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The only tourist in Moldova

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#171

Post by seanmcdirmid »

danayfm wrote: post #147

I was in Moldova back in 2013 for a university org summer course and for me it somehow felt like being in Cuba. There weren't many tourists but everyone was very welcoming. You could see even between students the difference in pro-russians and pro-europeans. Weird thing is cut the hot water during the summer. Best wine I've ever had and it was home made from my friend's parent's cellar. Loved the time there.

Old Soviet style communities get hot water from central plants, mainly used for heating but also for showers, so when winter is over, they shutdown the heating plants for the season and no hot water at all. Some places in Northern China hook into muni hot water for showers in the winter but use solar hot water in the summer, when hot showers can be a bit less satisfying (in my experience anyways).

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#172

Post by stychos »

dralley wrote: post #140
viraptor wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately it's just due to the number of people. It's unlikely a random person could tell a difference between Polish and Russian, much less Ukrainian and Russian.

I doubt many Russians can tell the difference between Ukrainian and Polish either. I unironically think that some of them convinced themselves they were fighting Polish mercenaries just because they heard western Ukrainian accents.

I doubt most of Ukrainians knows Ukrainian language.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#173

Post by seanmcdirmid »

stychos wrote: post #170
poizan42 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there really any chance they are going to hand out prison sentences to foreigners who have visited as a tourist? But legallity, politics and bad taste aside, it just seems a dangerous place to visit. It wasn't long ago that an Ukrainian missile was shot down over Crimea which ended falling down on a beach in Sevastopol and killing 4 people.

Nope. If they acknowledge you've been on 'occupied' territories, they will reject entry and prohibit it for 3-5 years.

You get similar treatment with an Israeli stamp in your passport if you go to many Muslim countries, not that they will actually stamp your passport anymore. Cuba and DPRK will also avoid stamping your passport for similar reasons with respect to American sanctions (no idea bout Iran).

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#177

Post by ianburrell »

type0 wrote: post #131
sandworm101 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if it is NATO blasting through Moldova into Ukraine?

why would they; more realistic would be Romania and Ukraine deciding to disarm Transnistria on behalf of Moldova

There is little reason to go through Moldova because Ukraine and Romania touch in Budjak which landlocks Moldova. A little bit of the road goes through Moldova but is controlled by Ukraine.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#179

Post by bobthepanda »

type0 wrote: post #120
brabel wrote: post #30

I was in Belarus recently and it did feel like I was the only non-Slavic person, and tourist, on the bus there (yes, bus, because no European country except for Turkey is flying to Belarus). Everyone else seemed like locals going back home for a visit (including my wife!). But once you get to Minsk, it's actually pretty modern and nice, extremely clean... and clearly a vibrating city with lots of things to do, buy an…

> I know the EU was trying to get closer to Belarus and vice-versa before "you know what" "you know what" after 2020-2021 protests and continuing systematic torture of political prisoners are the big reasons not to go there

There was also the whole “using fighter jets to force a Ryanair plane with a dissident to land in Belarus”

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#180

Post by qingcharles »

krick wrote: post #161
type0 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Traveling to Mariupol as a tourist is the real deal in 2024 except you'll be on occupied territory and will be breaking Ukrainian law, you might get a prison sentence if you ever go to Ukraine again

How would they ever know if you won't outright tell them yourself (like being a famous person an posting your itinerary on the instagram)? They'll see you've been to Russia, if you use the same passport for both visas, which may be frowned upon right now, but not illegal. But which Russian cities you've been to (and de-facto Mariupol is just that right now) — who the hell knows?

Plenty of people have two passports for this reason.

Lots of things in immigration require you to honestly self-report and have no mechanism to validate at the point-of-entry. For instance, many countries without visa requirements will still ask about criminal records in your native country, but have no access to the data to verify if you tell them you've never even had a parking ticket.

But if you get caught later down the line, then they are going to use your lies to make life very hard for you.

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