Beijing to Tianjin (125 km)

Things started out well. I left shortly before 6 AM, before bad traffic and while it was still cool. I made good progress and finally left the built-up part of Beijing at around 8:00. I was on track to make it to Tianjin by about 14:00. Despite beginning to feel a bit tired over the next few hours, I soldiered on, stopping for lunch at 11:30, and still feeling pretty good. I was already two-thirds of the way there in about 5 hours, certainly I would have no problem completing the last third. Wishful thinking. As I arrived in the town of Wuqing, quite near Tianjin at about 13:00, I began to slow down considerably and feel more and more tired, taking frequent rests. By this time it was also very hot, and there was little shade. The next three hours of riding were very painful, and by the time I reached Tianjin proper I was on the first gear, down from six in the morning. The ride in Tianjin to my hotel was the most unpleasant of my trip, as the construction work taking place on the road left a fair bit of dust that blew into my mouth. By the time I arrived in my hotel at 16:15, I was filthy and exhausted. I went out for a quick dinner and was tired that I fell asleep at 18:30 and slept for 11 hours!

My big bike trip

I'm doing a bike trip this summer with the goal of reaching Shanghai from Beijing. Why this route? Well, I'd like to commemorate the imminent opening of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail service. I will travel the same route in one of the slowest ways possible and return back to Beijing on the train itself, going the fastest way. I view this as kind of a contrast between old and new. I will be able to experience China at its most primitive level (the countryside) and then at its most advanced on the train back. In between, I will stop at all the cities that have train stations on the route and spend the night in each one. How long will this take? I'm aiming for three weeks.

Transdniestria: The Country that Doesn’t Exist

While in Moldova I had the opportunity to visit Tiraspol, the capital of the self-proclaimed country of Transdniestria. After the breakup of the USSR, there was a brief civil war in Moldova in which Transdniestria declared its independence from Moldova.

While I had heard that crossing the border into the Transdniestria often involved confiscation of money and bribes, I was not too worried. I just brought a small amount of money with me, so there wouldn’t be much to take.

After a forty-five minute ride from Chisinau, we arrived at the border. First we were briefly stopped by a Moldovan guard, and then passed some soldiers and old fortifications. Finally we reached the Transdniestrian border post where we filled in an immigration form and stood in line to have our passports checked over by an unsmiling border guard. No bribes were taken and we were let through the border.

The first difference between Transdniestria and Moldova is in the language. Moldova uses Latin letters and its official language is Romanian. On the other hand, Transdniestria uses Cyrillic and the most used language is Russian. The landscape wasn’t much different from Moldova. Huge communist-era apartment building jostled for space with primitive looking houses.

The capital of Transdniestria, Tiraspol feels very provincial and sleepy. While there, I saw few people walking down the wide streets. Unfortunately due to a holiday, many of the stores were closed. However, I was able to change money into Transdniestrian rubles and bought some Cognac, a product that is supposedly famous in the ‘country’. For lunch, we went to restaurant that served sushi (I didn’t order that), something that was unexpected in a provincial place such as Tiraspol.


The Transdniestrian Ruble is completely useless outside the country – no other country recognizes the existence of the Transdniestrian Republic. It was quite amusing to see the place really trying to be a ‘real’ country. There were lots of flags, and signs, and there was even an Abkhazian embassy, another unrecognized ‘country’ in Georgia. The public buildings were small and ugly. There was a parliament building, a national theatre, a national bank and even a memorial from the ‘war of liberation’ form Moldova.

There was a significant military presence in the country, but if you look carefully at the soldiers you will note that they are actually Russian. Russia has a military base in Transdniestria and support its existence. There were various military checkpoints and poorly camouflaged military equipment in various places. I’m no quite sure why Russia supports the existence of Transdniestria, but it probably wants to project its power in a region that it used to control as the USSR.

After a few hours in Tiraspol, I had seen everything and was ready to leave. I don’t feel the need to return. While interesting due to the political situation, Tiraspol really has nothing interesting to see.

Moldova: The 'Bad' Country

Upon crossing the border from Romania into Moldova, I immediately noticed a change. There were fewer paved streets. The houses looked shabbier. Cars were older. The roads were appalling. The main highway to Chisinau, the capital, is full of potholes. No wonder Moldova is the poorest country in Europe.

Chisinau has a sleepy feel. There are few tall building and lots of shabby buildings the city center. Sidewalks are in poor maintenance. There is one mall in the entire country, built only a couple of years ago. There is not much to do in Chisinau except walk around, which I did. Like Romania, money changers are everywhere, indicating that much of the population has migrated.

While a democratic country, Moldovan voters have elected communist governments since the fall of the USSR. It doesn’t seem like the government has done much to lift the country of poverty. One a per-capita basis, Moldova is poorer than China and is at a similar level of development to some of the richer African countries.

When I took a taxi to the train station to catch my train returning to Bucharest, the taxi driver, who spoke some English, asked me what I thought of Moldova. I said I liked it. It was true, while boring, people were reasonably friendly, and visiting was a positive experience for me. The taxi driver told me he thought that Moldova was a ‘bad country’ and like many of his countrymen, he wanted to leave. I once read somewhere that Moldova was the least happy country on earth. I can now perhaps see why.

Fortified Churches: Biertan

I was disappointed to discover that the bike rental place was shut in Sighisoara when I went shortly after arriving. This forced me to take a roundabout route to Biertan (a fortified church, and supposedly the best) via train to Medias, followed by a bus.

When I arrived in Biertan at 12:45, I discovered that the next bus back to Medias left at 9:00 PM in the evening. This news was not unexpected, and so after viewing the church and having lunch, I decided to run the 10 KM to the nearest train station.

It is rather strange to see a cathedral-like building towering over a village of dirt roads and gypsies. As for the church in Biertan, it was lovely. Double-walls encircled the church, interspersed with imposing towers. Inside the church, there was a lovely altarpiece and a door with an unusual locking mechanism.

After finishing the church, I ran most of the ten kilometers to the train station. On the way, I went through an unusual village called Saros filled with gypsies who lived in a collection of shacks perched precariously along a hillside. The town also had a fortified church that was unfortunately closed.

The Saxon Cities of Transylvania: Medias

On the train ride into the city of Medias, my eyes were immediately assaulted by a number of unattractive factories and communist housing blocks. Deep within this architectural morass, I saw a lovely medieval tower emerge. Perhaps there was something attractive in this city after all. After leaving the train and exploring, I was able to find a well-preserved historical center. Unfortunately, none of the potential tourist sights was open (fortified church, fortifications, synagogue), and cars dominated the medieval center of town. Not a tourist was to be seen. I think that if the city cobbled some of the central streets and and if some restaurants in the center opened, Medias could be more welcoming to tourists. At the moment though, it is not that exciting.

Romanian Food

On the whole, the food in Romania has been disappointing. It seems to be primarily meat based, with a smattering of vegetables like cabbage and potato. A ubiquitous part of the cuisine is the accompaniment of polenta with many of the meat dishes. Some other particularities include the use of cheese. Romania’s cheese is very soft, much like feta, and is often sweet. A typical desert is deep-fried cheese with lemon.

Alongside the local Romanian restaurants in the cities are Italian restaurants. Pizza and pasta are very popular here, and Italian restaurants are fixtures of every city. This is good, because you can get some nice salads at these restaurants. Healthy food seems to be sorely lacking in the local cuisine.