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Moldova – The Undiscovered Country (part 2) Drinking I was not worried about ice or fruit/vegetable washing. If it doesn’t kill the locals, it won’t kill me! Beer as mentioned is very good and by western values very cheap. Local wine is very good. I took to drinking Cricova sparkling wine in clubs and discos. It felt decadent but at $4 per bottle, served up nicely it will not break the bank. Some may find it sweet but its main benefit is when with girls. They do not drink it very often and so it is a treat. It will also save them from ordering expensive western drinks on your generosity, after all who can turn down a nice champagne(ski). There are some very fine red wines, very inexpensive but very good. In general let price be your initial guide. The Russians drink the cheap stuff; the good stuff is a little more expensive but worth it. I would also indulge in the brandies, particularly those from ‘Aroma’, one of the largest distillers. They make a range from rotgut to 40-year-old very fine stuff. I know, I drank it! Coffee is commonly drunk, usually a dark strong blend without milk, or instant stuff. The tin usually says Nescafe, but... Tea is fine, usually drunk with lemon or plain black. Ask for milk and get a very funny look! Soft drinks are fine, the local Vitanta brand sells for 2-3 Lei, is very sweet and gassy but I recommend the mint (mintu) flavour. Coca -Cola and Pepsi brands are readily available, however the existence of a Coke sign or fridge does not necessarily indicate that your favourite beverage is actually available! Western brands are still cheap at about 6 Lei per bottle. Just a thought - I drank beer a lot of the time, it is cheap and as I already pointed out, good. I did get some strange looks, particularly from women. They thought I was a bit of an alcoholic. Whilst it looks cheap, for locals it is not quite so. Locals do not drink as often as I was doing because of this. Women do not like to think that their men drink too much. As in Russia drink is something of an issue among the men folk, we can unintentionally give a bad impression! Night Life A brief outline of my findings follows. Most of my evenings were spent in the clubs. Names: Star Track, Black Elephant, Haos, City Club, Ginta Latina and Millenium. Others I did not visit such as Black Octopus, Flamingo, Biax (?sp). The ones that I visited Star Track, Millenium, Haos and City Club were all discos playing music very similar to that in Saint Pete, a mixture of Russian and western dance music with some Romanian and local Moldavian bands. Whilst often the music is not exactly art, it is very danceable. Millennium, in the Botanika district is very good, popular with both ex-pats and local wealthy folk; supposedly the most ‘western’ of Kishinev’s clubs. For contact information and addresses click here.They all have booths around the dance floor that usually have a reserved sign on them. If sitting alone or in a small group you may have to pay 30-50 to take a booth. It is probably worthwhile. It does not stop you moving around as you wish; the staff will maintain your place. Moldavian men do not often dance except when a slow groping number comes along and then some of them are surprisingly good! The girls dance on their own or with their friends, they will be dressed to kill! There may well be some kind of show, dancers, an MC, maybe a specialty dance act or strippers. They sometimes arrange silly games or competitions. You either love it or hate it. I found it a good chance to mingle and chat. I also won first prize in one such competition by doing an erotic dance. I had a marvelous time, the girls had a great time and the fact that everyone knew that I was English did no harm at all! There is a social language at these places that took me some time to get some insight into. Here are the basics, as I understood them. You guys may find I was wrong or expand upon them... 1. Often two girls will be escorted by a man. He will fill one of four roles: Boyfriend escorting his girlfriend and her friend. His role is therefore also partly to act as protector to both girls Two girls escorted by a guy who obviously does not belong with the girls, this is a guy protecting the girls from harm, a significant risk to attractive young girls in Moldova! Two girls hanging on to one well to do looking man, this is Moldavian man with his harem. The girls will always be young and lovely. Guy with two or more girls; he may well be their ‘manager’. 2. Do not mess with girls with a protector or who are with a lover. I always tried to check out who was with whom before making ANY kind of a move. They do not have body searches and metal detectors and the entrance for nothing! 3. If a girl who seems to be with a protector is dancing then try eye contact. If she is receptive then it is OK to move in, but do not expect much fun that night or possibly any other. Many girls are kept on a very tight leash! That being said I was able to make contact and subsequent dates on a couple of occasions, as were my colleagues. 4. If you see a couple of girls sitting together with no protector etc, probably drinking cheap drinks, coffee, coke etc then there is a fair chance that they are on the game. It is OK to approach them and join them or invite them to join you. (This is where the champagne is a good idea!) I should point out something here - I did not engage in ANY commercial sex whilst here. I am not the best looking guy in the world but casual contact can be successfully made. I do not therefore have info on pricing but I understand that price ranges in the bars from about $50 upwards. There are cheaper alternatives elsewhere. 5. Many students can speak at least a little English but during my visit there were not many about. During summer holidays they go back to the country to live and possibly help with harvest. Some manage to go abroad. I am told that come September the clubs are hoaching with young girls looking for pocket money. The weather is good until the end of October and so a late summer visit might be well worthwhile! IMPORTANT almost every club is closed on Monday nights. Friday to Sunday night everything jumps. The other days are OK. Next on the list is Black Elephant. This is possibly the best of Kishinev’s bar/clubs. It is open every night and has good Internet connections, pool, foosball, dancing, a bar, food and eye candy. Not places to find commercial companionship but ok if you are young or able to hang and there is always somebody to chat up. There is sometimes an admission charge of 15 Lei. I enjoyed it for a few nights but not for every night! Ginta latina is near the UN Headquarters. It is in the basement of some building, I went there twice. The first night was during the week. It was quite busy. Lots of girls, many more than men, some were nice looking. Definitely some good opportunities. The place plays Latin American music but I did not like the place and left fast. Nothing too wrong, just not my scene. The second time was on a Monday evening. Unusually, it was open but we would have been the only customers with only a house girl to keep us company; we left. Flamingo I did not have chance to visit. It has changed address from that found in guides, the phone is unchanged so a call may be worthwhile. It is recommended for its shows, which used to take place in and around a swimming pool. It is expensive, prices are in dollars. Biax (sp?) recommended by a guy I met who worked there on security. He specifically said that there were plenty of girls needing company and that the strippers were very good. He seemed like a nice credible guy, I would go there on my next visit, if only to share a beer with him. Dublin Bar is supposed to be the only place to serve draught Guinness. This is not a huge recommendation for me as think the stuff is poison. It is the only Irish bar in the city and as usual is a good first stop for the lonely ex-pat. When talking of nightlife, it is important to remember what the local folk do. They can be found on Stephan Cel Mare, particularly near the parks enjoying walking, drinking at the booths and outdoor bars and just chilling. I did not have time for much of this but when I walked by it looked an entirely pleasant way to meet people. The park is supposed to be a really good place to meet girls needing pocket money, day or night. What I saw would confirm this, lots of eye contact from single girls or pairs. Kishinev is the only city I have ever been in where the streetlights are turned off at night. This is done because the city council cannot afford to pay the electricity bill. There is one, outside Macdonald’s; the view during summer evenings is lovely!! Crime Crime is endemic in the country; the place is the European centre for car theft. It is so rampant that when a car is stolen in Germany, it is re-plated as a Moldavian vehicle and the old number plate surround showing the German dealer is retained! I was told that if I wanted an almost new, big Mercedes then I would not pay more than $10,000. More ordinary fare will cost around $3000. The Moldavian Government gets in on the act by charging a 10% export tax when taking a car out of the country. I confess to having been tempted to look at a purchase and driving across the Ukraine, but this holds its own risks of course. I had no fear walking the streets at night; possibly, partly because most Moldavians do not have much worth stealing so mugging is not common. It is not wise to cross the local hoods; violence within and between factions is not uncommon, as noted elsewhere, metal detectors and body searches are the norm in clubs. Corruption is the norm, a senior member of the EU representative office told me that all business have to deal with it and that most incoming aid to the country benefits others than just those to whom it was aimed. The problem is exacerbated by low or non-existent wages in the public sector. Who would not want a few crumbs from the table when his wages of $50 per month had not been paid for several months? The bottom line is that for most visitors, the place is comfortable and safe. There is however a VERY BIG BUT…. …Women Women, particularly young and attractive girls can have a risky life. They are definitely not equal to men here. Girls told me that if a man approaches a woman in a public place and she does not respond, he might hit her for being ‘disrespectful’. Girls walking at night may be approached by men in cars, wanting them to get in and join them. 'No' is not always an acceptable answer. I saw this happen, it is not nice. In clubs girls may be approached by men wanting them to join them, again ‘no’ does not always work. Diana, a girl with whom I spent a lot of time, is the daughter of a senior police officer and therefore quite well placed. She also works in a dance group in clubs. There were, she told me, clubs that they would not work in because the rich guys would see a girl they liked and the management would allow the guy’s people to take her away from the dressing room. Resistance would result in violence against the rest of the group. Normally the girl would be dropped off in the street a few days later, but not always. It is not unknown for girls to be kidnapped for marriage. Diana was always frightened that she would be taken out of the country. Undoubtedly these cases are not common, but it explains why girls have bodyguards and why they are not always accustomed to going out at night. Many girls travel abroad through people smuggling operations, ending up in Italy, Serbia, Israel, Germany and the Netherlands. They are lured by offers of $1000 per month for dancing or waitressing. They find a very different life waiting for them as a sexual slave. Some girls know what awaits them but figure that a life of this kind is better than the poverty in the countryside. I saw some girls travelling to Moscow and back, they looked stunning and undoubtedly had lots of money by local standards, but these girls were the cream of the crop. Most do not have a good life! The poverty also pushes many girls into domestic prostitution; many students are on the game. As in many poor countries, see the mobile phone; see the girl on the game. SightseeingWhilst in Kishinev I visited several museums, at one of them I met Tanya. Archeology & Ethnography Museum National Museum of Ethnography & Natural History This was quite good fun, I was grateful for Tanya as a guide, she was happy to introduce me to the ‘dinosaur’ actually some kind of elephant but hey! I have to say Diana made the visit well worthwhile. I can’t promise you a guide like mine (she does not work there!) but the museum is still worth a visit. You should also take a look at some of the architecture. I loved some of the modern stuff! The Presidential Residence on Stephan Cel Mare is great. I also liked the National Theatre. You can tell they don’t have much money here, in order to raise money. The Theatre has a pizza joint downstairs and the museum has a furniture shop on the ground floor. It is not unusual to see government departments renting out parts of their premises for commercial activity. BTW, the Government is now Communist.
As well as museums and architecture, the city has much to offer
the dedicated moocher. There is a big central market just off Stephan
Cel Mare, on Armeneasca street. Open every weekday there is something
for everyone. You can buy clothes, shoes, food, toiletries, watches,
car parts and electrical goods. Where else could you buy just one
Bic disposable razor? The place is next to the central bus station
and your jumping off point for excursions out of the city. If you need film for your APS camera then the only place is ‘Gemminii’ on Stephan Cel Mare. This photo shop also does processing. Whatever you do, do NOT use them to process your APS films, they open the cartridge and do not do index prints, use only if essential! They are next to a bookstore where you can buy some English language reprints, usually of classics on a Russian imprint. Two places well worth a visit, Aventura Park, Tanya describes it as ‘the Moldova equivalent of Disneyland’. This is stretching things a LOT but it’s the nearest most Moldavians will ever get! It is a funfair next to Lake Valea Morilor. Open only in the summer. Go there to see beautiful girls. Whoever you go with, I promise you, your eyes will stray! There is a beach next to the lake and many folk swim. I wouldn’t advise it! On the other side of the lake is a place where boats can be hired by the hour, cost is negligible but the boats are not exactly the best in the world. There is a drink kiosk run by a lovely lady in her early thirties, try to say hello to her in Russian. She has a wonderful smile! The park is worth a walk around. Walking back to the city centre is easy, just walk left out of the boating compound and then after a few hundred metres you will see steps going uphill, climb them. At the top is another area of the park and a coffee shop. At the park entrance, on A. Mateevici street, you can buy a local ice cream for one Lei. Just walk down hill away from the park past another university and you will after about ten minutes be back on Stephan Cel Mare. In the summer the whole area is delightful to walk around, alone, or preferably holding the hand of a lovely girl!
Sightseeing further afield Cricova To get there take a bus from the Central Station in Kishinev. It is probably worthwhile to take an organised tour. Tours including wine tasting normally cost $50 though we paid considerably less. The wines were lovely; the reds were rich and complex. I would be happy to be drinking them regularly. Apparently, after the war, some of Goering’s private cellar collection found their way here, part of Russia’s war booty. We did not see them however. Probably drunk by party officials a long, long time ago.
Old Orhei
Transdniestria
Ghidighici I swam in the water, it did not kill me. I will remember the sight of Ionela arising from the water for a very long time. I hope to see her again, very much! Getting there is easy, just take Maxi taxi 8 to Pasaj, this is a place with lots of other buses and a big shopping building, signed ‘Pasaj’. Then take a number 20 bus until you see a concrete bus shelter on your right. You should be able to see the lake from the bus. Anyway, there will be loads of other people getting off as well!
River Niestru There are plenty of other places to visit. Vineyards, everywhere, caves in the north. I visited a couple of monasteries. Being a monk is not a common calling in Moldova. The biggest working monastery I saw had just seven monks. In Moldova they have three weeks holiday per year when they can live a normal life, quite strange.
Conclusion
I hope that maybe one or two of you choose to visit, I hope also that my scribblings may be of some help. As I said earlier, there are plenty of dark places left on the map and I have not written everything that I could tell.Writing this piece has fixed in my memory some wonderful images; The girls walking down Stephan Cel Mare, Ionela walking out of the water at Giddigicci, taking Tanya out for her first meal in a restaurant, eating little fishes and drinking beer with Lena in her bar, the hospitality of my hosts and their unfailing generosity of spirit and time. If you travel and find half of what I found, you will have had a very good time indeed!
Thanks for reading so much and so far
Andrew |
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