Leaving Krakow wasn't as easy as it appeared at first . The hitching spot I had chosen was a bus stop with a large bay for cars to pull in but this had been cut into pieces by the road crew who were working on it . With the Swiss CS girl (who from this point on will be referred to as Martina) we walked up the road until we found another bus stop on a intersection and after about a hour we were picked up by a Polish man who was a civil engineer . As it turned out he wanted to move to New Zealand with his wife and so we had a good chat about the why he should move to Auckland as he drove us towards the boarder and dropped us in a small village from which we could work towards the boarder
It took another 3 rides until we made it to the no mans land that is the Polish/Slovakian boarder crossing on highway 77 when we were picked up by a interesting Slovakian man and his Czech girlfriend who were driving their friends car home (it was a long story which I can't recall at this time). The Slovakian man had done his fair share of hitching in his time and it was cool exchange stories with him about hitching and life in general . He said it was rare for him to see hitchers anymore and treated us to lunch and a beer at a cafe at the foot of a impressive Hungarian Castle where Nosferatu was filmed . After lunch he drove us close to the Hungarian boarder where we said our goodbyes
In the late evening we made Budapest after a Polish couple in a transit van who were on their way to Croatia picked us up from the Hungarian boarder and dropped us off a couple of blocks away from the train station where we could get our bearings where we found a hostel to crash in . I had visited Budapest last year but it was Martinas first time so we walked around the town centre and waterfront in the morning (with all our kit because the hostel had a 1000 forint fee for baggage storage !!) before hitting the indoor market for some cheap grub . Budapest is one of my favourite European cities and the locals don't appear to be jaded by tourism yet . It would have been nice to show Martina around but time was of the essence and we wanted to get to Romania quickly so she could visit a friend in Istanbul and I could travel north towards Russia
Getting out of Budapest was troublesome to say the least . We aimed for the E60 and we used the metro but it took us some time to get the correct bus with the language barrier and when we got to the spot it was less than ideal . The "önramp" was two slip roads from the intersection which merged into one and then became the motorway so we took a side each and hoped for the best . We didn't have to wait to long and got a ride to the closest petrol station and with the ball rolling we made it to Oradea about 11pm . Although it was dark Oradea didn't appeal to any of the senses so we took the train to Cluj-Napoca
There was no heating and it was a cold night with 6 other people crammed into the small compartment so sleeping wasn't really possible but the when we arrived in Cluj-Napoca in the early morning. We basked in the warmth of the train station waiting room until the guard threw everyone out and we made our way to the city centre on a tram that was covered head-to-toe in German, perhaps it spent its youth in another part of the world before ending up in Cluj-Napoca ?
We were tired so after making our way around the city at noon we made for a park which overlooked the city and slept for a couple of hours . From the park you could see the new and old with the new cafes and bars mixing with the traditional bright blues and yellows for which Eastern Europe is famous for and a somewhat unique method of arranging power lines ! . In the park there were two Roma Gypsy men who were throwing sticks and stones at a large apple tree and after a couple of hours they collected the fruits of their labour (sorry) and marched off into the distance. I was stuck by how dark they were and didn't appear to be releated the Gypsy people in Ireland or Britain
We walked back into town to by a ticket from the ticket office (this isn't always part of the train station in Romania) for Bucharest that night . The train to Bucharest to had the same layout as the Oredea/Cluj-Napoca
and wasn't again sleep wasn't an option .
Our first morning in Bucharest didn't go to plan. The two hostels that the Lonely Planet guide had suggested no longer existed so it was only with the help of a friendly local that we found a hostel to call our temporary home . Bucharest is a crazy place to visit (in the best possible way) and is full of contradictions . The neighbourhood our hostel was in was a poor area where the streets have a dirty/sandy look to them stray dogs roaming around (and waking you up at 6 in the morning) but walk a few blocks away and you are in the modern metro or on a new Mercedes bus . Even the huge Parliament building impressive as it is has cracked tiles in the parking lot .
Worryingly what remains of the historic district is being tarted up in a way suggest's that Bucharest could possibly be the next Ryanair staghole and the character of this wild and eccentric place will be steamrolled by weekend warriors and their pint of cheap Australian beer . I hope this isn't the case and that Romania will become a modern European country but keep some of its wild west type character
Travelling through the Eastern Bloc has been a challenging at times but it has been very rewarding . Its a great feeling having total freedom in where you would like to go. With a thumb and a map you can get almost anywhere and it was nice to see that in the Eastern Bloc young people will pick up hitch hikers which isn't always the case in Western Europe.
Now it is time to leave Romania and head up towards the heart of the beast that was the leader of the pack but thats enough rambling here is some eye candy
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