Just outside the main town of Poiana Brasov, we found a place that hired snowmobiles and parked the car. We walked over and spoke to an elderley man who seemed to be running things. He didn't speak much English but when Bogdan told him I was from Australia, his eyes lit up and he seemed full of excitement. He said "Sydney?" to which I replied "Yes". He told some jokes which I didn't understand and Bogdan didn't bother translating, but i laughed anyway because they seemed to be very funny.
A group had just taken the snowmobiles out and the man told us to come back in 1 hour. Apparently as I didn't have a drivers license they could not let me drive the snowmobile on my own. This was fine as I wasn't sure it was a good idea to let me loose on one of these things anyway. We went back to the car and took a drive into the main area of Poiana Brasov. It's a nice town, there were a lot of people around as it had been snowing and they were here to ski and enjoy the snow.
We drove around took some pictures. Bogdan looked for a place to park but as it was so busy, but couldn't find anywhere so we headed back down to the place we originally parked and went to a restaurant across the road to eat some food while we waited. The restaurant was quiet and we were really the only 2 customers in there. I ordered a Ham and Cheese Omelette with Salad and Bogdan had a Ciorba (Soup). Bogdan was having a long conversation with the waitress in Romanian. One of the things I like about Romania is that complete strangers will talk with each other like they have known each other for years.
We finish the food pay the bill and head back over to the snowmobile hire area. There is nobody there except 3 guys standing by a 4 wheel drive talking. It looks like it is 2 of the instructors with a third guy. Bogdan heads over to the group and starts talking to them. The third guy is doing most of the talking. Bogdan tells me that the first group liked it so much they payed for an extra hour. The guy that Bogdan was speaking to turns out to be the owner of the business. Bogdan knows him from a long time ago, they used to go to parties together.
After another 10 minutes of chatting, Bogdan tells me we are going to go for a drive and see something. Bogdan and I get into his friends Range Rover and we drive down to a new resort complex that is being built. Some of it is completed but apparently when the financial crisis hit the other hotel company pulled out of completing their section of the resort complex. The resort is called Silver Mountain. It is a luxury apartment complex. Bogdans friend (I never really knew his name) has one of the concierge show us through the some of the apartments.
The first apartment is a 3 story penthouse. It is amazing. It is modern design, there were 3 bedrooms all with ensuites. There were at least 2 other bathrooms. A big balcony overlooking Poiana Brasov, a decent sized fully functional kitchen and a fireplace. It was superb. They told me that something like this would sell for around 220,000 euro and it rents for 350 Euro a night. WOW!!!..
The concierge then showed us 2 other styles of apartments. Both of them decreasing in size, but still very nice. They all had modern designs and fireplaces. These apartments were very luxurious. After looking at the apartments, Bogdans friend took us to the other facilities in the complex. He spoke English so there wasn't any communication problems. There was a pool, sauna, gym and sundeck with another pool. There was a nightclub as well as a restaurant. He took us into the restaurant and it was clear this place was designed to cater to those who had money.
I'm not sure what Bogdans friends involvement in this resort was, but he seemed to know all the staff and all the facilities very well. His ATV and snowmobiles are also stored in the garage of the complex. It was a very nice complex. I remarked while in the penthouse, that in Australia, something like that would sell for about $1,000,000.00 and I stand by that statement. After spending about 45 minutes looking around the entire complex, we headed back to the snowmobile place.
Once there the elderly man we first spoke to came over and started talking to me. Bogdan was still in the car talking to his friend. He didn't speak English, but we were able to communicate. He liked Rugby and wanted to live in Australia or New Zealand. It turns out that he is Bogdan's friends father. After a little while Bogdan and his friend joined me and the friend and I had a good conversation about lots of things while we waited for the snowmobiles to return. Bogdan informed me that we are with family now, so we get a discount. "Very nice", I thought.
After about 3 hours of waiting, the snowmobiles finally returned. I got on the back of one with an instructor and Bogdan (who was just going to wait), was told by his friend to just take one. The instructor asked me whether i preferred to go slow or fast. "Go as fast as you want", I said, "If I get scared I will let you know".
So off we went, these things are awesome. They have a lot of power. I guess it's basically a jet ski for snow. The ride was very bumpy on the back and at certain points, the instructor opened up the throttle and if I wasn't holding onto the grips tightly I would've flown off the back. It was fucking awesome. When we driving around the course I thought of the scene in 'Die Hard 2' where they have the gunfight on the snowmobiles. They offered to let me drive when we were out in the open, but i declined. Part of me wanted to, but I was enjoying the ride for the time being. I would have felt bad if i crashed it or something. Maybe next time I will take the opportunity.
I only paid for half an hour, it was 100 lei ($30.00-$35.00) because it was getting late and I thought I might get bored if it was for the full hour. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I highly recommend everyone drive or ride one of these things when they get an opportunity. After we returned to the 'base', I thanked everybody and shook hands with everybody. My arms were still shaking from the adrenalin, and we headed back to Brasov.
On the drive down I saw a spot on the road with an amazing view and Bogdan stopped so I could take some pictures.
I needed to get some clothes cleaned so when I got back to Casa Timar, I asked Milli, if it was possible to get them washed and returned for checkout the next day. She was happy to do it and told me it didn't cost anything either. WOW!! Fantastic.
I walked around to a store to get a few beers. I got some bottles of Cuicas and took them to the counter. The girl started asking me if I had bottles to exchange. I had no idea what she was talking about. She tried to explain to me, but i just kind of looked at her blankly. Miss C had mentioned something about beer in bottles on the first day I arrived but never really explained it to me. A young guy came into the store and spoke fluent English and was able to help communicate.
Apparently in Romania, if you want beer in bottles, you have to exchange the same amount of empty bottles otherwise you pay for the bottle too. I guess the girl took pity on me for being an ignorant foreigner (or maybe she just liked me) and just told me to return the bottles the next day. On the way back I stopped at a pizza place called 'Viking Blue'. It was just a window on the street and got a pizza. Then went back to Cas Timar, updated the blog, ate and drank and then went to sleep.
Romanians have a sense of community and family that is not so prevalent in Australia. I kind of understood this from Miss C and Mr M in Bucharest but it wasn't until today that I really felt that I was welcome by the greater community. These people probably would have invited me into their homes if I needed it. My heart might stay in Bucharest but the real magic of this country happens in Transylvania.
Tomorrow I leave Romania on a train to Budapest, Hungary. I am a little nervous. Will I figure out the train? Will I find my seat or my sleeper? Will I manage with my big pack?. I have to take a cab from the station in Budapest to the hotel, will I be extorted? Am I going to manage with only English? I will be completely relying on myself now and I'm not sure I am all that reliable. Anyway, I guess that's part of the adventure.
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