Transylvania
...is pretty cool. The town I'm in (barely over 20K people) is really lovely, picturesque and quaint. My hostel is nice, small and blissfully quiet. It also has NEW, blissfully comfortable mattresses. I managed to have the entire dorm to myself last night, and I had probably my best night's sleep since I've been in Europe. I slept for nearly 11 hours, and I just didn't want to get out of bed, it was so comfortable. The guys who clerk there are pretty cool. They shared some wine with me last night, and we swapped various stories (travel and other) for an hour or so. I heard about the vegans that visited, and were appalled at the bbq the hostel hosted the night they were there. Well, what can a vegan expect when a bbq is advertised, the hostel staff go to market, select a [live] pig, have it slaughtered, bring it back and put it on the spit?
So. Have had the images on my digital camera burned to CD, so I can now begin to take more pictures here. It's a very warm day, and the light is perfect for taking photos.
As I mentioned previously, Romania is not part of the EU. The standard of living here is bleak in the countryside. I saw people hoeing enormous fields, by hand; people working in fields with scythes; horse-drawn carts (because it was the only form of transport available for them); gypsies on the train. A couple people I've met have informed me the average wage for a Romanian is about $100 USD a month. However, the child beggars at the train station can reportedly make a lot more than that, because of all the handouts the tourists give them. Some of the places we passed, before where I arrived, were bleak. Truly bleak. I've heard that Bulgaria is much of the same, so it will be interesting to see there. I'm on my way towards Istanbul, and am making stops along the way, instead of just taking the realllllly long train ride directly there. Yesterday was dominated by a 9+ hour train ride, and the thought of the 36 hour, Budapest to Istanbul ride was just not appealing. Especially as I'm travelling alone and am going through plenty of places with gypsies.
In any case, this is a bit of a wandering post, so please forgive that. I'm still in the throes of having had a blissfully perfect night's sleep.
Oh, and in case you haven't already noticed, there are THREE posts written today.
Finally, I will be posting a large number of my travel photos to iphoto.com. If you are not someone already on my personal email mailing list, or someone who's asked for specific photos, please send me a private email and I will let you know when the photos are posted.
So, off to walk the hills and steps of this town I go.
So. Have had the images on my digital camera burned to CD, so I can now begin to take more pictures here. It's a very warm day, and the light is perfect for taking photos.
As I mentioned previously, Romania is not part of the EU. The standard of living here is bleak in the countryside. I saw people hoeing enormous fields, by hand; people working in fields with scythes; horse-drawn carts (because it was the only form of transport available for them); gypsies on the train. A couple people I've met have informed me the average wage for a Romanian is about $100 USD a month. However, the child beggars at the train station can reportedly make a lot more than that, because of all the handouts the tourists give them. Some of the places we passed, before where I arrived, were bleak. Truly bleak. I've heard that Bulgaria is much of the same, so it will be interesting to see there. I'm on my way towards Istanbul, and am making stops along the way, instead of just taking the realllllly long train ride directly there. Yesterday was dominated by a 9+ hour train ride, and the thought of the 36 hour, Budapest to Istanbul ride was just not appealing. Especially as I'm travelling alone and am going through plenty of places with gypsies.
In any case, this is a bit of a wandering post, so please forgive that. I'm still in the throes of having had a blissfully perfect night's sleep.
Oh, and in case you haven't already noticed, there are THREE posts written today.
Finally, I will be posting a large number of my travel photos to iphoto.com. If you are not someone already on my personal email mailing list, or someone who's asked for specific photos, please send me a private email and I will let you know when the photos are posted.
So, off to walk the hills and steps of this town I go.
posted by Shana @ 5:37 AM
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