Hot Talk
September 6, 2008
‘Many a word said in haste’ and all that…
After running the engine for half an hour yesterday I was unable to replicate the oil leak.
From the location of pooled oil and trails thereof I think it was leaking from the oil pressure switch, which would make sense as the oil pressure light has been flickering on occasion.
So I gave it a quick tighten, hopefully that’ll sort things out 
I really should have researched my crossing into Romania more thoroughly when coming to Odessa, as it turns out although there’s a shared border, there’s no crossing, meaning I’m going to have to go into Moldova, yay!
And according to recent reports, crossing into Moldova is a rather hellish experience…
Bribery ahoy!
Kiev Hostel Politics
Hostels in Kiev are a weird weird thing…
I stayed in (reportedly) the best Hostel in Kiev (Kiev Backpackers).
Which, had a decent enough location, was clean enough and no lock out.
However the Norweigan guy running it was one of the most abrasive people I’ve ever met.
If you asked him a question, it would immediately be thrown back at you as stupid, and too much effort to answer properly.
He was vocally racist against Russians and Ukrainians (right in front of them in the restaurant, hope to god they didn’t speak English).
Not to mention the fact I’m almost certain he charged me 360 grivnah for the first night (about 50 euros!), though I evened the score by getting a free night without him realising).
However if you look at the alternatives on hostelworld.com you’ll see similar stories (and worse) at the other hostels in Kiev.
In fact he was telling me of an English guy who set up a hostel in Kiev with a very similar name to his, which created an ongoing debacle whose highlights include the English guy leaving a dead cat slit from top to tail in front of the Norweigan guy’s hostel, operating on a tourist visa and without a hostel licence and threatening the Norweigan’s wife and 7 month old son, or so we’re told.
All in all I think there’s a niche in Kiev for a reasonably priced and more importantly sane hostel owner…
Still he did have a couple of pretty young things working for him who were always insisting on a joyride, so it wasn’t all bad!