König

Also, I'd like to add that since residents of Transnistria cannot go abroad without an internationally-recognized passport, they all have one or more of these three passports:

• Ukraine
• Moldova
• Russia

My far relatives who settled in that region some 50 years ago have an interesting situation -- within a family of 4, one has a Moldovan passport, 2 have Ukrainian passports and the other has a Russian one.

DanielW

I read that although there are supposedly many Russian soldiers based there, most of them are actually locals with Russian passports.

roadwarrier

That colour scheme - hope you stocked up on the local Vodka to get some sleep. Although, having said that, I have been in some hotel rooms that look worse than that.

Great TR so far, looking forward to more installments.

Romanianflyer

It is nothing compared to the first class compartments with their gaudy golden colours and fake flowers which make Trump Trower look like an award-winning showcase of tasteful Scandinavian design (actually it's physically the same compartment as this 4-person kupe class, but then without the upper bunks and a LOT of golden sheets to make it look more "first class")

But ah, so many bizarre memories on that train, from a purple-haired restaurant wagon attendant of at least 50 years old grabbing the head of one of my mates and burying it suddenly in her cleavage to drinking binges on 2 EUR a bottle Moldovan wine and run-ins with border guards when I trafficked a poor little abandoned kitten back into Romania as I just couldn't get it over my heart to leave it on the streets.

poisson

Any idea why they still run this train? The cost to operate the train must outweigh the number of people paying. And I suppose with 1hr flights, people would rather save the time. I know for a while they limited it to only a few times a week, but currently it's back to running every day.

Does the food wagon still exist? I didn't see any when I rode it.

Romanianflyer

The restaurant wagon still exists - it is most often located in the back of the train in between the first class wagons and the second train wagons. If you are in one of the many second class kupe sleepers it can be quite a walk as it is not uncommon for there to be ten of such cars!

To be honest, that is something which I don't understand either. First class wagons can get fairly "full" (last time I travelled, in October, it had a 50% occupancy) but 2nd class is almost always completely deserted. On the 7-8 rides I had on the train I always had a compartment on my own even when travelling in second class. Given that there are often around ten of such wagons, and only one first class wagon, the odds can even be much greater of having your own compartment! IMHO the train could easily do with 3-4 wagons of 2nd class four-berth kupe wagons (less than there are now) and perhaps one more first class wagon with 2-berth compartments. I guess it's mostly down to politics and subsidies from the Romanian and Moldovan governments. Culturally and linguistically the countries are deeply linked and many Moldovans work in the Bucharest-area/use it as a hub to travel further afield given the many more connections available from OTP as opposed to KIV. Especially from the Romanian side there are always voices calling for a deeper integration of Moldova (after all, most of the country was once part of what was Greater Romania in the interwar period).

While the flights are convenient they can be rather expensive to many locals (its at least 100 EUR one way most of the times) so there is a clear market for the train. Buses are really no fun - they might be faster than trains, but I for one hate it to be stuck in a cramped seat and I don't necessarily fully trust driving standards/road conditions. Even though the Bucharest to Chisinau train is not ideal due to the inconvenient hour it crosses the border, it is much much better the other way around (when it crosses from Moldova into Romania at around 8pm or so).

stockmanjr

This sounds like my kind of adventure! How is the kitten doing?

Romanianflyer

I don't want to hijack the thread of the OP too much - but let's just say I had almost three heart attacks crossing both border posts with the kitten. I had no time to arrange the proper documents and while Moldovan exit control was OK, they threatened to throw me out of the train at entry into Romania. That would create the possible situation of me being stuck with the kitten in no man's land between the two borders as I highly doubt I would have gotten back into Moldova with the kitten (of course every country is more chill what gets out of it than what gets in). Fortunately, after a long stand-off I got a pass from the border guard ("don't do this ever again!") - seemed the bigger problem was actually not the lacking cat passport but the train border not being allowed to handle animals as only 1 specific road border between the two countries is! Guess they care in the end more about people smuggling bulk cigarettes which is much more common than cats

Fortunately, the little kitten (now fully grown at about 2.5 years old - although still relatively small in size due to being a street cat the first two months of her life) went on great with my other cat who is about a year older. After initially fighting/ignoring each other for two days the two little ladies became best friends and are inseparable!

poisson

Any pics of the kitten? I'd love to see her!