that was coming off the raft and it took me into Calarasi.
Romanian hitching is legendarily easy, everyone will tell you that drivers ask for money but it's not true.. I've never been asked in all my hitching there, they expect money from locals and of course it's accepted if a guest gives it but no one will ever ask. From Calarasi, I got a lift from a brewer to Slobozia and from there a truck to Galati.. this truck driver had spent a lot of years driving to Iraq and spoke fluent Arabic, Turkish and Russian, he let me ring Andra (my host in Iasi) to tell her what was happening and then wouldn't let me hitchike a car, so he flagged all the trucks down himself and found me a ride to Tecuci.
Tecuci is a bit of a shit hole but I almost managed to get a ride from this Moldovan chap with a stunning girlfriend who was going to the border, however his boss who was Chinese.. said no. Fucking businessman. I did succesfully get a ride from a trucker going to Barlad, Barlad is about 140km from Iasi and when I arrived there, there was no traffic at all. The local gypsys in a bar next to the hitching place were drunk and I was arousing an interest which I didn't like too much. Something happened in the bar.. seemed like a bit of a riot and an elderly woman started to throw everyone out with a stick.
I decided to enter the factory that the truck had drove to, to see if I could sleep there. I talked with the security and they said I could sit with them in the room until the morning. Around 2am, they changed shifts and they failed to tell them about me, this was unbelievable! The new guys come in and they're like.. who the fuck are you? I try to explain that I'm sleeping there for the night and there like no no, taxi, taxi, taxi, centre. I'm like... no, no, sleep, sleep, here (in a german accent for some reason) and oh shit, I have to leave.
I see a mini bus going the other direction from Iasi-Galati.. so I thought it would be a wise decision to go to a bank machine and get some money incase one goes the other way. I got the money out, put my bank card in my pocket and then felt something hit my foot. I got a bit bored of waiting to see if a mini bus would come and went for some kip in a field (just sleeping on my backpack, as I failed to bring a sleeping bag or tent.. pah, who needs them..only girls), the field actually turned out to be loads of ant hills, which is also the reason it was a tickling field.
Wake up in the morning because of the heat and I realise that I've lost my bank card.. I also realise I have a huge hole in my pocket, great it was that thing that hit my foot my the bank machine. Anyway, hitch to Iasi wasn't too difficult and I arrived about 11;30.
posted by dangaroo at 4:38 AM
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