Thursday 7/4/11 N45:27.187  E 28:17.576, Rini in Ukraine

 

We have had a little hold up with Ukraine customs and are going to have a bit of R & R in Ismael, Ukraine, on the Danube.  More news of this later, but meanwhile hereâs a bit more about Romania.

 

Traffic fine in Hungary â we were fined  in Hungary for having no headlights on & told by the 2 very nice chaps what we could pay this (about 40 euros) on arrival in Romania.  No way!! The Romanian banks say âGo to Hungaryâ.  Unfortunately we are travelling in the opposite direction.  Anyway we have 30 days to work it out.

 

5/4/11 â we made our first real bush camp outside a small town called Jirlau, by a lovely lake .  We spoke to a couple of old (?) folks tending goats & said in our best Ukranian âHello, we are Sandy & Steph Glen & we are very pleased to meet you, can we camp in your field?  â  Whereupon the old chap shrugged & gave a noncommittal _expression_ conveying âwell I am very pleased to meet you too, but I donât know what the heck you expect me to do about itâ.  Part of the problem may have been in the translation.  My lovely Russian teacher Yulia told me that using Google Translate is a bit tricky, and the words I originally chose said âplease take me to the nearest concentration campâ â so goodness knows what we actually said to him.  So we wandered off & camped anyway, & a bit later a young guy with a horse & cart (âAndreiâ ) arrived, shook our hand, smiled a lot & said, we think, âwelcomeâ then galloped off with his very frisky horse.  We had a quiet night apart from the 11 sheep dogs barking and the mozzies, got up early to head for Ukraine, and then got a hold up (more of this later)