Day 7 | Romancing Romania

Tak da pepe nak di lomance kan pung... saje bikin suspense. Hheheehhe....

After dumping our bags in our surprisingly nice hostel/hotel(we still confuse on the rating for this but who care as long as it is to our benefits, hehehhe... Anyway, we deciding earlier on even before we started the trip that we will be taking the Bucharest Hop-On Hop-Off bus (despite we paid the fine, sigh... can't get over this - GERAM GILER!). Focus LILY!!!

We took our 5-7 mins walk to the HoHo bus stop, according to Wahidah this is the cheapest HoHo, hemmm.... after looking at the route, tak banyak pung. So, oklar especially since it do night ride as well (yeay we could catch sunset! Am a sucker for sunset mode). By the way, this HoHo is not the same as the red HoHo that we have been taking but the concept is the same, thus it's fine by us.

As I said earlier (did I?!??!), the distance was 5-7 mins from our apartment to the bus stop which also double head as the HoHo bus stop. Along the way, we saw this church, my first impression is that their architecture is very much different from those I have seen in Western Europe countries, they play with brighter colours more - that’s one thing for sure. All the white, yellow and gold and silver, well… that was the first impression. In fact the shape (can I use this word, architectural student I am not), maybe the word design suits better (!?!) is slightly different too…

And another thing, which impresses me; knowing that Romania is a Christian religion country, it surprises me that they are actually of Romanian Orthodox Church (I should not be generalizing, I know. Bad Lily…sigh! Ignorant me!). The reason why I say this is because I can still see the priest walking around in black robe and at first I thought they were rabbi (still wondering why I thought of this, everyday there’s something new for me to know and learn here) but then I asked helpful Mr. Google.. Boy! Was I wrong. Hhehehe….

Oh yah! The area where we stayed are actually a student quarters or area, thus youngster are loads here (AND fashionable too, I will tell you this story later - it’s a joke AND as usual, IT’S ON ME! Hahhahah…). Overall, Piata Unirii area is prettttty SAFE, no worries on this but then again one have to be STREET SMART lar right!?? *wink*. There are old buildings and houses in this area looks very very the ol-skool, we even saw students sketching these buildings - I think they’re architecture student and plenty of them here. I can just imagine the interior décor, sure classic and cun giler, but maintainance nye part tuh; tobat malas!

Cara I travel kat most Europe country senang, I always take the Hop-On Hop-Off bus, it can be slight more expensive then major public transportation BUT the reason why I love them so much is because….

1. Affordable -  idak ler mahai sampai leh pengsanG
2. Coverage - they cover the MAIN attractions. Eg, HoHo in Malaysia covers Istana Negara, public bus mana pegi situ! Istana Budaya? Seksa siut… kekadang lepas kan jek site sebab confusing & susah.
3. Distance - they tend to cover FURTHER places too which is beneficial to us first timer
4. Timing - as we can hop-on and hop-off at any point of time, this make sense as we know roughly how to PLAN our day
5. NARRATION - this is important, for I KNOW, no matter how much you read; no way you can remember all of them kan kan… So, when you take these buses, they will provide you with ear-phone (colorful ones - depending on country) with language selection. PERFECT.
6. View - higher view  for good observation sight and pic taking opportunity of cause
7. Reccee - it gives you opportunity to “reccee” and revisit some places next day if need be.

Amacam? Orait dak? Check out this link for all the HoHo available in most part of the world, do bear in mind that some are not operated by the same company hence for those that is not shown on this site, please google it yah. Eg: Bucharest HoHo doesn’t fall under this site/company, nor the one in Dubai. London/Athens have 2 operators etc etc… pandai pandai choose ler yek.

Abit melalut lak, obviously we passed by many places ler kan, one that caught my eye was the Arc de Triomphe ie in English it’s Arch of Triumph; apparently this structure exist in few countries ie Paris (the most famous one of cause), Italy etc etc… [Na, Nanti ko leh tangkap gambar yang kat Paris nye, TIPS : gi masa sunset, panjat naik atas dalam EU$15 kot, tangkap the biggest & busiest roundabout in the world as well as view of Eiffel Tower, it is located on the most famous street in the world gak - CHAMP ELYSEES]. Untuk yang nak tau Arc de Triomphe nye sebutan in French ialah Ar(g)k Du(e) Trio(ng), yang I bracket tuh, bunyi “ghain or nga“, French memang banyak bunyi ni, basically Melayu gi sana senang lar. Hehheh… Kelass dak kite! By the way, this one is smaller then Paris’s and the street are not as glamorous as Champ Elysees either J

We stop about 500 meter from here to head for????

Hard Rock Café Bucharest!!!! It is said to be one of the biggest in Europe. Kalau nak tau, banyak HRC kat Europe nih mostly nye restaurant, tak banyak yang ada dance floor UNLIKE Asia nye. Kitenye cam club, ingat lagi masa I kat Rome dulu, mamat tuh interview serious baik punye sebab dia rasa kitenye best, dia nak relocate (konon!) sebab very the happening. I riak giler masa tuh.

This HRC is located at the biggest park I ever set foot in, even bigger then Ueno Park in Japan ari tuh (and I thought Ueno was big, but duh!). Really! Check out the lake?!?!? Park pic and story in next entry yah… sebab besau sangat!

2 things to bring to your attention, pic below says it all.

Dog litter plastic - is everywhere near/in the park (Zali main bayang bayang tangan lak dah!). So, the area in and surrounding it is soooooo clean, kid you not. Malaysia??!?!?? Buat ler similar kan, for cat and dog. Ish! Gomen…

Historical monument - with detail information & signage. Malaysia gomen?!?!? Again!??!?

As usual lar, while waiting for our HoHo bus, pic taking time and little detail for your view and expectation setting kot ada yang nak gi.

Check out the buildings, it’s different from one to another in every sens - very Eastern Europe. And guess what????

Some or most that caught my eyes was with SILVER DOME, hah! Awat tuh? Normally its gold or earth colour right. After CAREFUL thought my Cik Wahidah kite…. Ehehhe…. Conclusion dia yang brengset!

KONONNYE… This is because Romania is the land of Dracula origin (korang tau kan? Transylvania kat sini ler), it is known that Dracula will die if you shot him with a silver bullet right? Thus, the silver dome is SUPPOSE to wade of Dracula lar….. Like this oso can ah Cik Wahidah oooiiii???!?? Hhahahhaha…. Team Jacob? Team Edward you guys??? Mamat sini lagi hensem dari diarang lerr…

After Maghrib keluar balik for night view, will story the night view in next entry ler kot. Till then… 

La revedere…. Maknenye bye bye ler tuh…

Credit hyperlink : Wikipedia, Hop-On Hop Off Bus