With love, kisses and bites from Translyvania

Location Transylvania, Romania

Yup. Thats right. We were in Dracula country. Technically my title is incorrect, because I am writing this having left Romania but I couldnt resist using the name Transylvania. Ha.

So basically, from Budapest we took an overnight train to Romania. I wouldnt recommend this because you will find the immigration officials waking you up several times during the night, wanting to see your passport. An unusual way of experiencing customs, for sure. However, Ive realised I really like overnight trains. I feel adventurous whenever we get on one. Definitely, the fact that your covering so much distance, and the smooth rocking of the train putting you to sleep is an experience if any.

So Transylvania. As much as Id like to say dark, gloomy and full of eerie castles, its not really. We stayed in Sighisoara, where Vlad Tepes the inspiration behind Dracula lived, but the dracula cartoons and figures everywhere merely add comical effect to an otherwise very beautiful countryside. We spend 2 days in Sighisoara, Brasov, and Sinaia, a ski resort. Amazing green forests covering big sharped edged mountains, really beautiful to watch as our train chugged through such landscapes decorated with clouds...we were that high up.

Definitely a huge difference when moving from Hungary to Romania. Romania is so much poorer. For the first time we notice beggars, mainly Romas, and the water here is not drinkable. The train station wasnt even paved. We seem to be progressing from poor to poorer as we continue on our trip. The people are also more unused to foreigners. We got ALOT of staring, even in Hungary, which makes me think not many South Asians visit these parts. We only came across hijabi Muslims twice and each time they greeted us and waved excitedly at the sight of other Muslims. Ha. Also, our food situation is so dismal here. Mountain landscapes dont really produce much fish....so we are surviving on potatoes and the odd pizza. Im definitely liking Romania though. Only here do you pass by a Roman Orthodox Church and here the sound of grown men in robes singing hymns in beautiful deep voices. The language barrier is also proving much harder here. We had a little mishap while trying to leave our luggage at the station lockers. The old grandad working there, I think suffering from amnesia, made us pay him 3 bucks twice, 2 seconds apart, and we just couldnt get it through to him that we had just paid him. Ah well lol. Doesnt help that Romanian currency runs in 2 kinds, the old and the new, and we are constantly lost wondering if 10,000 lei is equal to 1 lei...