Click here to read about my first 3 days of travel in Sibiu, Romania

.. After a short 3 hour journey I reached Brasov!

Somehow, I have not been homesick, even for a single day, since I came to Romania. Everything seems exactly like India. As soon as i stepped out of Brasov train station, I was greeted by beggars, of all ages! And then i was flocked by Taxi drivers, of all beard styles! :P

Travel advisory for anyone travelling to Brasov!! Beware of the cab drivers here. Every cab has to have its fare written outside its front door. These cab drivers stand in such a way that you can not read the fare per kilometre! The good cab drivers charge about 1.5 lei per kilometre whereas the other cab drivers charge upto 4 lei per kilometre! 3 times the regular amount!! Son of  a bitch!

Anyways, since i was staying for a longer duration in Brasov (and also because i was running out of money!), I decided to stay in a hostel instead of some fancy hotel. As soon as I entered the hostel room, by God ki kasam, it felt like I dropped from Taj Mahal to jhopad patti! The room was decent, but just three hours ago, the room was awesome! :(


My hostel caretaker was kind enough to create a list of Tourist places in and around Brasov! On top of it, he even mentioned all the local bus numbers for those places! Bus system is strange in Romania. You pay 1.5 lei for stepping in the bus, no matter how far you are going! Needless to say, being a cheapo, I enjoyed multiple end to end rides in the buses, even though my destination was just 2 stops away! Paisa dia hai to wasooli to karni padegi na :D :D :D

Now go up and read the line where i say everything is exactly like India, i was wrong! Some things are even worse!! I was sitting in a McD, munching a burger, and suddenly there was a loud noise at the gate! Some guys (m not sure!) wearing festive dresses and drums in hands entered McDs and started asking for money from everyone! Looked just like Hijras (eunuchs) back in India, playing drums and asking money, but frankly, I never saw any eunuchs entering a McDs in India!


Since only half a day was left with me after train travel, power nap and lunch in hijra filled McD's, I decided to get done with all the museums on Day 1. Museums are anywayz a waste of time and money, but since i had come this far, its better to see what types of commodes did prehistoric Romanians use!  Seriously, the thing that intrigues me the most is to find out the advent of toilet paper in the culture and history of each civilization! :P

I visited some of their largest museums (website link). None of them had any history on the use of western commodes or toilet paper. Phew!

The story of the Churches was exactly same as in Sibiu. From outside, they were pretty awesome, from inside, they were all in ruins. Hence, no photography allowed! GRRR!

I was there when Jejus was born!

This place also had a nice Christmas village, although most of it was dismantled as it was already 28th of December. But whatever was left of it, was awesome. Mainly because the remaining shops were only of  food and wine sellers. :D :D

On day 2, i decided to visit a nearby city (Bran), by bus to see the famous castle of Romanian Dracula (Vlad Tepes)! I am sure most of you must have heard about this term - Tai Tai Fisssss! That is how i sum up my day!

Image taken from the internet. There were too many trees and i couldn't take a full picture

Firstly, the Dracula stories I heard back in India are all fake! Dracul in Romanian means 'evil', hence Dracula was the name given to the evil king. Neither did he had those pointed teeth, nor did he suck anyone's blood. :(

Secondly, the rooms in the castle were so small, I literally roamed around confused for sometime that is this the entrance to a large chamber or the real room??!!. I mean, I get the image of all those castles and forts of Rajasthan in my head whenever i hear the word Castles! But the Dracula Castle's living room (the largest room) is equal to the living room in my apartment. So much for a King, Sigh!

I think the main problem with building a grand castle must have been the installation of heating systems. As there were no electric heaters 200 years ago, only a small room could have been efficiently heated using a fireplace. But Sir, tourists do not buy excuses, all they buy is tickets! (whatever that means :P )

King's bedroom

Anyways, this castle is built in a hilly area, and the temperature was minus 19 degrees with winds at 28kmph! Even though I was looking like an eskimo, but the cold weather was taking its toll on me.

By the time I returned to my hostel room, I had sort of frostbitten feet, with fingers swelled so badly, that i was not able to put my feet back into the shoe.

With my feet not fully recovered from the frostbite, I decided to call it a slow day and visit some malls and churches around the town. I also discovered this Hollywood Ishtyle BRASOV board on the hills :D


Oh by the way, majority of the roads in this city are one way. So you can take the bus from a bus stop just outside your hotel while going to the mall etc, but while coming back, due to the one way roads, the bus will drop you two blocks away! And frankly, being a tourist, how will you know that its your stop, when you are still 2 blocks away! Needless to say, after getting confused 2-3 times, finally I had to get down somewhere midway, and hop into a cab to reach my hotel (through small bylanes) :D


31st of December - I decided to hop into a train and get back to my apartment in Timisoara to celebrate the New Year's Eve with some Indian friends here! Sala ekdum college ki yaad aa gai is bari ke celebration se to! Specially the fireworks at the stroke of midnight were super awesome! And yes, we went to a casino too, to check our luck for the coming year! :D

I don't know who he is, but baraf me har koi Santa Claus lagta hai :D

And kids, with that, we mark the end of a snow filled, fun filled holidays. We will be back with the new version of travelogue once we get a visa to visit some other country!