Crossed the Border into Ukraine from Romania on Foot

[ladislav]

Never did this before in any country, so this was interesting.

No planes into Ukraine, so I took the train from Bucharest to Suceava. Took six hours.

While at the station in Bucharest, I saw a center for Ukrainian refugees. I walked in to check it out. It was full of Romani gypsie families from Ukraine. I was told that they had a hard time getting them situated as nobody in Romania would want to take them into their apartments.

So, basically, if the people were Slavic, they were welcome, if they were Gypsies, all with Ukrainian documents and Ukrainian names, they were still Gypsies and were from India and were the lowest caste. This is how it works there. In American terms, white people were met with open arms, but people of color were not. And Gypsies are people of color in E. Europe as are Jews.

Roma are heavily discriminated against in that part of Europe. I took one family to the MacDonalds to feed them and also gave them a bit of money. One mother and six small kids. An adorable family and the kids treated me as an uncle. Thank you uncle!

Eventually, they told me at the center that some church took one family. The other family had to go and lodge a complaint at some human rights organization and they left.

From there, I took a taxi, $50 to the Ukrainian border.
Beautiful countryside, first flat and mainly sunflower fields, then become more hilly and pastoral.

But the infrastructure was shabby, worse than in the US Rust Belt.

I slept in Suceava, the hotel was $59. The service was bad. I went to eat at a restaurant and the air conditioning was off. And it was hot. I asked them to turn it on. The waiter told me, no, he would not do it because there were other people in the room and they wanted the room to be the temperature it was. I only had the right to have it on in my room, but not ask inside a restaurant. WTF!

I initially wanted to take the bus for some $15, but the whole thing was disorganized, the bus driver was mean. Some Ukrainians had a cat and he said that it was to go into the hold. But it was really hot and they were saying the cat would die and the driver said it was not his problem. Anyway, there was one big emotional drama and I just did not want to deal with it.

The taxi driver spoke good English and Spanish, it was a really pretty ride, he left me at this desolate little town and then I had to walk some 100 yards to what was a typical border with an arch, booths, the works. It was weird walking while other people were driving. But it was still quite easy. I just walked over to the booth, gave my passport, they stamped it. Bang, I was in the no mans land. Another 200 yards of walking down this wide road to the Ukrainian side.

Ukrainians are a lot less friendly than Romanians and the first guard was this burly blond man. He just pointed me to the booth. The ladies were kind of official looking and not friendly at all. Then, the Customs window and they asked me how much money I had and if I had any precious metals on me. Then, more passages with netted fences, then another booth and they collected my Customs slip, and I was in Ukraine. Walked out and looked for another taxi. There were all these shops, and a guy came out and he exchanged my money and got me a taxi driver to take me to Chernivtsi. Another $25.

Basically, I crossed from a relaxed and very smiley Latin country into a much more formal, Slavic country. This part of Ukraine used to be Austria, so they kind of act Germanic here, way more reserved.

Immediately, the faces are different. Romanians looked Italian, dark complexioned in many cases, some looked like Turks, and now I was among many, many blonds with blue eyes.

Like two different races.

I am now in Chernivtsi and it is a very old town and very Austrian looking. On the streets I hear both Russian and Ukrainian. And some people are speaking Romanian. Looks multiethnic.

Anyway, will see what new days bring.

[Moretorque]

Thanks, that was very interesting. I wonder if the cat is OK ?

[ladislav]

Thanks, that was very interesting. I wonder if the cat is OK ?

I hope so. The protests were vocal and one Ukrainian lady threatened to take the bus company to court. I left all that noise and could not do much but pray for the cat.

This is what Chernivtsi looks like now

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLnnyj3SINg
[/youtube]

[Moretorque]

Thanks, that was very interesting. I wonder if the cat is OK ?

I hope so. The protests were vocal and one Ukrainian lady threatened to take the bus company to court. I left all that noise and could not do much but pray for the cat.

This is what Chernivtsi looks like now

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLnnyj3SINg
[/youtube]

I think they should put people in the cargo holds and let the cats sit in the AC and enjoy the scenery on the drives.