Moldova

Malderavie

Finally got to Moldova after quite a hectic twenty hours, with all three planes being delayed. This place is fantastic - It's like someone took Edinburgh zoo and let all the animals go, then broke some of the enclosures and graffiti'ed others, then put all the animals back. All the buildings are tall, square blocks of similar looking flats, and we've yet to come across a park which has play equipment that's still functional.

I've been here for two or three days, and already we've done so much. The wine and food is cheap as chips here, and is really tasty. Walking about the city is awesome - There's homeless people everywhere drinking on benches, starring you out as you walk by - Yet the roads are full of rich people driving ferrari's and porsche's. Water is scarce here - nah its not really, but you have to run the hot tap for twenty minutes until you get any sort of heat, which makes showering and washing the dishes a bit of fun. Vlad tells me that since we're at the top of the building, that's why it takes so long, and we're actually helping everyone else in the building to get their h2o flowing. Sure enough a few trips down the stairs saw a few cleaner than usual oldies coming out their flat and greeting us with a spasebas (Thanks in Russian) and a smile.

Vladimir's pad consists of one bed room and a living room. His flat mate (Ogre) sleeps in the bed room, meaning we get a couch each in the living room.

The bottom of each tree is painted white, to reflect the car's headlights in the dark. (When they asked me why I thought this was, I queried it was some rebellious young Moldovan street gang trying to make a statement.)

The roads are madness. If you cross anywhere other than a zebra crossing or traffics lights showing green, you will die. However if your on a zebra crossing, cars will stop faster than MC Hammer.

The language is tough as hell - I've been trying to pick up words when other people speak, but progress is slow. They speak so fast, and everyone seems to shout angrily at each other.

One of the main reasons for coming out here was to stream a bit of chess online with Vladimir. We've decided on the name ChessBS for our stream, and today we're going to buy a webcam and an orange squeezer. (Vladimir is adament we cant stream without freshly squeezed orange juice.)

After proofreading this post (Yeah I proofread...) I realized I make Moldova sound shite. It's actually really great - All the little quirks like the hot water and painted tree's just make this place so real - You really enjoy a shower when you have to wait twenty minutes for it, and after a few wines walking home your extremely grateful to the tree-painter.

Ogre has a car, so the plan is in a few days to go to Transnistria, a country that isn't really a country and if you go to jail your own country cant help you get out. We're also planing a trip to Romania.

**Edit: Added some pictures of the fun we had at the market place. And our successful trip to the second hand shop.