romania

helena drove me to the services on the motorway to brno, she said she wanted to see where i would start hitching from. i waited ten minutes and a young guy, george, gave me a lift to the petrol station just outside brno centre on the motorway to bratislava. here it began to piss down and i took some downtime in the cafe, ate the first of the delicious meatball sandwiches helena had prepared for me for the trip. she made three: "this is for slovakia, this is for hungary, and this one is for romania". when the rain eased, i got back to the roundabout and not long after, a truck stops for me. he is going as far gyor in hungary, he says. great. marek drops me off at the services before his turn off, and here i ask the people filling up at the pumps. i get a lift going to budapest, the guy speaks quite good english. it turns out that voltan is a fire horse too. "66, right?". "right", i reply. "you know what they used to do to the babies born in the year of the fire-horse, don't you?", i asked. "yes", he said, gesticulating a slit-throat with his hand. "we got lucky", he said, turning to me with a grin. he took me to the sevices on the m0 before he turned off. it was night now, and cold and wet. i stood on the forecourt, and waited. it was not so busy, and already some hours had gone by. time enough to eat sandwich number 2. i saw a truck come in, and thought he would be parking up to sleep for the night. but as the driver came walking towards the shop entrance, i asked, "going to romania?". "yes". he walks to me and says something in hungarian. the map, i have to get my map. but by then, he was walking away, but he looks around just at the moment i managed to retrieve my map. he walks back to me, and i am frantically trying to turn the pages to the right one. it is taking forever, and he is still talking in hungarian. but just then, i recognise one word. "oradea?", i repeat. he nods affirmatively. i give him the thumbs up. he nods again and goes to the shop. and when he returns, he beckons me with a nod again and we walk over to the truck. lazlo is driving all night, and after the border, he parks up to get some kip for an hour. when he starts off again, he says i can catch some sleep in the bunk whilst he drives to his destination of turda in romania. and i was happy to do so. he drops me off at the hitching point for alba iulia at about 6.30 in the morning. i don't have to wait long before i get a lift to alba iulia, and roberto also drops me off at a good place to continue hitching. another five minutes wait and a small little car with a big round gypsy guy named leo gives me a lift to sebe, and from there, another couple of minutes before the final lift with florin to sibiu. and sandwich number 3 for breakfast.

  i wanted to come to sibiu again because the busking had been fantastic here last year, lots of money and no hassles from the police. i chose the same place as before, and i wasn't there long before the police come over to me. they ask me for my permit and i said i didn't have one, but i would only be here for one day... they prevaricated a bit before telling me to move my 'hat' closer in and walked off. and like last year, the people were generous and wasn't long before i was stuffing my pockets with this funny money romanian leis. and then to the bank to change them into bigger notes. towards the end of the day, i met a young german guy who put some money in my hat. daniel was his name, and he was travelling like me, sleeping rough now and then. he had a ukulele and i got him to play with me. we went to the park and he made a pasta meal, with the local gypsy kids looking on. i went back to the main square and chilled out and dan joined me later, and took me to a bar where he said would be some live music. and sure enough, a circle of friends, a guitar, and some wine... me and dan sat close by and listened to the girl playing guitar and singing, and wasn't long before they got interested in my drum and soon i was playing too, and another guy took the guitar... it was quite late before we came out and walked across the road and found a dark corner with some shelter to kip rough for the night. i told dan i was going to hitch to brasov and he was going the same way too, so in the morning, after a quick internet session to confirm davit in brasov could host me, we walked to the hitching point (which mara, a young romanian girl, had told me about the day before, even cycling to the tourist office to get a map for me). we were there a couple of minutes with a sign to brasov before an ambulance pulls over. and the next thing we know, we are sitting in the back and getting driven to brasov in an ambulance. a pit stop to change a tyre and fix the sliding door, and they drop us off in brasov at the station. i was here last year too so i knew where to go and i lead us to the centre and republicii. a quick call and we meet davit and his girlfriend in republicii and go to his flat there. davit i met last year when i was busking here, and he offered to host me, and to join me busking. we also met mara and oxi last year, and got invited to mara's birthday party in poiana brasov in the mountains. it was a good time, and i was keen to meet up with these friends again. davit is a very good guitarist, more into jazz than popular music. we were jamming with him and his friend jansci, and doing some busking sessions in republicii.

  one time, i drove us all down to bran in jansci's father's small car for a busking session there, and the only good pitch was outside the administrative centre/town hall near the entrance to the castle! we decided to do it anyway, and were lucky - the pigs just took a look but didn't ask us to move on. jansci on bass guitar, davit on guitar, both plugged into an amp, daniel on ukulele, and me on the drum, doing a couple of jazz numbers davit style. the rain came to end our play and we drove back to brasov. and a couple of meetings with oxi and mara, in the middle of exams, and so not so much time to hang out. i also managed to get a large splinter into the side of my leg which, with the help of davit, i managed to operate upon to get it out! the last night for me, ann and max, a young german couple travelling in a yellow vw post-bus, join us at davit's flat for dinner, i invited them also to the 2nd art-labyrinth festival in moldova. in the morning, davit wakes up early too to walk me to the bus-station number 2 for the bus to chisinau. only the internet info is wrong, the bus is leaving at 12.00 and not 9.00! back to the centre for a last internet session at davit's mum's place and back to the autogara 2 and the micro-bus to chisinau.