Could well be, but it is in those mountains where I was robbed in the middle of the night, in a National Park FFS.

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Yes i was advised by locals of some areas which are best to avoid but in all it was great for me and i plan to go back as i made some great friends there.

Romania part of my ongoing ride report
Tajikistan Or Bust! Solo trip from England to the Afghanistan border via Chechnya - Page 17 - ADVrider

However i agree in some areas i feel you need to be on your toes (i had a little "incident" also)unlike in Moldova

Which park? Just out of curiosity..

I have to say, I was sitting in a bar in Croatia in the late 90's when a knife fight broke out at the table next to myself and a couple of friends; but I've been back to Croatia and the rest of the Balkans since a few times and will probably be back there this summer, unless I head Romania/Moldova/Ukraine direction .

I think you should go back and give it another chance? Just playing devils advocate here really

It was Piatra Craiului NP.

I am sure there are many nice experiences to be had in Romania, and I'm not developing some sort of irrational fear or trying to put others off.

It's nice to visit places multiple times, but life is too short to visit everywhere twice, and even if there had been no unpleasantness, Romania just isn't exciting enough to figure in my plans again... I mean I have never been to Tibet, or Columbia, or Chad, Eritrea....

That said I must have visited Belgium at least 20 times, so Romania is probably due another few visits

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4.5 years around Eurasia in a Toyota Hilux|http://eurasiaoverland.wordpress.com/
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How do you spot a gangster Jervig? I don't know, perhaps their ink identifying them as such. Wait, your next question might be what ink. The beggars that you think are harmless poor old people with ink on their hands that identify them as a thief belonging to a particular family. I doubt you are so naive as you probably couldn't have made it this far in life, so I will leave your ignorant question as it is, ignorant.

If people have issues with Romania stay away, leave more open roads for me. I know I ruffle some feathers, but that just means you are defensive. It is what it is. Romania is far from perfect, but the only time I have had something stolen from me was back home in the states. You are far more likely to fall victim to petty or violent crime in the US than in Romania. I quite frankly have to laugh at how anyone could get ripped off at a restaurant, if prices are clearly listed then it's up to you to know. If prices are not listed, well, then I suggest you move on as that should be an indication of what's to come.

I have been here off and on for quite a few years and I am impressed at the length that the authorities are going to to clean things up, especially with the taxi drivers in the center of Bucharest that work off the meter illegally. The police came in in force to bust them. I am sorry you had a bad experience here, but I could show you some places in western Europe or the U.S. that you will be guaranteed a bad evening. Romania gets a bad name for their gypsy population that no one wants to deal with, but a sure fire way to piss a Romanian off is to refer to Romanians as gypsies. There aren't too many politically correct ways of dealing with them. It is what it is.

How to deal with gypsies. These pictures are not made in a etnographical museum but just along the road somewhere in the country during one of our trips. We have been in RO as well in MD for many many times. They offered us a lunch:

You were certainly able to make that point better than I was!!

For the record, the incident in question was that I had ordered one of the cheaper dishes on the menu, and when the bill came somehow, surely by complete mistake, one of the most expensive had found it's way onto the bill... needless to say I didn't pay the extra.

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4.5 years around Eurasia in a Toyota Hilux|http://eurasiaoverland.wordpress.com/
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Yuo didn't notice the waiter had ink on his hands???

Lets get back to Moldova better, at least in this topic.

GRTZ,

JP