East of East

I have just returned from the last big trip I will take during my service here, and quite the trip it was. I traveled more than 2,200 miles by car, bus, train, taxi, hitchhiking, walking, and running (only one time when I was late for my train) in about a week. I set out on this adventure by myself, but I met so many people all along the way that other than my time spent in transport, I was almost never alone. My goal for this trip was to really get out there and go places that no one goes to, to get the 'real' experience, away from all the tourist infrastructure, away from food menus written in English, travel around country where I cant read the signs. Turns out, I should have gone to Africa, because this place I had envisioned doesn't actually exist for me in Europe. Transport was easy, signs in Romania are in English, and while the signs in Moldova and Ukraine are in Russian, I can read Russian so it wasn't a hindrance.

I think that with globalization proceeding the way it is, the far far away destination spots no longer exist. Everywhere you go you can find the same products, the same services, and the same foods. McDonald's in Odessa, Andy's pizza in Chisinau, the list goes on. This trade and connectivity is of course a good thing, but sometimes makes me wonder what it would have been like to travel abroad some 100 years ago, before everything became so homogenized.

Still, my trip was a good time, and Moldova and the Ukraine are about as different from the states as you can get in Europe without going to Belarus (good luck getting visas to that place). These places are still dotted with reminders of the communist rule; the soviet star adorning the train station in Chisiau, the hammer and sickle on top of every column in an art gallery, and good old fashioned soviet style tenement apartments everywhere you look.


Of all the places I visited though, I enjoyed Braşov the most. It is an absolutely beautiful town nestled up in the Carpathian mountains of Transylvania that has preserved its original character, feel and architecture from when it used to be fortified. There is lots of hiking around the town, and in the center is seems there is always something interesting going on. Its just a good time walking around the streets exploring.

(Brasov)

Moldova was a good time as well. I didn't spent all that much time there, but for my first day I met up with a volunteer who is working there and he showed me all around Chisinau (pronounced Kishe-now). Its an interesting city with a surprisingly large number of parks and shaded boulevards. In fact, the entire city looks like it was almost built in a forest from the number of trees that are present. It make for a pleasant place to wander around and relax at. It was nice though being there with someone that was familiar with the area because I was able to learn a lot about the place in a very short amount of time.

(Train Station in Chisinau)

From Chisinau I was off to Odessa. It turns out that pretty much everyone that lives in Odessa speaks Russian instead of Ukrainian, so I got plenty of chances to brush up (aka 'start learning') Russian. Actually, I can already understand some Russian because of its similarities to Bulgarian, so I was able to get my point across most of the time without too much difficulty. I was also able to somewhat follow along with the topics of conversations, if not any of the details.

(Learning Russian in Odessa)

From Odessa it was a long and tiring trip back down to Bulgaria, and I got stuck one night in Varna before I finally made it home. It ended up being a sweet trip though and it was over way to quickly. Now its back to work again and, unfortunately, it looks like I will be doing some in-country travel for work as well, which means even more time stuck in trains and buses. No rest for the weary I suppose. The good news though is that my brother should be here in just over a week and then summer beach weekends can begin! Summer here rocks.


Check out all the pics on my picasa page http://picasaweb.google.com/justinrobarge