So from last post, we arrived in Cluj-Napoca. The main reason why we came is this ice cave, the biggest in Romania, located in the Apuseni (pronounced Apusen without the i) Mountains. Since it's in the mountains, before we go for the tour, Venie asked if I am okay with hiking, it's either a 2 to 3 hours hike or a 20 minutes drive. Of course I have to say yes to hiking like durh eventhoughthelasttimeIhikedwaswhenIwasin14Icannotevenremember can't spoil the funnnn.
Our
tour guide
Florin picked us up in front of our hostel in the morning. The first destination was
Turda Salt Mine, (wa the price has increased we paid 10 lei as students now it's 15 according to the website), around an hour drive away from our hostel. It was 8 in the morning so I think we all fell asleep after trying to stay awake for like 20 minutes of the ride lol sorry Florin.
Florin was really nice and cute. We told him the the exchange rate between Romanian Leu and Malaysian Ringgit is about 1 and he was so surprised, he asked if any of us had Ringgit coin. Lucky for him, our dear Venie had a 50 sen and he was the happiest when he received it. He did reassure us he doesn't normally do this when he realized it's a little weird to ask for money when we met for the first time. Hah, it's fine, Florin!
This salt mine has really long history and is no longer in used. Now it is transformed, made more recreational, so that visitors can spend longer time in the salt mine, as that apparently is good for our health. It was very cold inside but we went prepared for the ice cave anyway~
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| Franz Josef Gallery |
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| horses were used to move this "Crivac" until they're blind after staying in the dark for too long :/ |
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| 1857 到此一游! okayno |
it's called echoes room for a reason
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| it's all salt stalactites |
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| my palms were all bloated even on the next day after touching the salt |
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| yes that's a ferris wheel |
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| yes, there is a mini golf track, a sports field, an amphitheater, and a playground in Rudolf Mine |
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| let me be lol don't watch for too long you'll get headache |
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| Terezia Mine #somuchwin |
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| someone change that light bulb please |
Half way through the 3 hours drive to Scărișoara, we stopped by
Manastirea Lupsa.
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| the veil |
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| it's the oldest wooden church in Transylvania |
I was sitting beside Florin so we talked a lot. From him, I learned that they have former presidents in prison. For such a young country, they're really doing their best to fight corruption. Malaysia is 2 places ahead of Romania for the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016, for a reason I guess. Also told Florin about Ong Xie's incidents in those few days, to ask him if that's normal. Not sure if we should be happy or sad, Florin was surprised, he didn't think it's normal. I mean, lol we are happy for Romania but should probably be sad for our misfortune.
When we reached the bottom of the mountain we were hiking, Florin asked again if we were sure we want to hike. Not backing down of course, we started the 2 hours hike. Not surprisingly, I was at the back, panting like a dog lolz, gotta thank Ong Xie for offering to exchange our backpacks lol it helped a lot.
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| this is actually the only photo I took on the way up #没死就算好了还拍 |
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| oh hi |
Feel free to choose any of the following as your summer mansion.
Okay don't, think about your bank account and if you can really live in mountains first.
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| Munții Apuseni at dusk |
We had a local home cooked lunch in a village, the family lived in the ground floor and had other rooms for rent. It was like the best thing to have a hearty meal in a air conditioned room after a 2 hours hike, we were reluctant to leave hahaha. When we finally left, it only took less than 20 minutes to reach the
Ice Cave.
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| look at that new stairs built over the old one |
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| from inside |
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| credits to Florin |
We only spent 25 minutes in the cave. It's the biggest in Romania but the area tourists can access is only so small. So glad we chose to hike, if not it'd only be a 20 minutes drive up the mountain, a lunch which would not taste as good because we weren't really tired and hungry lol you get it right, 25 minutes in the cave then a 3 hours drive back to the city. Please choose to hike, you wouldn't regret it!
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| a present from Florin, Cluj-Napoca |
To be continued or not,
that is a question.
lol we'll see
