Maria came and met warmly as if she knows me for long. She has studied hotel management in Switzerland and knows hostelling concept well. Goran, HI co-coordinator came and signed the papers. God only knows how he’d signed the papers. 2 WC for 32 beds is not HI norm. I do not wish to comment on the HI hostels and their standards. I asked her how is it possible as at least hostels shown on Kiev map have HI logo which is registered patent. In fact yesterday I saw a hostel In Maidan where this symbol is displayed on the entrance thereby declaring it HI approved hostel. But she did not have any clue. She is planning a bigger hostel double the size of this apartment. All the hostels in Kiev run on rented apartments. During the football match days the tariff goes up to 50-60 Euro a bed in 12 bed dormitories. Then we chatted for some more time. She brought a large ball pen with Kiev photos printed on it as a gift for me. I thanked her. I had already paid 600 Graney (60) Euros for my two night stay.
Tomorrow night I will go to Chisinau left the hostel in search of Golden gate which Maria had highly recom-mended to see. I had come half way earlier. I had to ask a woman who came up to the place from where I had to turn. All churches, monuments look alike. There are golden dome churches all around. Orthodox churches are itself very decorative. I walked to the square where I had come yesterday. Then I asked Police-woman about Funicular. This goes to the riverside down in 1.5 Graney, I had used funicular in many coun-tries. I sat down near the riverside and had a glass of drought beer. In front of me was a play area for child-ren. Then I thought of taking boat cruise for 50 Granny. It was not that worth. Late evening should be good and cool. As I was tired, I was sleeping most of the time. Came back to the funicular and walked to the bus stand. In between I exchanged 100 dollars for the bus fare. I realized that I reached near the hostel while looking for the bus stop.
4 days are enough for Kiev. Almost all places here have signs in English. Menu in restaurants is in English. This is all because of hosting Euro 2012 football cup final in Kiev on 2nd July. There were tourists around but not in large numbers. I came back to the hostel and rested for some time.
There are two young business persons from Vietnam who had occupied the dining table with their laptops and eatables. We chatted for few minutes. I took shower and got ready to go. The reception girl had phoned for the taxi. It would cost 40 graney. I had paid 600 Grania for 2 nights stay. Taxi had come as the driver phoned and I went down. The receptionist bade good bye and wishing me to come back again.
The driver was good and friendly. He knew a little english but his wife knew (as he told me) good English. Whenever he wanted to get meaning of a word, he would phone her for guidance.
It was good that I hired a taxi. The bus stand was on the outskirts of Kiev. Taxi driver parked his car and came with me inside the Bus stand. I stood at the ticket window when suddenly a tout came. Another person with him introduced him as the driver of the bus going to Chisinau at 7 pm. He led me to the Bus and then demanded 500 Grania for the ticket. I realized that he is a tout. I returned to the Queue for the ticket. I bought ticket for 9.45 pm bus for 217 graney.
Bus stand is not very big but neat and clean. Buses are standing outside. Now I will go to eat at the 1st floor restaurant. The food is good and cheap. I ate salad, Borsch soup which was kidney beans with tomatoes, a big piece of fried chicken, boiled lentils and lemonade, all in 46 graney. It was more than filling.
Bus came in time and also left in time at 9.45pm
Everyone was sleepy when the Ukraine border came. The custom officer came inside the bus and afterward the immigration officer collected all the Passports and after half an hour returned the passports to the driver who handed over to first passenger and he handed over to the next passenger. Bus was going on with speed. Road was not that good. At about 2 pm the bus stopped again and now new immigration officer collected the passports. These were returned at 3 pm as I checked the time. My Moldova visa was not stamped. Bus was going with full speed. Nothing could be done now. I was worried but went to sleep.
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