Odessa to Chisinau – A border crossing from Ukraine to Moldova. I planned my route via Palanca, Tudora and Stefan Voda to avoid Transnistria the breakaway region from Moldova. Passing through Tranistria adds another border crossing and possibly corrupt officials, also you don’t get an Entry stamp after you pass through and enter Moldova and have to go to an office in Chisinau to get an Entry stamp or you will not be able to leave the country. I did not want any of these complications so avoided the place altogether. The border is 60 km down a 2 lane road, first stop was a soldier in the middle of the road handing out a small slip of paper with the date and time on it, ride on a bit and arrive at a red light where I was held until it was my turn to continue on to Moldovan Immigration and Customs, there is no Ukraine border post so I never got an Exit stamp from Ukraine. I handed in my Passport, Ukraine visa, Bike registration and insurance and the slip of paper. While waiting another Immigration officer who spoke good English came and chatted to me about his and my travels, very friendly and polite, my papers came back and I was on my way in 30 minutes, a very pleasant border crossing. The road deteriorates a little after this but this makes it more interesting, maintained a comfortable if a little bumpy 100 kph hahaha. Arrived in Chisinau after 198 km and 3:36 hrs.

Chisinau – capital of Moldova, not a bad place to visit, clean, cheap with some good restaurants but definitely not a Tourist hot spot. I bought a Moldcell SIM card for about 5 euro with 10 GB data, 4G, etc, only needed it for 4 days, no ID required and it started working immediately. The Yandex taxi app works here and you can get to most places for under 3 euro.