Sancharam | By Santhosh George Kulangara | Romania 01 | Safari TV

Sancharam | By Santhosh George Kulangara | Romania 01 | Safari TV

I am now at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar for my new travelogue. I’ve just arrived on a flight from Kochi and am now boarding a plane to Bucharest, Romania. I previously visited this airport soon
after its inauguration. It’s well equipped with all modern facilities. Now, the crowd has multiplied since then. The market share of Emirates and Qatar Airways appears to dominate this airport. It is beautifully designed, There are endless shopping opportunities at the airport, attractive for both children and adults alike. Recently, I’ve been opting for Qatar Airways for my travels. Qatar Airways offers lower rates, with better chances of ticket availability. Doha Hamad International is one of the world’s newest airports. Construction began in 2005, just 5 kilometers away from the old Doha International Airport. The airport covers an area of 5,500 acres. It was operational from April 2014. Currently, around 30 million passengers pass through this airport annually. Once fully completed,

the airport will be able to handle 90 million passengers per year. It is the second largest in the Gulf region, after Dubai International Airport. It handles around 200,000 aircraft movements annually. Around one million tons of cargo is managed at this airport every year. It’s now 6:30 in the morning. My flight to Bucharest is at 7:30. I need to reach the gate in half an hour; there’s quite a bit of walking to do. As I reach the gate, I see sleepy people waiting. People of various ages and nationalities, waiting to board different flights. Suddenly, the announcement is made that my flight to Bucharest is boarding. Completing security check I walked toward the plane with my ticket. This is how i have planned the journey from Kochi to Doha, then to Bucharest, Romania. From Bucharest, by train, to the historical city of Brașov, then to Sibiu, followed by Sighișoara, then back to Bucharest Next, I’ll head by road to Tarnovo, Bulgaria, crossing the border. From there, the village of Arbanasi, ..and then on to Bucharest before returning home. I’m now walking from the plane to the arrival terminal at Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport. The airport was renovated in 2012. I am walking towards the baggage claim. I have to complete the usual airport checks. The walk feels like going through a space station. It was only after I got off the plane that I realized I had made a big mistake. I had packed a good jacket to fight the cold, but I must have forgotten it on the plane or at the airport. Such things usually don’t happen to me during trips. It’s extremely cold in Romania, and I can’t step outside without a jacket. The fog outside is clearly visible. I’ve decided to buy a good jacket as soon as I leave the airport. After completing immigration and customs, I reached the airport’s arrival hall. I need to get a taxi to the city. I can send a message for an economy taxi from this machine. The machine will give me a slip, and a message will be sent to the taxi as well. I went out with the slip and waited. The car I booked was at half the price of other taxis. I waited in the extreme cold for a while. Eventually, the car arrived. It’s Chris’ taxi. The driver smiled as he loaded my luggage into the trunk. He was the first person I met in Romania. I had booked a room in a hotel near the North Railway Station in Bucharest city. Despite my anxiety about arriving in a new country, the friendly driver was a reassuring presence. This is the front of the airport. During World War II, it was a major base for the German Air Force. In the decades after the war, it became a Romanian Air Force base. Bucharest is blanketed in snow on this completely overcast day. Otopeni International Airport (OTP) is 16 kilometers from the city center. I have a tour plan prepared in advance, but I’m not sure if it will work out. My plan includes both road and train journeys, all of which need to be timed perfectly. His name is George He mentioned Raj Kapoor when he first learned I was from India. During the Soviet era, Hindi cinema was very popular in Eastern Europe, which is how people like George became familiar with Hindi film stars. Although George was welcoming, I felt a bit worried. I couldn’t go into the city without a jacket, and Bucharest was shrouded in fog. It’s a Saturday, so George said there might not be any shops open to buy a jacket. It’s just 1:30 in the afternoon. I plan to walk around and shoot throughout the city until night. After checking in and dropping my bags, I need to head out for the shoot. But I can’t go out without a jacket. I’m just wearing a thin shirt, and Bucharest is freezing cold. The car was approaching the city, and I kept looking at the buildings on both sides of the road,

hoping to spot a shop selling jackets But all the shops were closed. Saturdays and Sundays are their days off. We are now passing through a large garden. We are nearing the Bucharest city center Romania has been making recent progress in infrastructure. It shows signs of development like any other European city. but the shadow of poverty lingers majorly in its buildings There are parks and wide streets,
hinting at European standards We can observe a blend of European charm and lingering poverty here. What we can see straight ahead is the Triumphal Arch in Bucharest. Due to ongoing renovation work, it is covered and blocked off. As we pass through the Triumphal Arch, trees on both sides reveal museums. Romania is a country that has traversed many historical crossroads. It gained fame in the second half of the twentieth century, and became famous after the dictator and strategist Ceaușescu. He was the communist leader who ruled Romania for 24 years from 1965. What you see here is the Peasant Museum, which describes the agricultural history of Romania. The museum stretches along leaf-strewn paths with benches. The board suggests that the language will be hard to follow and understand. A little further on is the Natural History Museum. In front of it, there are a few people We have now arrived at the Piata Victoriei area. Victory Square. Turning left towards Piata Victoriei leads you to the newer part of Bucharest. which developed after the victory of the democratic uprising in Romania in 1989. However, many places still display old buildings that reflect the true Bucharest’s poverty. In the middle of the road, you can find tram tracks that remind you of the old times. The car heads towards the North Railway Station, I have booked a room in a hotel near the railway station. Tomorrow morning, I will take a train from Bucharest to a town called Brasov. Since it is winter, it is hard to get a taxi in the early morning. Here, it only gets light around eight o’clock, so I booked a hotel within walking distance of the railway station online. This is Bucharest North, the main railway station It is one of the most prominent railway stations in the city capital. This is also the station for long-distance trains. From the station’s portico, you can see the building on the right, which is Hotel Andy. This is where I booked my room. George parks the car in front of the hotel. Leu is the currency in Romania, Then, he drives away with the car collecting his 60 Leu as fare This is Hotel Andy. It’s not a very fancy hotel. It’s said to be a three-star hotel. When I opened the door and entered, there was a receptionist sitting with a serious expression. I handed her my passport, and she handled the check-in procedures. I took a look around the hotel reception Its only this much. The reception desk is on one side, and there’s an elevator. That’s the main luxury of this place. After checking in, I received my passport and room key and got into the elevator. Since the elevator has a glass section, I could see the back of the hotel as I ascended. I got off on the third floor, and here is my room. As a European hotel, I expected the room to meet at least a minimum standard. I entered the room, and the dominant color is red. The floor is panelled with wood. Even though the room is small, it’s clean. The daily rent for this room is about ₹2500. For European standards, this is a very low rent. In one corner, there’s a decent bathroom. During my trip to Norway, I paid over ₹15000 per day as room rent. When I opened the window, I saw a row of apartments and some aesthetically unpleasing buildings. I took a shower, got freshened up, and quickly headed down to the street. People wearing thick jackets and shawls walked by, smoking cigarettes. I asked the hotel receptionist if there were any nearby shops that sold jackets. She lazily replied that there might be a jacket shop near the railway station. On the way, people in heavy woolen coats and hats were strolling about. This is the way the receptionist mentioned. On the right side, I could see the railway station. On the left side, there were apartment buildings from the communist era. The memory of communist rule lingers, with single bogey trams passing by occasionally. Fallen leaves scatter around, You can see both communist-era vehicles and modern cars parked along the street. This city of Bucharest shows views from both eras. Those cars from Ceaușescu’s era may have been made in the Soviet Union. But it’s now wrapped up and covered by modern times. Elderly people in woolen coats walk slowly, hand in hand. As I walked along, I reached a place under a bridge. It’s called Pasajul Basarab. In English, it’s known as the Basarab Overpass. There aren’t any open shops here either. I’m not sure how much farther I need to walk in the cold. By now, I’ve already walked at least one and a half kilometers. It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to buy a jacket, so I decided to walk back the way I came. On the right side, across the street, there is a row of apartments. It’s too cold to walk and shoot for too long. Someone I met on the way mentioned that shops might be open inside the railway station. So, I’ve now entered the station. There are shops inside the station, but none of them sell packets or woolen coats. Anyway, since I’m here, I decided to book train tickets for the upcoming days. If I wait until the last minute for tickets, any delay might cause me to miss the train. I’ve already planned my travel route for each day. I got the tickets but it took me about an hour just to get it done. When I came out to Portoico, there were a few taxis parked here. Like at the airport, I checked in using the booking machine and got a taxi from Meridian. This guy wearing green is the taxi driver. He arrived with the car after receiving the message from the machine. Here, you can hail regular taxis on the roadside, which charge between 2.5 to 3.5 leu per kilometer. However, if you use the booking machine to call a taxi, it costs only 1.5 leu per kilometer. This was something I had understood even before leaving home. If you press the call machine, the taxi arrives in about three minutes you. But, apart from places like the airport and railway station, you don’t see those machines in many other locations. This was once a radio station building from the communist era. They are now demolishing it and building something else in its place. From this building’s balcony, Romanian dictator Ceaușescu witnessed the last communist parade in the country in 1989. I’m heading to the heart of the city in this taxi, to the Old City Center. I had already decided earlier that I would start shooting my journey from there. But the city is now covered in a layer of fog. During Ceausescu’s time, many parks were built in the city. There were slums, poor houses, and shops in these places, but they were all cleared out to beautify Bucharest. Now, the car is nearing the heart of the city. Even though it’s the capital of a European country, Bucharest doesn’t compare to Paris or Stockholm. But you can’t say that there are no grand buildings at all. To the right, you can see the Palace of Justice. the Chief Appellate Court is here. It was a palace from the 1800s, that got converted into a courthouse in the 20th century. I told the driver to stop near a shop selling jackets. He pulled the car over near a large building and told me to get off. This is one of the main squares of the city, Unirii Square. There’s a lot of crowd along the sidewalks around the square. Everyone is walking in thick jackets, making me envious as I walk by. It’s like going with a brush in hand. I need to get a jacket right away,
whatever the price may be. There’s a shopping mall here called BERSHKA, which has plenty of jacket stores. I can buy a good jacket for 200 leu, which amounts to about 3500 rupees. Nonetheless, the jacket boosts my confidence and prepares me for the next shoot. Now, I need to head to the Old City Center, and if I walk this way, I’ll reach there. Along the roadside, flowers are lined up for sale for birthdays,
weddings, or romantic encounters; It’s a common custom here to give a flower. That’s why there is a flower shop in every part of the town. I’m walking towards the Old City Square. That where Bucharest city was formed This area is a cultural center today. Here’s the cobblestone path leading to the Old City Center. This is where my journey in Bucharest begins.

Santhosh George Kulangara | Sancharam | Malayalam | Romania |Travel Vlog | SGK | Safari | Santhosh George Kulangara Sancharam

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