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Moldova was an eye-opener (in 2012) - crossed the border from Romania at Giurgiulești, and almost immediately found myself driving down a cobbled road with gas

Moldova was an eye-opener (in 2012) - crossed the border from Romania at Giurgiulești, and almost immediately found myself driving down a cobbled road with gas street lights, and horse-carts. They make Romania look extremely wealthy. It’s understandable that the EU is prioritising corridor connections between member states and wealthy trading partners. I am sure Moldova will not be forgotten, but as long as they still have the last vestige of the USSR within their borders (Transnistria), it’ll be hard to extend them membership or the benefits of new infrastructure. Furthermore, extending east from Moldova into Ukraine is also challenging, as there is an awkward area of disputed territory around the border with frequent checkpoints, diversions, and razor wire fences. Oh, actually, that was seemingly resolved after my visit - but Transnistria remains.

bbrian 8y ago
Wow, I'd never heard of Transnistria. Fascinating. Transnistria: A land in limbo: CNN: 3m 22s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAReDKkT9TA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAReDKkT9TA Transnistrian Independence Day 2017: A travel blogger who doesn't over-do it with commentary: 3m 9s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28ZONQIHK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28ZONQIHK0 It has its own "borders, police, military and currency"!: Another travel blogger, well narrated and short: 8m 15s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-9Q5CkEvE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-9Q5CkEvE
- madaxe_again 8y ago
  Yeah, it's an odd old place - it really is still a Soviet state - with secret police to match. We had a shadow in Tiraspol, shook them because we could, as taking them on a wild goose chase is almost sport, and... then found it rather hard to get out of the country, as a result - a sizeable bribe had to change hands. Still, it's worth visiting, for a day or two, once.
  - stevenjohns 8y ago
    I’ll bite. There’s more to this story. Can you share it?
    - v_lisivka 8y ago
      Yet another land grab of Russian Federation.
      - thefringthing 8y ago
        "Grab" only in the sense of "not leaving" when it would have been appropriate to do so.
        v_lisivka 8y ago
        "Grab" in sense "use Russian army to kill natives to grab their land."
    - jayalpha 8y ago
      People are friendly, alcohol is good: https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/53j9n3/i-went-to-a-country-that-doesnt-exist-to-drink-its-famous-brandy https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/53j9n3/i-went-to-a-c... And a 1000 left their lives that this small strip of land can exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War
    - timonovici 8y ago
      There's a lot more to Transnistria. Russia wants it as a strategic point of access to Europe. There are roads purposely build for quick access with tanks (big, heavy, concrete roads, reinforced with rebar - your car usually makes a clunking sound as if you're on a train). So they support the region with preferential natural gas prices (sometimes the bill gets completely tagged to Republic of Moldova). At the time when URSS collapsed, and the split happened - most of the heavy industry was on the Transnistrean side (including weapons factories), so it was big loss for Republic of Moldova. The Army 14 of the URSS never left Transnistria, and Russia still refused to call them back. [ https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicarea_Armatei_a_14-a_%C3%AEn_Conflictul_din_Transnistria https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicarea_Armatei_a_14-a_%C3%... ] It's a semi-lawless land, used sometimes as a hiding spot for criminals, assassins, etc. Gun trafficking is at home there. When on bike, I managed once to pass the border without being checked (and I didn't notice I didn't have my papers with me, I almost got stuck in there) - you're basically at the whims of the border patrols. There are a few villages that belong administratively to Republic of Moldova (I visited Coșnița [coshnitza] with a friend, that is one such village) - this state of affair came with great cost of lives, and people there still remember the price they paid. Tensions sometimes get high - in 2012 a drunk guy was shot and killed by the border patrol, as he was traversing the bridge - people were literally picking up forks and scythes to avenge him [ http://www.ziare.com/europa/moldova/moldovean-impuscat-de-rusi-in-transnistria-cedo-obliga-moscova-la-despagubiri-1359451 http://www.ziare.com/europa/moldova/moldovean-impuscat-de-ru...]
- Scoundreller 8y ago
  It's a funny place: there's no Moldovan entry/exit border check, since they don't recognize it. Just a Transnistrian checkpoint.
- swatkat 8y ago
  https://www.tema.ru/eng/travel/transnistria/ https://www.tema.ru/eng/travel/transnistria/
- jayalpha 8y ago
  Pff. Transnistria. I have been there. I liked it. There are many disputed areas in the Caucasus, I am aware of this. But just recently I heard that Armenia holds an area inside Azeribaijan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItoK9OSanRw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItoK9OSanRw PS: Armenia and Yerevan are very interesting!
- alxlaz 8y ago
  I have a friend who visited it and came back with one of the funniest post-Cold War stories I know. It's representative enough of this stuff that I'm going to recount it, even though most of its value resides simply in being funny. So my friend is a very nice and friendly guy, who travels all over the world. He speaks Romanian well, but not too much Russian. The border checkpoint, naturally, was manned only by a few friendly folks who spoke nothing but Russian. He shows them his papers, and they manage to understand each other only to the extent that he explains he wants to visit Tiraspol, and that he's a tourist. All of this mostly in sign language. So this guy apologizes, tells my friend to wait, and goes off through a door in the back. Almost an hour later, he returns with someone who speaks a little Romanian. My friends explains the whole I wanna visit Tiraspol, I'm a tourist thing all over again. More discussion and paper checking ensues. Another hour later, the two guys leave again, and return with a third soldier. This time, someone who speaks excellent Romanian. The whole explanation gets repeated. They finally give him the visa, wish him good luck and safe journey -- and one of guys pats him on his shoulder and apologizes. Sorry, man, he says, you look like a nice guy and I'm sure you really are a tourist. But you have to understand, when someone shows up at the border and claims they're a tourist, we usually find out he's definitely not a tourist. Edit: every other event of his trip was equally funny, except it involved no public authorities :). From what I've heard, Tiraspol isn't too bad a city -- but do remember this is basically still a Soviet state. I'm sure it's very bad if you piss of the wrong person.
  - madaxe_again 8y ago
    Yeah, that was my experience going in too - took about six hours at the border to get two cars through - and if it hadn’t been for my wife who speaks fluent Russian, it would’ve been no dice. Tiraspol feels like many post-soviet cities, and reminded me of Volgograd - the only real difference is the ubiquitous and contemporary soviet imagery.
    - rurban 8y ago
      You reasly need to bring presents. Otherwise you could wait hours. Interestingly the same descriptions of Moldova today I experienced when I visited Romania in the late 90ies.
niftich 8y ago
The EU is working on extending the TEN-T road and rail network to Moldova and Ukraine as part of its Eastern Partnerships initiative [1], and they'll connect with existing and new corridors in EU member states. This will benefit Romania's Moldavia region, where there were no TEN-T corridors in the previous update in 2013, but is the region that borders both the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Suceava, where this 1-meter motorway was built, will likely find itself on a corridor between Bucharest and Lviv (UA) and on another from Cluj-Napoca to Iași and Chișinău (MD) and Odessa (UA). This will unlock EU funding bring upgraded roadways and railways to this region. [1] https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/international/european_neighbourhood_policy/eastern_partnership/tent-maps_en https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/international/european...
gumby 8y ago
This is what it was like crossing into East Germany back when there was a wall still in place. Really a shock!
timonovici 8y ago
Unless is a separate topic, I think there's a confusion here. When Moldavia is mentioned, they mean the historical region Moldavia, part of the Romania. We normally refer to that Moldova (that the parent is talking about) either as "Republic of Moldova", or Basarabia. Historically, there was one big Moldova, currently only about half of it is united with Romania.
bad_user 8y ago
Moldova, the Romanian region (not the Republic), isn't poor, or at least not all of it. We've got Iași there, one of our biggest cities and an important economic center, home to thriving software companies actually, because we've got an old and reputable computer science university there. Next to Iași's district is Suceava, another important district. EU may not be interested in this region, however crippling this region due to a lack of infrastructure projects is going to cripple Romania. Of course, the EU isn't to blame for us not being able to build one freaking highway that connects Bucharest and Iași, just saying that it's very shortsighted to dismiss infrastructure projects based on proximity with the former USSR.
- madaxe_again 8y ago
  Ah, I hadn’t realised OP was talking about the region of Romania - and yes, it’s heavily industrialised, with a single lane in each direction road as the main corridor. We saw a truck barrel off it into a field, when it was trying to overtake another truck. Agreed that there’s no good reason not to.
- wastedhours 8y ago
  Flying into Bacău next time - at least connections by plane are getting easier if they're not going to sort the roads (as much as they need to be sorted...).

bbrian 8y ago

Wow, I'd never heard of Transnistria. Fascinating. Transnistria: A land in limbo: CNN: 3m 22s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAReDKkT9TA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAReDKkT9TA Transnistrian Independence Day 2017: A travel blogger who doesn't over-do it with commentary: 3m 9s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28ZONQIHK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28ZONQIHK0 It has its own "borders, police, military and currency"!: Another travel blogger, well narrated and short: 8m 15s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-9Q5CkEvE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-9Q5CkEvE

madaxe_again 8y ago
Yeah, it's an odd old place - it really is still a Soviet state - with secret police to match. We had a shadow in Tiraspol, shook them because we could, as taking them on a wild goose chase is almost sport, and... then found it rather hard to get out of the country, as a result - a sizeable bribe had to change hands. Still, it's worth visiting, for a day or two, once.
- stevenjohns 8y ago
  I’ll bite. There’s more to this story. Can you share it?
  - v_lisivka 8y ago
    Yet another land grab of Russian Federation.
    - thefringthing 8y ago
      "Grab" only in the sense of "not leaving" when it would have been appropriate to do so.
      - v_lisivka 8y ago
        "Grab" in sense "use Russian army to kill natives to grab their land."
  - jayalpha 8y ago
    People are friendly, alcohol is good: https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/53j9n3/i-went-to-a-country-that-doesnt-exist-to-drink-its-famous-brandy https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/53j9n3/i-went-to-a-c... And a 1000 left their lives that this small strip of land can exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War
  - timonovici 8y ago
    There's a lot more to Transnistria. Russia wants it as a strategic point of access to Europe. There are roads purposely build for quick access with tanks (big, heavy, concrete roads, reinforced with rebar - your car usually makes a clunking sound as if you're on a train). So they support the region with preferential natural gas prices (sometimes the bill gets completely tagged to Republic of Moldova). At the time when URSS collapsed, and the split happened - most of the heavy industry was on the Transnistrean side (including weapons factories), so it was big loss for Republic of Moldova. The Army 14 of the URSS never left Transnistria, and Russia still refused to call them back. [ https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicarea_Armatei_a_14-a_%C3%AEn_Conflictul_din_Transnistria https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicarea_Armatei_a_14-a_%C3%... ] It's a semi-lawless land, used sometimes as a hiding spot for criminals, assassins, etc. Gun trafficking is at home there. When on bike, I managed once to pass the border without being checked (and I didn't notice I didn't have my papers with me, I almost got stuck in there) - you're basically at the whims of the border patrols. There are a few villages that belong administratively to Republic of Moldova (I visited Coșnița [coshnitza] with a friend, that is one such village) - this state of affair came with great cost of lives, and people there still remember the price they paid. Tensions sometimes get high - in 2012 a drunk guy was shot and killed by the border patrol, as he was traversing the bridge - people were literally picking up forks and scythes to avenge him [ http://www.ziare.com/europa/moldova/moldovean-impuscat-de-rusi-in-transnistria-cedo-obliga-moscova-la-despagubiri-1359451 http://www.ziare.com/europa/moldova/moldovean-impuscat-de-ru...]
Scoundreller 8y ago
It's a funny place: there's no Moldovan entry/exit border check, since they don't recognize it. Just a Transnistrian checkpoint.
swatkat 8y ago
https://www.tema.ru/eng/travel/transnistria/ https://www.tema.ru/eng/travel/transnistria/
jayalpha 8y ago
Pff. Transnistria. I have been there. I liked it. There are many disputed areas in the Caucasus, I am aware of this. But just recently I heard that Armenia holds an area inside Azeribaijan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItoK9OSanRw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItoK9OSanRw PS: Armenia and Yerevan are very interesting!
alxlaz 8y ago
I have a friend who visited it and came back with one of the funniest post-Cold War stories I know. It's representative enough of this stuff that I'm going to recount it, even though most of its value resides simply in being funny. So my friend is a very nice and friendly guy, who travels all over the world. He speaks Romanian well, but not too much Russian. The border checkpoint, naturally, was manned only by a few friendly folks who spoke nothing but Russian. He shows them his papers, and they manage to understand each other only to the extent that he explains he wants to visit Tiraspol, and that he's a tourist. All of this mostly in sign language. So this guy apologizes, tells my friend to wait, and goes off through a door in the back. Almost an hour later, he returns with someone who speaks a little Romanian. My friends explains the whole I wanna visit Tiraspol, I'm a tourist thing all over again. More discussion and paper checking ensues. Another hour later, the two guys leave again, and return with a third soldier. This time, someone who speaks excellent Romanian. The whole explanation gets repeated. They finally give him the visa, wish him good luck and safe journey -- and one of guys pats him on his shoulder and apologizes. Sorry, man, he says, you look like a nice guy and I'm sure you really are a tourist. But you have to understand, when someone shows up at the border and claims they're a tourist, we usually find out he's definitely not a tourist. Edit: every other event of his trip was equally funny, except it involved no public authorities :). From what I've heard, Tiraspol isn't too bad a city -- but do remember this is basically still a Soviet state. I'm sure it's very bad if you piss of the wrong person.
- madaxe_again 8y ago
  Yeah, that was my experience going in too - took about six hours at the border to get two cars through - and if it hadn’t been for my wife who speaks fluent Russian, it would’ve been no dice. Tiraspol feels like many post-soviet cities, and reminded me of Volgograd - the only real difference is the ubiquitous and contemporary soviet imagery.
  - rurban 8y ago
    You reasly need to bring presents. Otherwise you could wait hours. Interestingly the same descriptions of Moldova today I experienced when I visited Romania in the late 90ies.

niftich 8y ago

The EU is working on extending the TEN-T road and rail network to Moldova and Ukraine as part of its Eastern Partnerships initiative [1], and they'll connect with existing and new corridors in EU member states. This will benefit Romania's Moldavia region, where there were no TEN-T corridors in the previous update in 2013, but is the region that borders both the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Suceava, where this 1-meter motorway was built, will likely find itself on a corridor between Bucharest and Lviv (UA) and on another from Cluj-Napoca to Iași and Chișinău (MD) and Odessa (UA). This will unlock EU funding bring upgraded roadways and railways to this region. [1] https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/international/european_neighbourhood_policy/eastern_partnership/tent-maps_en https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/international/european...

gumby 8y ago

This is what it was like crossing into East Germany back when there was a wall still in place. Really a shock!

timonovici 8y ago

Unless is a separate topic, I think there's a confusion here. When Moldavia is mentioned, they mean the historical region Moldavia, part of the Romania. We normally refer to that Moldova (that the parent is talking about) either as "Republic of Moldova", or Basarabia. Historically, there was one big Moldova, currently only about half of it is united with Romania.

bad_user 8y ago

Moldova, the Romanian region (not the Republic), isn't poor, or at least not all of it. We've got Iași there, one of our biggest cities and an important economic center, home to thriving software companies actually, because we've got an old and reputable computer science university there. Next to Iași's district is Suceava, another important district. EU may not be interested in this region, however crippling this region due to a lack of infrastructure projects is going to cripple Romania. Of course, the EU isn't to blame for us not being able to build one freaking highway that connects Bucharest and Iași, just saying that it's very shortsighted to dismiss infrastructure projects based on proximity with the former USSR.

madaxe_again 8y ago
Ah, I hadn’t realised OP was talking about the region of Romania - and yes, it’s heavily industrialised, with a single lane in each direction road as the main corridor. We saw a truck barrel off it into a field, when it was trying to overtake another truck. Agreed that there’s no good reason not to.
wastedhours 8y ago
Flying into Bacău next time - at least connections by plane are getting easier if they're not going to sort the roads (as much as they need to be sorted...).