hello, and yes we finally are in bucharest after nearly 2 weeks of sweat and toil on the dirty roads of romania. the departure from the lovely budapest was set for disaster from the start, as the rain came down on the way out of suburban pest, and we rolled on to the 'great hungarian plain', which i have renamed the 'flat, windy dull truck covered plain'. not that it was bad enough cycling down massive motorways, the only roads across this wasteland, into 30 mph winds, with trucks whizzing inches past every 2 seconds, and a totally flat straight road for hundreds of miles ahead, BUT, i went and got myself a bit of a stomach upset, and dioareaah, and tom got himself a nasty fluey cold, so we took 5 days or so of gradual cycling and resting and escaped the flatness of hungary's east to arrive at the Romanian border at a place called Oradea.
From here things got a lot more interesting but not necessarlily any easier, and after shelling out $40 we obtained a visa and were let in to romania. it is an understatement to say that things looked a little different here, it was in fact an absolute wasteland of factories, broken buildings, pollution, broken cars, and massive pipes all along the totally knackered road into oradea, and the difference is incredible here, it is so much poorer than poland, czech, hungary and the like. so it was a 400 mile journey to bucharest, and it took us some time to get used to being in romania, the roads have horse and carriages on them like it was 70 years ago, except they are all mixed in with beaten up old dacia cars.
the first 4 days we went along some minor roads in the mountains, and went through hundreds of little villages, with haysstacks and horses abounding. there was 100 miles of nothing but ruralism, and we had trouble finding anything decent to eat, the first restaurant we came to , we asked for a menu, and she said that there was no menu, and came out with a red bowl full of dead fish. we declined and carried on , choosing our 'countryside' diet of chocolate and crisps. the next day we managed to get someone to make us an omlette, and that gave us the strength to carry on to a town, very aptly called 'turda', and as we entered i felt like we were in one of those movies where the whole world had been destroyed, and its all dark and smoky. there was a massive road with huge crumbling factories down both sides, and piles of broken concrete all round everywhere, and so much smoke coming out of the chimneys that you could'nt see to the end of road. it was totally incredible, like being at the end of a nuclear war or something.
anyway, after 3 days of cycling and just putting our tent up by the side of the road, we started to near more civilization, and started to stay in hotels which only cost 3-6 quid anyway, and you get cable tv to watch. there is so much pollution here from cars, trucks and factories, and the roads are in such bad condition, that by the end of the day you end up totally dirty and exhausted. but having said that, there have been some really beautiful mountain areas too. anyway, we stopped to do some tourist things, and went to the birthplace of count dracula, and up on a cable car in the mountains, and to the former royal palace in sinia, which was amazing, and in the very pleasant town of brasov we attended the barbers.
4 nights in a row in hotels was quite a nice novelty for us, and we made the most of tv by having it on constantly. the last hotel before bucharest was a bit weird, with a strange bloke knovcking on our door, and phoning our room to eventually ask for a light. very strange.
so, here we are pretty tired in bucharest, which is a big sprawling grotty city, and we got our bikes fixed as romania managed to break 3 of tom's spokes, and one of mine. staying in one of these 'backpacker' hostels with a fair few people hanging about in them. only one day to the border with bulgaria, and then sofia beckons, and we of course have no idea what bulgaria is going to be like. today, mid september it is 25 or so degrees, we are on day 103, with the trip milometer reading 3869 miles... bye from bucaresti paul