Leverage

"No! No! No electronic! Paper!"
I was going through passport checks at the international airport in Moscow. The lady behind the counter did not want to see my electronic ticket. She demanded paper. I said I didn't have any. She pointed me to a lady behind a counter in a small room next door. I walked over and she hammered my info into her computer, and a few minutes later, she had my boarding pass ready. Luckily I was in no hurry. Unlike some Vietnamese people standing in line behind me. They all needed "paper". And they were increasingly agitated and obviously in a hurry. I walked through passport checks again. She looked at my boarding pass. "Shishni?" she asked. "Pardon?" I replied, a bit puzzled. "Shishni". I was trying to decipher what she was saying. "I am sorry, I don't speak Russian." For the first time, she smiled. Stupid tourist... "You go to Shishni?".....Silence...."No....I....eeerrrr.....OH! Yes! I am going to Chisinau!" She handed me back my passport and boarding pass. Next, securiy check. "Boarding pass and passport please!". I handed them to a lady who checked my boarding pass against a list of flights. She shook her head. "You leave from here?" she asked. "Yes!". She conferred with some other people. They shook their head. I was starting to think I might have mistaken the date. But checked again. No, it was correct. And the airport was correct. After some discussions between the people in security, I was let through. I instantly checked the boards for my flight. There it was. Chisinau, Moldova. I walked to the gate in order to locate it. I normally do, just to make sure I don't have to search for it last minute.
As I was standing at my gate, the bunch of Vietnamese people came hurdling down to an adjacent gate for the flight to Hanoi. They had started boarding. The last one, an older guy, was helped by some airport staff. He just made it. They closed the gate behind him.
At another gate a couple was arguing with the ground staff. They had arrived after the gate was closed. Flight to Havana. They tried to argue that the plane still hadn't left the gate, so there was no reason they couldn't be let on board. The guy behind the counter tried to stay calm and explain that their luggage had already been offloaded and the plane was ready to leave. So it would delay them a lot to revert that. The lady screamed in his face that their Russian visas was expiring, so they had to be on that plane. The guy was untouched. Then the plane was pushed back from the gate, and the woman started screaming at the top of her lungs, pulling her hair. My Rule number 1 for travelling : Always show up early at the airport. Always locate the gate as soon as possible. Always go to the gate well before boarding time. Sounds like a good rule to me.
Not much to do at the airport, except eating, watching RT propaganda and watching passengers from all over the world going to and fro. And I had a few hours to kill. So I spent much of it walking around before my flight was ready to board. The trip to Moldova was eventless.
We landed in Chisinau just before midnight. I had already sent an e-mail to the hotel explaining that I would arrive late. They had thanked me for the information, and would be ready for me. I walked through passport control and customs. I changed some Euros to Moldovan Lev and started looking for taxis. In the arrival hall, I found a counter for taxis to the city centre. I booked one, and a young guy came a picked me up.

Soon, we zoomed out of the parking lot. I looked out the windows. "Wait what?" We zoomed past an old Tupolev parked on a lawn at the airport. But I didn't get to see much of it as my driver was hellbent on setting a new speed record (the above image was from when I left). Or so it seemed. He drove on what looked like sideroads and through a forest. I was wondering why he wanted to drive there, as I assumed it would be faster on the main road. But then I realized that the whole city was enclosed in a big forest. "This city!" the driver said and pointed forward. I didn't see any city for all the trees. And before I could comment any more, he tore across the road and into a parking lot. "Your hotel!" he said and pointed to an office building. I looked at it. "This?" He nodded. I got out, and sure enough. High up on the wall was the name of the hotel. Interesting.
I paid the driver and he burned out of the parking lot and disappeared in the night. The night fell silent. Only some distand cars. A slight chill. I walked up to the entrance, and rang the bell. Looked at my phone. After midnight. No answer. I rang again. Still no answer. Then again. And again. Maybe I should have brought a tent. I picked up my phone and found the phone number for the hotel. It rang a few times before a sleepy voice answered. "I am standing outside the door, and have been ringing the door bell a few times!". "Ah...eeeerrr...I am up! I come down!"
A few minutes later, a sleepy face greeted me and we walked up the beautiful wooden stairs to the hotel. Which was on the top floor. I checked in and got the room at the end of the corridor. The room was big, comfy and with its own balcony. Of the type you could feel was moving when you walked out on it. Very comforting. After taking in the view and some fresh air, I crashed onto the bed. Wrapped the nice and fresh-smelling duvet around me and slept.
I hadn't really made that much plans for the trip. It was a bit fo a spur of the moment I decided to go here for a long weekend. So I knew that I would only stay in Chisinau, and also take an overnight trip to Transnistria. A country that isn't recognized as an independent country. It is part of Moldova. But more on that later. In Chisinau, I just wanted to look around and see what I could find. But one of the things I wanted to see, was an old Soviet relic. A concert hall that used to be very popular during the Soviet era. At the height of the popularity, it hosted more that 50 concerts per year. It has fallen into disrepeair and nature was threatening to take over completely. But they have been trying to revive it.
I woke up early, far too early. I looked at the clock and sighed. Tried to sleep some more. But in the end I gave up. Had a shower and sat down in my bed looking at the map of the city, trying to figure out where the concert hall was. Much to my surprise, it was very close by. I hadn't planned it, but my hotel was close to most of the stuff I wanted to see and do. So I was happy about that. When the time was right, I got up from bed and had my breakfast in the reception area. A bowl of cereals, some bisquits, and some toast. I was ready to roam the city.
The first thing I saw after leaving the hotel, was the rotting corpse of a dog that obviously had been hit by a car. Nice! But apart from that, it was a nice walk. I soon found the concert hall and spent some time taking photos of it. It was clearly a beautiful design, althought it was obvious that it wasn't the most renovated place here. Broken windows, concrete pavings falling apart, shrubbery moving onto the building itself.

Walkway under the road

With stores...

The concert hall

Some sort of football monument?

As I earlier wrote I didn't have much of a plan, so I just walked around the city, into parks and watched churches and monuments. Ate delicious kebabs and other food. Watched people and just enjoyed myself.

People running for their life, 100 meters ahead

One park I wandered into, had frogs that sang insanely loud. At first, I thought it was a lot of ducks. But I soon realized, it was the frogs. I stood amazed for a while, trying to record and film the frogs in the reeds. They weren't even big. They were a few cm long. But when they sang, it was loud and intense!

Really wonderful walk in this park.

 Some guys where fishing in the water. Others where sunbathing on the shores.

The frogs in this water were insanely loud!

Transport to Norway???

"Russian" embassy?

 In another park, I walked past what looked like a fair. But it was in such a sad state I felt black and white photos were the only things that could do it justice. A couple of kids rode some of the carusels. But otherwise. Nothing much happened there.

This fun fair was so run down, I felt black and white was appropriate...

Street statues

Orthodox priest

Arch of triumph? With Moldovan flag

Oslo wasn't on this. Disappointing...

Street vendor selling kittens

The force is strong with this painting!

Aaaawwwww!!!!

Patriotic cigarettes...

The central marked where you could also find transport

Naf said!

Street art

Old Soviet monument?

On the last day, I spent some time buying souvenirs. Old Soviet era relics. Once the pride of the people, now for sale for a few euros. I bought a bunch of old Soviet space pins. And some other things for my family at home.
Chisinau was a nice place to visit. Friendly people. Lots of sights, and good food. All the ingredients of a nice weekend. Which this was. I probably should have spent more time travelling the country, but this was a spur of the moment. So it was just a long weekend. And I had one other place to visit during the few days. Transnistria. But that is for another entry.