ROMANIA

ROMANIA

23/03/2010, 12:29
Filed under: Romania

WILD DOGS STICKS N STONES

The snow delayed our 3am bus to Romania to 5am, after a 25euro bribe we finally got our bikes on the coach and our marsillian massif crew called it a nite and hit the sack. merci heuh. we arrived in the afternoon, a day or 2 later in Hunedoara,Transylvania, Dracula land. we assembled our bikes in-front of a Reparatsi shop, then went inside to warm up our frozen feet to meet some crazy man who told us we were crazy. we then headed through the mountainous region towards Hateg where we knew we had a roof for a few days, as it was still  cold here, talking -6C to at nights we were told. round sunset we were in the middle of nowhere with no nearby villages , dry water bottles, just wild dogs along the snow covered hills, stones in our pockets and sticks in our hands. Fuck! we carried on climbing and in the distance saw some chimney smoke. As we got there, found out it was two shepherds. farther and son and 500 sheep. they welcomed us into their tiny room, gave us some water from the well and we warmed up by the fire. we stayed the nite with them and got woken up by bleating sheep.amazing. the son explained how one lamb was getting sent to Turkey next wk, being vegetarians we assumed the cute little bugger was to be sent off for a fashion weekend in Istanbul wit some Armani wool_wear photo shoot wit kate moss dental floss lady.

Later that day we arrived to our roof in a village named  Salasu de Sus. we stayed a few nites there, with a traveling band of musicians and friends from Barcelona. learned some new songs and experienced romanian village life. eggs and well water from the neighbour and potatoes from friend up the road.

byes byes and a week ride to the capital Bucuresti via the south of Carpathian moutains. but 1st we had to cross the 25km gorge. its was snowing hard that day through this gorge and we got chased and stopped by loads of dogs. we learned its best to stop and raise the stick, maybe throw a  rock or 2 at them. it you try and leg it, then they get turned on and chase you like mad. saw the God of dogs in a vivid dream and he told  us that they like rotating wheels and legs. came across a beautiful monastry with monks  in the gorge to warm up, bought some myrrh and a picture of jesus.

we felt like we are back to our rootz again, and stayed in various places along the way camouflaging ours bikes and cooking on fire. in Petrosani, we couch surfed an american dude named andrew, made him a curry and he told us about the U.S. peace Corps he was on, and life as a westerner here. nice evening>

40km B4 bucuresti we asked for water at a village and met Elena who spoke some Greek to us, she invited us to stay with her for the nite and be our gardienne angel! she feed us, made us put our feet up by the fire and told us about her life and man. she told us  how the neighbors thought we would beat her up in the nite and steal her stuff. she gave us a show through-out the evening showing us all her products she had, ranging from cleaning products, a 2 litre bottle of pepsi, to her teeth. amazing. wonderful. we  offered her our Myrrh and the golden picture of Jesus to say thankyou. she liked it. we liked her loads.

its now spring, and the snow is melting causing some pity floods, village peeps are back on the fields. its been sunny the last 2 days in Bucuresti, our hosts are bike fanatiks like us and very nice too, they have a minimalistic salon with just and ironing board and wooden bench. 2nite we shall meet more bike fanatiks north of the city>the city is a nightmare for cyclists with all the pot holes, speeding Dacias, tram lines, and gypsie children begging in traffic,oh and opening car doors. however its a dream for all those bike messengers!! ROGER ROGER 93

next few days we intend to cycle towards the black sea then north to ulkraine. if you are a bike fan read about Heinz in our links, he travelled round world on 3speed bike. enjoy

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