Day 86: Uncivilized Westerners
Date: 26 Nov 2008.
Today will be my last day in Ukraine. I am going to cross the border and get my feet onto the ground of the European Union. Took a photo with my host Orest before I left. So thats Orest and me with a Ukrainian flag in the background.
Made my way to the bus station, which is just next to the train station, to catch a coach to the land border between Ukraine and Poland. The temperature now is -2.
I was told that it is not very adviseable to do a land crossing by foot at this border. Many people told me to go by bus or train instead as going by foot at this border is the worse option of all. But then again going by foot is the cheapest option and so I went ahead instead. So here I am walking my way towards the border control. I do not know what to expect and I do not wish to know. It should not be that bad right? Wish me luck.
Oh, as usual, before I leave a country, let me show you how their currency look like.
And here is the summary of my stay in Ukraine.
Duration of Stay: 21days.
Date: 6 Nov 2008 - 26 Nov 2008
Total Amount Spent: SGD$924.30 or USD$650 (inclusive of the amount of money stolen from me by the cops in Day 80)
Clearing the Ukrainian border here was very difficult. Even though I had all the documents in order, they did not seem to trust their own systems. They kept thinking that all my documents were fake. They sent me from one room to another and then another. I cant remember how many rooms I had been to before I finally ended up in some quite high ranking military officer's room. Those who came in paid compliments to him and he was also bossing around. Me, I dont really care much and I was just waiting to see what they want to do. I am just going to make sure that noone steals my money again!
Speaking about money, they did asked me for it. But I just smiled in return. "Money? No money." I said. So they asked me to put down my bags and take a sit on the sofa but I did so with my bags on. I am just trying to be safe. An hour passed. I did not know what I was waiting for. Am I able to leave this room? Were they playing mind games with me? Well whatever, since they got my passport, I cant do anything and if they want money I am not going to give it to them. Since they ignored me, I shall ingnore them too and so I sat there and I pretended to fall asleep. I have the time so I shall play along.
I dont know how many minutes had passed. But I was finally "awaken" by another soldier. Then the high ranking officer began to talk to me in his limited english. In his hands, I saw him holding my passport, a coloured photocopied of my passport and also a coloured photocopied of my Ukrainian visa.
He asked:" Country Singapore?"
"Yes" I replied
"Home? Where? What City?"
"Singapore" I said.
Then he got furious and he raised his voice. "City! Not Country! City!"
"Yes, City Singapore."
My reply sparked his anger and he raised his voice even further asking the same question and this time his looks changed. He was on fire. I felt like laughing at that point of time cause he got angry due to his lack of knowledge, his stupidility. "Singapore is one country, one city. Same." I said.
That went on for quite awhile before he finally managed to take down my address and then I am cleared.
Phew!! So troublesome. Now one down, one more to go. Poland side should be easy. Afterall, they are in the European Union. Yeah.... They are in the EU, but........
........
......
....
...
..
.
.
.
I always thought that western countries are more civilized than most countries in Asia. But I am so wrong. I finally got to see the ugly side of them today. Try doing a land crossing by foot between Lviv in Ukraine and Prezemysl in Poland and you will know what I mean.
Just like in China, people here do not queue up and to make it worse, they kept pushing and pushing to the front of the queue. Even though the queue was not moving, still they pushed. As a result, those in front and in the middle were squashed and could not move more than an inch. It was worse than the sardines in a sardine can. I never understand why they did that. Whats the point of pushing people, squeezing everyone tight when the queue was not moving? Does it help? NO. Why not give everyone alittle space and everyone could wait more peaceful for their turn to come.
If I were a kid, I would had died due to lack of oxygen and if I am a woman, I would had felt very molested. It was so pack that I could not even raised up my arms when I wanted to. My arms were just glued to my side. I could barely move an inch. There were times when some guys lips were just centimeters away from my face, at times some women's boobs were pressing against my arms and most of the time I could not keep my balance and I was just being pushed around following the flow leaning on other people. It was that packed. With my 25kg ragsack on my back and my 15kg daypack that I carried in front of me, it made things no better. I was trapped there for hours.
With my asian look and my huge backpack, I stand out from the crowd. People started speaking to me in Polish and Ukranian and Russian. I just kept quiet cause I do not understand. Then someone shouted "you speak english?" I said "yes". "Chinese?" someone asked. "No, Singaporean" I said.
More shouting of english came to me from everywhere. Words like Jacky Chan and KungFu were among them, but soon I began to realise that they were not striking a friendly conversation with me. They were being racist. Words like F**K You came along. People were shouting at me in languages that I do not understand. But I do know that they dont meant any good as the crowd laughed. Damn I dont feel good. Then they pushed me further more among the crowd. I had no strength to resist as I could barely move. I felt people behind me toying with my bagpack but then again. I cant do much. I pity the old lady infront of me though. Cause if I felt physically uncomfortable, she must had felt worse.
Not long after, I ended up in the most uncomfortable position that I had ever been in my entire life. The only part of my body that I was able to move were my lips, tongue, eyelips and rolling of my eyes. Then while I was in that position, I heard the crowd shouting out to the border guard, "Tourist!! There is a tourist here!! Let him go first. Let him get to the front of the queue." The guard came, tried to quiet down the crowd and he went away.
Seeing that they failed to get the guard's attention, the crowd squeezed and packed me even further. "Look!!! He is here. he cant breath anymore. Let him out. Let him go first!" The guard came back again. Saw me. Turned back, walked a few steps, stop, came back and pointed his finger to me. "You come out", He said.
"Go!!" someone from the crowd shouted. "Comm'on Jacky Chan, GO!!" another person said. Soon, I made my way out of the crowd and was led to the front of the queue by the guard. Everyone cheered and whistled!!! They were so happy!!
Till dated, I still do not understand why they did that? Was it purely for fun? Why did they made fun of me and then give me a helping hand? If not for them, it could had take me 7-8hours to clear the custom instead of 3-4hours. So should I be grateful to them? Should I thank them?
hmmmm....... Everything happens for a reason. My suffering within the queue took me to a fast clearer of custom. Can I say that it was a blessing in disguse?
Then at the immigration counter of poland, things were so much easier. it took me less than 20mins to get done and over with what was necessary. I bet not many Singaporeans cross at this border as when they saw my passport, they had to double confirm everything.
So here's POLAND!!!!! FINALLY!!!!
Thats the polish flag and the EU flag. I am now in another time zone again. GMT+1. Phew!!! YEAH!!!
After a long day and a hard fight to clear both customs, I boarded a bus which brought me to a small town where I got onto a train to go to KraKow!! Nice to get onto a comfortable train.
New time zone, new country, new host. The days are getting shorter while the nights got longer. I am slowly moving into the dark and cold winter. Excited? Yes I am. Cant wait to explore Poland!!!
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
Today will be my last day in Ukraine. I am going to cross the border and get my feet onto the ground of the European Union. Took a photo with my host Orest before I left. So thats Orest and me with a Ukrainian flag in the background.
Made my way to the bus station, which is just next to the train station, to catch a coach to the land border between Ukraine and Poland. The temperature now is -2.
I was told that it is not very adviseable to do a land crossing by foot at this border. Many people told me to go by bus or train instead as going by foot at this border is the worse option of all. But then again going by foot is the cheapest option and so I went ahead instead. So here I am walking my way towards the border control. I do not know what to expect and I do not wish to know. It should not be that bad right? Wish me luck.
Oh, as usual, before I leave a country, let me show you how their currency look like.
And here is the summary of my stay in Ukraine.
Duration of Stay: 21days.
Date: 6 Nov 2008 - 26 Nov 2008
Total Amount Spent: SGD$924.30 or USD$650 (inclusive of the amount of money stolen from me by the cops in Day 80)
Clearing the Ukrainian border here was very difficult. Even though I had all the documents in order, they did not seem to trust their own systems. They kept thinking that all my documents were fake. They sent me from one room to another and then another. I cant remember how many rooms I had been to before I finally ended up in some quite high ranking military officer's room. Those who came in paid compliments to him and he was also bossing around. Me, I dont really care much and I was just waiting to see what they want to do. I am just going to make sure that noone steals my money again!
Speaking about money, they did asked me for it. But I just smiled in return. "Money? No money." I said. So they asked me to put down my bags and take a sit on the sofa but I did so with my bags on. I am just trying to be safe. An hour passed. I did not know what I was waiting for. Am I able to leave this room? Were they playing mind games with me? Well whatever, since they got my passport, I cant do anything and if they want money I am not going to give it to them. Since they ignored me, I shall ingnore them too and so I sat there and I pretended to fall asleep. I have the time so I shall play along.
I dont know how many minutes had passed. But I was finally "awaken" by another soldier. Then the high ranking officer began to talk to me in his limited english. In his hands, I saw him holding my passport, a coloured photocopied of my passport and also a coloured photocopied of my Ukrainian visa.
He asked:" Country Singapore?"
"Yes" I replied
"Home? Where? What City?"
"Singapore" I said.
Then he got furious and he raised his voice. "City! Not Country! City!"
"Yes, City Singapore."
My reply sparked his anger and he raised his voice even further asking the same question and this time his looks changed. He was on fire. I felt like laughing at that point of time cause he got angry due to his lack of knowledge, his stupidility. "Singapore is one country, one city. Same." I said.
That went on for quite awhile before he finally managed to take down my address and then I am cleared.
Phew!! So troublesome. Now one down, one more to go. Poland side should be easy. Afterall, they are in the European Union. Yeah.... They are in the EU, but........
........
......
....
...
..
.
.
.
I always thought that western countries are more civilized than most countries in Asia. But I am so wrong. I finally got to see the ugly side of them today. Try doing a land crossing by foot between Lviv in Ukraine and Prezemysl in Poland and you will know what I mean.
Just like in China, people here do not queue up and to make it worse, they kept pushing and pushing to the front of the queue. Even though the queue was not moving, still they pushed. As a result, those in front and in the middle were squashed and could not move more than an inch. It was worse than the sardines in a sardine can. I never understand why they did that. Whats the point of pushing people, squeezing everyone tight when the queue was not moving? Does it help? NO. Why not give everyone alittle space and everyone could wait more peaceful for their turn to come.
If I were a kid, I would had died due to lack of oxygen and if I am a woman, I would had felt very molested. It was so pack that I could not even raised up my arms when I wanted to. My arms were just glued to my side. I could barely move an inch. There were times when some guys lips were just centimeters away from my face, at times some women's boobs were pressing against my arms and most of the time I could not keep my balance and I was just being pushed around following the flow leaning on other people. It was that packed. With my 25kg ragsack on my back and my 15kg daypack that I carried in front of me, it made things no better. I was trapped there for hours.
With my asian look and my huge backpack, I stand out from the crowd. People started speaking to me in Polish and Ukranian and Russian. I just kept quiet cause I do not understand. Then someone shouted "you speak english?" I said "yes". "Chinese?" someone asked. "No, Singaporean" I said.
More shouting of english came to me from everywhere. Words like Jacky Chan and KungFu were among them, but soon I began to realise that they were not striking a friendly conversation with me. They were being racist. Words like F**K You came along. People were shouting at me in languages that I do not understand. But I do know that they dont meant any good as the crowd laughed. Damn I dont feel good. Then they pushed me further more among the crowd. I had no strength to resist as I could barely move. I felt people behind me toying with my bagpack but then again. I cant do much. I pity the old lady infront of me though. Cause if I felt physically uncomfortable, she must had felt worse.
Not long after, I ended up in the most uncomfortable position that I had ever been in my entire life. The only part of my body that I was able to move were my lips, tongue, eyelips and rolling of my eyes. Then while I was in that position, I heard the crowd shouting out to the border guard, "Tourist!! There is a tourist here!! Let him go first. Let him get to the front of the queue." The guard came, tried to quiet down the crowd and he went away.
Seeing that they failed to get the guard's attention, the crowd squeezed and packed me even further. "Look!!! He is here. he cant breath anymore. Let him out. Let him go first!" The guard came back again. Saw me. Turned back, walked a few steps, stop, came back and pointed his finger to me. "You come out", He said.
"Go!!" someone from the crowd shouted. "Comm'on Jacky Chan, GO!!" another person said. Soon, I made my way out of the crowd and was led to the front of the queue by the guard. Everyone cheered and whistled!!! They were so happy!!
Till dated, I still do not understand why they did that? Was it purely for fun? Why did they made fun of me and then give me a helping hand? If not for them, it could had take me 7-8hours to clear the custom instead of 3-4hours. So should I be grateful to them? Should I thank them?
hmmmm....... Everything happens for a reason. My suffering within the queue took me to a fast clearer of custom. Can I say that it was a blessing in disguse?
Then at the immigration counter of poland, things were so much easier. it took me less than 20mins to get done and over with what was necessary. I bet not many Singaporeans cross at this border as when they saw my passport, they had to double confirm everything.
So here's POLAND!!!!! FINALLY!!!!
Thats the polish flag and the EU flag. I am now in another time zone again. GMT+1. Phew!!! YEAH!!!
After a long day and a hard fight to clear both customs, I boarded a bus which brought me to a small town where I got onto a train to go to KraKow!! Nice to get onto a comfortable train.
New time zone, new country, new host. The days are getting shorter while the nights got longer. I am slowly moving into the dark and cold winter. Excited? Yes I am. Cant wait to explore Poland!!!
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
posted by ZeeVinCeZ at 10:22 PM
2 Comments:
Poland and Ukraine hardly qualify as Western countries. The first country where you will be sampling the "civilized" West will be Germany.
At the Point of time when u managed to clear the custom & I was thinking that those guys is helping you or having fun with you, the word "everything happens for a reason" came to mind, & you also wrote that too. Guess great minds think alike.
Have a nice time exploring Europe
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