Weekend Trip (1/4/09) - Moldova (Ungheni)

Bathroom door signs at the City Hall in Ungheni

We were supposed to meet Radu in the lobby of our hotel at 7:30am to get an early start into Moldova. Radu said it could sometimes take an hour or two to get through the border. Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. They are not members of the European Union (Romania is the poorest country in the European union). We had 3 main reasons for going to Moldova -- 1. To get another stamp in our passports 2. To buy chocolate 3. To buy vodka.. Most important to all of us was the passport stamp! LOL
Anyway, Radu was supposed to meet us at 7:30... At 8am Evan called his cell phone, he answered apologizing that he had forgotten to set his alarm clock. While waiting on Radu I had a lot of water -- I was thinking I had not been drinking enough and was somewhat dehydrated so I was guzzling it. After we exited Romania and were just waiting for them to bring back our passports Radu took me inside the border store so I could get something with caffeine -- no diet mountain dews here only coke light... but nothing diet or light at the border store so I bought a Mountain Dew (most bang for my buck)... We then sat through Moldovian customs.. I knew I had to pee but there was no way I was getting out to go there... After we passed through customs I asked Radu about a toilet.. he said there weren't any.. I told him he was stopping the van for me to pee in a field if he didn't find me a toilet. I wasn't joking! LOL I have never had to pee so badly in my life and the road was unbelievably bumpy! Finally we reach Ungheni, our destination for chocolate. Radu pulled into a empty parking lot and said he was going to see if anyone was in the City Hall building because there was a toilet there. Finally he came out and said yes we could go in... I have never been so happy to see a toilet in my life!

As we were leaving the hallway where the bathrooms were located a gentleman came out of an office in the hallway across from ours and started talking to Radu... Evan and I began scurrying down the stairs trying to fly below radar thinking that this guy is asking Radu what on earth he thinks he is doing using the bathrooms in this building! Radu then calls out to us and tells us that he has explained to the gentleman that we are volunteers working in Romania and we wanted to see Moldova. The gentleman would like to speak with us. We walk back up the stairs and meet the PRESIDENT of the county! LOL He was so nice and told us he was grateful to the United States because they send volunteers to Moldova also to work in education. He present us each with a calendar and a Christmas card and let us have our picture made with him. He invited us to come back to his country to volunteer anytime. The last part of the conversation Radu didn't translate but I am pretty sure he invited us to stay at his house too! LOL

The city hall building

The Christmas tree in the middle of the city hall parking lot

A beautiful church Radu took us to visit in Ungheni

War memorials for the Soviet soldiers who died during WWI and WWII

An apartment building behind a park in downtown Ungheni

Shannon and Kim

I didn't have any paper to write down the name of the city so I had to take a picture of a trash can with the name on it LOL

The itty bitty candy store... we stood in line for at least 30 minutes

Heading across the street to buy wine and vodka -- as we crossed the street Radu informed us of Russian Law, which Moldova still operates under... Russian Law states that roads are for vehicles and sidewalks are for people so crosswalks mean nothing! If a pedistrian is hit it is his/her fault not the driver!

Kim and I didn't have enough Moldovian money to buy what we wanted in the store. So we had to search out an ATM that would take our cards.. but we finally met with success and were able to purchase our $1.25 vodka and $2.50 Moldovian wine (which Radu insists is one of the top 3 wines in the world but none of us had ever heard of Moldovian wine!).

Leaving Moldova -- the landscape looks a lot like Romania

Similiar shrines by the side of the road -- I did find out that the shrines represent a place where someone has died in a car accident. They are placed there to remind passersby of their own mortality.

People trying to hitchhike across the border.. it is illegal to cross the border on foot..

As soon as you cross into Moldova a person walks over to your car and gets in to exchange your money for you... it was rather freaky! LOL This is one of the exchange booths..