Needing to get out the Schengen union, and Budapest for a quick weekend excursion, Olivia and I hopped on a bus began the 7 hour bus journey to Cluj-Napoca just before midnight Friday. Two days later, after a racing cab ride, nail-biting customs checks, and a frightening trip to the ER in a newly post-Communist country, we made it back safely to our home-away-from-home in Budapest.
Stressful Start
Friday afternoon, we decided that we should hop out of Hungary for a quick weekend in Romania. There is a bus company that operates between many Eastern European countries called OrangeWays, and offers very cheap tickets with the same "luxuries" of flying, such as a free hot beverage, reclining seats, and an "in-flight" movie (although this was in Hungarian). We booked the tickets online, and I raced home after work to help pack up some things, eat dinner, and head for the bus station. We arrived at 11:15 for the 11:30 bus. As soon as we got there, we realized something was wrong. The bus at the station didn't say Cluj-Napoca on the sign. We talked with the attendants, who said that we were supposed to catch the bus at the airport rather than the bus station! He all but assured us that our tickets were lost, but we could try a taxi. We were so lucky that at that moment, we saw a cab drive by and were able to flag him down and race to the airport. OrangeWays is known for being very prompt (a rarity in Hungary) and sometimes even leaving the stations early. I was in a bit of a panic, realizing that if we didn't make the bus, we would lose all of the money spent on the ticket, and wouldnt be able to go (the next bus wouldn't leave for another 24 hours, which meant that we wouldn't have any time in Cluj at all). But for some miracle, we made the bus even though we got there almost 10 minutes late.
Early Stages
We arrived in Cluj 7 hours later at the crack of dawn, and stumbled out of the bus with no map or idea where we were at all. We had no Romanian currency, or idea of the conversion rate. At this point, I had been feeling a little under the weather for a few hours, but just attributed it to the cold and lack of sleep. So we stumbled around the bus station trying to get some idea of what to do next. We walked a bit and found a gas station, where the attendant was eager to practice her English and directed us to the train station where we would catch a tram to the hostel. Our first impression of Romania from this area was that it was very bleak and impoverished. Countless beggars hassled us at the train station, and we started considering the idea that we had made a huge mistake to visit Cluj. But we were so tired and eager to get to the hostel to take a nap, so we powered on. We stayed at the Transylvania Hostel, one of only two in the whole city of about 380,000. We were able to get a bed as soon as we arrived, and crashed for the next two hours.
Seeing the City
We headed out to wander around the city just before noon. We realized a few hours into our trip that Romania is in a different time zone than Hungary, which made for a little confusion, as no one had told us about this. After walking for a bit, we found a tea/coffeehouse where we rested. By that time I am really having a hard time eating or drinking anything. It had been almost a day since I had eaten because I was struggling with a very sore throat. I had hoped the tea would help. After visiting Flowers, the teahouse, we stopped back at the hostel so I could grab some medicine, and then headed back out to check out the town. We spent the rest of the night popping in to different shops and hangouts and mostly just wandering the streets. Our first impression of Cluj thankfully didn't hold up in the area that we stayed. There are multiple universities there, and it is actually a very vibrant college town.
Trip to the Emergency Room
The next morning I woke up with hugely swolen tonsils, and in tremendous pain. It was going on three days without eating much of anything. I was feeling dizzy, light-headed and slightly nauseous, but mostly from the lack of food. At this point, Olivia, being the voice of reason, decided I needed to see a doctor. We were pretty scared; I had no idea how to communicate with doctors in Romania, and while Hungary supposedly has pretty good doctors, I knew nothing about Romania. And on top of that, I didn't know if this would be expensive, or how to even communicate with the doctors. So Olivia talked to the receptionist at the hostel, who called a colleague, Matei, who came in to the hostel to escort us to the emergency room. I am so greatful to him for helping us on Sunday. There is almost no comparison to the hospital in Cluj and hospitals in the U.S.
Keep in mind that Romania has only been free of Communist rule for the last 20 years. The building where the hospital is located looks from the inside, almost like a high school from the '60s, or similar to a psychiatric hospital from a movie set from 50 years ago. The entrance is nothing but an unmarked door that draws no attention. We walked in and there was no reception, no signs pointing us in any direction, just numbered doors resembling old high school classrooms. When we reached room 18, there were a few chairs lined up in the corridor where people were waiting. There was no sign in, no information desk, just a few chairs. So we sat down and began to wait. As we waited, we saw countless nurses walking around wearig regular old bath robes. I asked if it was because it can be cold there, but Matei explained that in Cluj, this is just part of the uniform! We waited close to an hour before we were let into the room. I went in with Matei who translated for me.
The whole experience was so frightening! Imagine this horror movie from years ago, and you will have a pretty good idea of exactly how things happened. I walked in and a large doctor with very strong features pointed at a chair in the corner and grumbled something. I sat down. There was an extremely bright spotlight shining next to my face. At this point, I was starving and a little woozy, and sitting behind the lamp seeing only shadows, and hearing mutterings of a foreign language while the doctor and nurses looked at me. They all wore these big metal circle things on their head attatched by some type of band. I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of these things was - there were no lenses or light on it, except maybe to keep him from getting distracted?... (: The doctor put on a mask (no gloves) swung the metal thing over one eye, and pointed the light directly at my face. Then he stuck a metal thing in my mouth (hopefully sterilized) and took a look an my enlarged tonsils began half shouting questions in English:
"Pain in your ears?" (He also made hand motions like fire buring up from his neck to his ears). I said no. Louder: "Pain in your ears?!" I said no again and then he muttered something. He had Matei translate it - tonsilitis. Perfect, I knew this all along, and just needed him to write a perscription. The whole expereience, while incredibly scary, was pretty painless. There were no tests or culture to determine this diagnosis for sure, but so far the prescription of anitbiotics and some intense cough drops are working.
On the mend
We stopped at the pharmacy next to the hospital and got the medicine - the antibiotics and losenges for about $17. By this time, I needed to eat! And with the medicine, I was ready to make an attempt. We wanted to thank Matei for helping us out so much, so we took him to lunch in a little place that he knew. We had traditional Romanian soup (tripe soup) which is a garlic cream base with slices of cow stomach. : / Not our new favorite food. Olivia had some other traditional Romanian food that was delicious, varza la Cluj, and I had mashed potatoes and a few bites of chicken. We spent a few more hours with him discussing lots of different aspects about Romania and the history. It was a quite fascinating and informative day.
Around 10 we said good-bye to our new friends, and took a cab for about $2 to the bus terminal, and hopped on to start the 7 hour ride home. I passed on the Vin Diesel "in-flight" movie and tried to catch a few winks. We got in this morning at 5, and slept for another hour before both of us had to get up for work.
All in all, it was a great weekend. Now I know Transylvania has the appeal of some pretty neat cities with friendly people, not just the legend of Dracula.
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