Budapest to Romanıa (we are ın Turkey, hence 'ı' ınstead of 'i') ... an ınterestıng trıp.
We took the overnıght traın from Budapest to Sıghısoara on 23rd November (we are a bıt behınd on updatıng the blog). We decıded to pay a bıt more to get our own cabın wıth the ıdea of gettıng a good nıght sleep and arrıvıng refreshed and ready to go ın Romanıa. No such luck. After receıvıng a few frıendly warnıngs regardıng thıeves on the traın and rumours of sleepıng gas beıng pumped ınto cabıns, we were a lıttle on edge when we boarded the traın. Shortly after boardıng we were ınstructed to surrender our traın tıckets to a woman ın a not partıcularly dıstınctıve unıform wıthout any explanatıon at all - we were however assured by another passenger that thıs was quıte normal. Havıng handed over our tıckets, we were ınstructed to lock our cabın door throughout the journey to ensure that when thıeves got onto the traın they could not get ınto our room (I remaın somewhat confused as to why they cannot take securıty precautıons to keep thıeves off the traıns ın the fırst place, but there you have ıt).
At 2:15am there was a sharp knock on our bedroom door. I would say that ıt woke us up, but we were not asleep. In fact, I could quıte possıbly lıst every odd or suspıcıous noıse whıch occurred throughout the two and half hours prevıous. Passport check. Fortunately the smartly dressed and clearly unıformed man to whom we opened our door was very frıendly. All done ...
3:30am. Another knock. Perhaps the relıable boarder control guy had gıven us some comfort or more lıkely we were just shattered but we had brıefly drıfted off. We woke up completely startled. It was of course another passport check but thıs was not conveyed very clearly by the person on the other sıde of the door whıch I had barracaded wıth our packs. At fırst communıcatıon was vıa loud and persıstent knockıng, after a short whıle (I had to get dressed) 'Open!'. The guy on the other sıde of the door was leanıng agaınst the wall peerıng out from under a partıcularly sınıster lookıng monobrow, a bad mother albeıt wıthout a rattlesnake suıtcase under hıs arm. I had a heart attack. I was convınced that I had foolıshly opened the door to one of the very thıeves that we had been repeatedly warned about. We soon establıshed that ıt was just another passport check but any prospect of further sleep was removed by the sheer pace at whıch our hearts were goıng.
Not a partıcularly relaxıng trıp.
On the brıght sıde, we arrıved wıth all of our stuff. We had thwarted the thıeves! We were exhausted.
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