SLANIC MOLDOVA

An official picnic was planned to Slanic Moldova, a place which is about 250 Kms from Galati was planned for 12th May. As Pranav was not well and the distance was more, he was left out and I left with the colleagues.

We started at around 7.30 a.m. in a horrible Mercedes bus. As I was among the last few to enter the bus, I remembered my good old school days as a back bencher and took a seat, which was couple of seats from the last seat. Unlike India, the bus had its engine in the back and I had to enjoy the "music" of the engine throughout the journey. After picking up the last colleague at 8 a.m., the bus set on its journey. We stopped for about 15 mts at around 10.15 a.m. to have some breakfast and then proceeded. Enroute, there was a salt cave (they call it salt mine and I did not see any mine there) and we visited it. Reached the cave at around 11.45 a.m. From the road, a minibus takes us to the mine (through caves and the distance was about 3 kms). Nothing so great inside other than salt on the walls (I dont get the exact word) of the cave. After spending about an hour and a half, we proceeded to Slanic Moldova.

Slanic Moldova is a picturesque mountain and has lot of hot water springs. Water has some chemical content and there were about a dozen different types of water. I tried to experiment and taste the different types of water. Some were sweet, some were very salty, but it was a different experience. I had requested my colleague to take a picture of mine after drinking one of the worst waters. It was totally salty and I felt I drank the water from the sea. Later, was told by another colleague that some waters are not for drinking, but for external application. Fortunately did not have any problem later.

After walking through the woods for more than an hour, did a quick shopping. Bought a bear for Pranav and a souvenir. We then proceeded to have lunch. The organiser told me that she had specifically arranged some vegetarian stuff for me. We sat on the lunch table and I was having water for about an hour before I got my special drink (multivitamin juice !!) . I got my lunch at 4.30 a.m. Just had some maggi for breakfast and an orange and a kitkat enroute. Had a go at the mammaliga as well as the boiled vegetables.

Later, we spent an hour or so, burning some calories by playing volleyball. The best part was the climax. When we planned to leave, I was waiting near the bus at around 6.45 p.m. for my colleagues to settle the bill. It was found that the credit card machine was not reading the card and we could not effect the payment. Asked the bus to leave and three of us stayed back trying to sort out the card payment. The hotel personnel were not ready to believe us or the company name saying that earlier big companies have cheated them. We had to go back to Slanic Moldova which is about 4 kms, withdraw money from the ATM and then pay before proceeding. Finally left the place at 8 p.m. and reached home by 10.45 p.m. and had dinner.

A fitting climax to a beautiful day !!