Follow me on Instagram
Our trip to Mongolia started off on a wrong foot… and continued in the
same manner.
I believe that I owe an explanation first of all to my friends, who saw
me preoccupied A LOT last autumn. So, here is my official letter to the Embassy
of Mongolia in Bulgaria--
‘Dear Sirs,
I have just returned from a trip to Mongolia and I
would like to report your representative in Romania, Rodica Pop.
The story is a long one, but I will keep it short.
I contacted Rodica Pop in July by phone - I could
barely find the contact details - and she informed me on the new application
form, in use as of July 1st. My boyfriend and I were scheduled to travel to
Mongolia during the first half of October, so I agreed to submit the visa application
in August.
Several e-mails were exchanged not because I am not
a practical person, but because Rodica Pop kept telling me to write to her
again and again, as she was not sure of the exact period during which she was
going to be in Bucharest. She did not inform me on any of the documents
to be submitted alongside the passport and the application form; she only told
me about the USD 100 fee, to be submitted in the same envelope. As I realised
that she is a very difficult person to communicate with, I resorted to
my 18 years of experience as a traveller and included the documents that I
thought would be necessary.
In the end, we did agree on the time frame - a very
limited, one, if I may say -: 15.08.-24.08. It also coincided with our national
holiday (15.08.); I only scheduled to send the envelope the following day
(16.08.) and informed her of that by e-mail. She called me first thing in the
morning and started screaming at me - that I have no respect whatsoever, that
she is out of town - when she herself told me that she would actually BE IN
TOWN -. In the end, I cancelled my fast courier order and placed it on
Friday (with delivery on Monday, 20.08.). Unfortunately, things went wrong with
this order, too, as the fast courier company nearly lost my envelope.
When Rodica Pop finally received it, she sent a
very aggressive e-mail telling me that I put all those documents inside the
envelope, yet did not stick the photos to the application. I did not know the
procedure and had written our names on the back of the pictures. When I called
her, she refused to stick them, she screamed at me AGAIN and, in the
end, hung up the phone in my face when I told her that she did not
inform me of anything else regarding our visa application except for the new application
form, the passport, and the money.
My boyfriend took over and managed - through
several phone calls and disregarding the fact that Rodica Pop kept calling
me a LIAR - to convince her to help us with the visas. Our close friend
from Bucharest had to meet Rodica Pop and stick the pictures to the application
form.
IT WAS AN ORDEAL and NOBODY HAD
EVER MADE ME FEEL THIS LOW IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
I BELIEVE THAT RODICA POP SUFFERS
FROM A SERIOUS MENTAL DISORDER, HAS A PROBLEM WITH YOUNG AND ATTRACTIVE WOMEN
AND IS NOT SUITED TO ACT IN THE POSITION OF HONORARY CONSUL.
MY BOYFRIEND AGREES THAT
ESTABLISHING ANY KIND OF COMMUNICATION WITH THIS WOMAN IS A BIG PROBLEM.
To be honest, I wanted to report her upon my return
and I am furthermore entitled to do so, because at the border between Russia
and Mongolia, we were refused entry because OUR VISAS WERE ERRONEOUS,
bearing a seal that was no longer in use. The officials at the border control
point were kind enough to issue a new visa, even stuck our pictures (which I
had on me just in case) themselves without issues, but we lost a lot of time
and made the van that we were travelling in wait for us for more than one hour
and a half. They told us that it wasn't a singular case and that all visas from
Romania bearing this seal had to be reissued.
Please be reassured that getting this visa was one
of the worst travelling experiences of our lives and take the appropriate
measures.
Thank you,’
Was it really worth
it? The landscapes were splendid and I did find a (Turkish) oasis in the form
of a café in Ölgii – which we would use for lunch and dinner and breakfast –,
but for the rest, it was not.
 |
| 'Golden Eagle' Festival |
 | |
| Lake Tolbo |
 |
| From Ölgii to Khovd |
 |
| Tsanbagarav Uul National Park |
 |
| Along River Khovd |
 |
| Pamuk |
I am, however, glad
that I went – I won’t have any ‘should have’s haunting me.
The other Mongolian
misadventures will follow. For now, I wish to add a few words in Romanian, to
warn my readers against using two fast courier companies’ services.
Dragii mei,
Că tot veni vorba, vă atrag atenţia asupra firmelor de curierat FAN Courier şi Urgent Cargus.
Cei de la FAN Courier practic mi-au pierdut un plic cu paşapoarte şi bani
şi l-au găsit abia după 4 zile, el ajungând din Braşov în Bucureşti în fix 6
zile.
Mai grav, cei de la Urgent Cargus mi-au pierdut un colet pe 05.11.2018. Au
promis să îi ramburseze valoarea produselor expeditorului, însă acest lucru nu
s-a întâmplat. Nu cred că este nevoie să spun că serviciul lor clienţi este
praf. Au o poezie pe care o repetă. Şi atât.
Dacă noi nu le-am mai folosi serviciile, ar dispărea. Gândiţi-vă la acest
lucru.
Eu nu mai vreau să aud de ei!!
