Shitting through Eastern Europe

Ciao tutti,
This is a very, very short update just to let you know what's going on. No pictures yet, unfortunately, but I promise I'll post them soon. Bottom line, we're still alive. Bucharest was unexpectedly quite nice. It wasn't as square and rigid as we had imagined this former Communist city would have become under the influence of the Soviets, but actually very green and beautiful. Its cracked side streets and enormous building projects all over the city reminded us of Berlin more than of pictures of Moscow. Moldova's capital Chisinau was a lovely small-town community that looked a lot more developed than Bucharest and where the people were very friendly. We didn't speak a word of Romanian (or Moldovan which, contrary to the official position of the Moldovan government, is not a separate language but just a dialect of Romanian) and not many people there spoke any English but Romanian is pretty much like Italian pronounced gutturally with endings like 'chzch' or 'zkh'. We thoroughly enjoyed both cities.

But there was trouble ahead. We had booked a very early bus from Chisinau to Odessa in Ukraine around the Moldovan runaway region and self-proclaimed country Transdnistria, but after getting up very early and waiting for a long time at the bus station the bus didn't show up at all. It turned out that it had been cancelled just hours after we had bought our ticket! So they gave us a choice either to transfer to the next bus which would take us through Transdnistria or to wait a bit longer for another bus around it. We chose option number 1. Big mistake! Che errorone!

At the Moldovan-Transdnistrian 'border' our bus was pulled over and we had to get off in order to discuss our terms of passage. While threatened by three soldiers carrying guns who searched our bags we were treated like shit because we were missing the Moldovan exit stamp (well *duh*, there is no country in the world that recognises Transdnistria as an independent country and Moldova is the last of them to be inclined to do so, wherefore we hadn't left Moldova and hence had not yet gotten an exit stamp!!!!). Nothing really happened except for the fact that they took 50 euros off us - and we had expected them to ask for some money although not necessarily this much - it got me really angry. I just don't get people like that. They were actually enjoying it. What's happened to the basic premise that you always treat people with the respect they deserve. Does just thinking that you have a right to piece of land and proclaiming it your own give you the right to treat people who don't live in your country like shit? To enjoy extorting them? To make them beg? To threaten them with guns? They didn't actually point their guns at us but they were waving them around obviously trying to scare us. Well, they succeeded, hallelujah, hurray for the assholes!

When this was over and we got back on the bus I was just angry and started wondering about why the international community doesn't just recognise Transdnistria as a country. I may be stupid and may not understand anything about international politics but if a group of people want to have their own country why not just give it to them? That way things can be organised, there will be an official border and it would be so much better for trade! If they want their own country and make such a fuss trying to claim it, just give it to them and let them rot in it! Anyway, we weren't finished yet. When we tried to leave we were searched again and once more reminded that we didn't have a Moldovan exit stamp. After a lot of waiting, discussing and them walking around shouting trying to impress us they made us pay another 50 euros and told us to walk across the border. Our bus had already passed the border and all the other passengers were waiting for us and a British family. They made us wait in the scorching heat for an hour while the line wasn't moving much and we had all run out of water. The Ukrainian-speaking wife of the British family had to go into/fake a fit because her 6 year-old son was burning alive to get the attention of the border guards. Once she went crazy it all ended very fast. They took us into the office we would have gone into anyway after we had come to the end of the queue, and quickly gave us all the stamps we needed. You'd think the Ukrainians would know about the asshole Transdnistrians by now and be a bit more lenient and helpful.

Anyway, I don't care that we had to pay some money to get through Transdnistria but it's the way they made us. If they had just put up a sign saying 'passage 20 euros' or something it would have been OK, we would have paid and all would have been fine, but instead they threatened us and denigrated us trying to show us their superiority and abusing their power scaring people and making them insecure for no reason but the enjoyment of the little power they have. I didn't know people like this still existed - and in Europe! They make me puke.

And you may call me a hippy or a communist and I really don't care, but I just don't get this claiming a land for yourselves! Seriously, get a grip! The world is big enough for all of us, isn't it? I thought we were well underway shaking this concept of separate nations. All over the world countries our forming unions to obliterate borders and they're claiming a piece of land just for them?! This area is obviously not ready to be a part of Europe yet. My advice to the world is give them their country, build a concrete wall around it, torch it, bulldoze it and continue to more important matters!!!!! Oh, and did I tell you that I was suffering from diarrhoea? I would so much have liked to shit all over those Transdnistrians - and almost did too!!!

Thanks for letting me ramble on. So, continuing the story, we finally got to Odessa and it sucked. Maybe it was just because we were so angry with the Transdnistrians or because we were tired or because I had imagined the city completely different but we didn't like it. The fact that all hotels were fully booked except for a very expensive one didn't help either. Anyway, we were happy to be able to leave the next day and head for Kyiv. Kyiv, lovely, Kyiv, where we have been staying until today. Kyiv is beautiful, green, spacious, with a very nice mixture of architectural styles and many, many churches with shiny golden cupolas. We're leaving for Kamyanets-Podilsky tonight.

Oh, and it's still diarrhoea galore (and I'm not the only one now), so we're still farting and shitting our way through Eastern Europe!!!!!!

XXX, Fe

PS Don't let this post deceive you! Except for those hours in Transdnistria, I've been having the time of my life!