Our one-year trip

We love to travel.
After 4 years of living on the island, on March 10, 2015, Natasha, Dania and I left our beloved Samui and went on an exciting journey that lasted a whole year. During this year, we visited Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ukraine, the Maldives, Moldova and returned to Thailand again. It so happened that each of us did not visit one country from this list. But more on that later.

From Thailand, we flew to Kazakhstan

Natasha and I flew there once for a few days. We had very good impressions and we even dreamed of coming to live in this hospitable, as it seemed to us then, country. We were choosing between the old capital, the city of Almaty and the current capital, the city of Astana. We thought about maybe living somewhere outside the city, we decided to look at the place and the situation. It is difficult to talk about this from a distance. We will come and see.

We chose. I settled in the city of Almaty. And Natasha and Dania flew to Ukraine after some time. To register the child and make him a child's foreign passport. Because the Ukrainian consulate in Thailand does not provide such services. Before their departure, I first made a legally certified permission from the second parent for the child to leave Ukraine. Or rather, to two countries at once.

So that my wife and child could return to Kazakhstan, where I stayed, and to Moldova, where we planned to go if I didn't like something in Kazakhstan. In such matters, insurance would not hurt.

Almaty taxis are not expensive.

Which was especially pleasing after the astronomical prices in Samui.

At the same time, it took me some time to get used to the completely insane and crazy traffic and behavior on the roads. At first, I seriously buckled up while sitting in the back seat of a taxi and thought that the taxi drivers would not take me there, having killed me along the way. They fly, cut me off, yell and honk. Then I somehow got used to it. After all, I survived.

Public transport

I had an incident that at first was a little shocking. On the bus, a young girl took my backpack from me, put it on her lap and sat on as if nothing had happened. It turned out that here on public transport it is normal to take your bag in your arms. Wow...

Expensive housing

A normal apartment from $ 1000. From! Depending on the "coolness" of the area, in general, like everywhere else. But in Almaty, the steepness depends on which part of the foothills your apartment is located on. The thing is, there is nothing to breathe in Almaty. In the literal sense of the word. The air pollution is terrible.

Because the higher up the mountain you go, the cleaner the air. And vice versa. If you go down to the lower part of the city, there is nothing to breathe at all. And this difference is really noticeable. I don’t know about the locals, but for me, who spent the last few years living on a tropical island that just stands in the sea, it was hard to breathe in Almaty. You can’t get used to it. It’s always with you, with every breath.

Legalization

In Kazakhstan, as a foreigner, I cannot open my own company and work for myself. Officially, I could only work if I was registered as an employee.

Some of my friends, with whom I had known for a long time, immediately upon arrival offered me to register for their company. What nice people, I always knew that the world is full of good people.
In exchange for this, they wanted me to give them, yes, the same 30%. And from all orders received in Kazakhstan! It doesn't matter how I get them. Give them 30%. :)

I openly laughed at such a stingy offer and refused them.
Fortunately, I immediately received an offer from two people from show business. They registered me for free in their company and I paid some pennies in taxes for myself. Something like $35 a month. Wonderful.
The procedure was not complicated. Some fussing with papers, go outside of Kazakhstan, come back and close the issue with the papers. That's all.

Yes, I went through all this in Thailand when I opened my company. And here people even speak Russian. A piece of cake.

Legalization

In Kazakhstan, as a foreigner, I cannot open my own company and work for myself. Officially, I could only work if I was registered as an employee.

The procedure was not complicated. Some fussing with papers, go outside of Kazakhstan, come back and close the issue with the papers. That's all.
Yes, I went through all this in Thailand when I opened my company. And here people even speak Russian. A piece of cake.

Corruption

But in reality, everything turned out to be more fun. I encountered absolutely catastrophic corruption and bureaucracy. With an Eastern character, in its worst cynical manifestations.

Example of a standard conversation:
Inspector - you must leave Kazakhstan and take the document I need upon entry.
Me - What document do you need?
Inspector - Whichever one they give you there and bring it to me. I'll take a look.
Me - Do they know what document you need? What is it called? How should I formulate it so that they give me the right document?
Inspector - (irritably) How do I know what they will give you there. When you arrive, come to me, I'll see if this document is suitable or not.
Me - And if it is not suitable, then what?
Inspector - Then go again, let them give you another one.
Me - Maybe you can tell me right away what the document is called?
Inspector - (irritated) I don't know, I need to look at it!
And so on in this vein...

I talked to knowledgeable people and they told me that usually all this is done only through "helpers" and amounts to 2-5 thousand dollars. For example, in order for a certain inspector to put my case on top, and not put it on the back burner for consideration, he needs to bring from "a little bit" to 2000$.

They told me briefly. If you want to solve the issue quickly, prepare ten. I don't know if this is true or not. Maybe they are lying, maybe not. But I didn't plan to check. Expensive. )
It would be possible to act normally through a lawyer, as in Thailand, but the amount of bribes still did not decrease from this, but increased by the cost of the lawyer.

Maybe it is not like this everywhere and not in everything. But what I personally encountered had exactly this, frankly perverted and extortionate nature. And this was not an isolated incident, it was a trend that was increasingly stressing me out.
I realized that I was not interested in doing all this.

Not now, and certainly not later, to pull this entire traditionally entrenched system on my nervous system and my wallet.
The question was not posed point-blank that I needed to stay here by any means. I wanted to get to know the country, the culture, the people better. Work for my own pleasure for a year or two and move on. To another country or return to Thailand.
And here such stress on my mind, not strengthened after the relaxing tropics.

The question became point-blank. Do I want to make myself a cog in this entire Eastern corrupt system? Agree with the rules and make it my own?
Are you serious?
Why do I need it?!!!
My health is more important to me.

I immediately bought plane tickets and flew to Moldova the next morning.

Choice

Natasha and I had a plan. A good plan.
If Kazakhstan “doesn’t work out,” then we’ll fly to Moldova and just relax there.

I don’t count on any photography orders in Moldova. We spent a long time monitoring countries to go to from Thailand. They were happy to see us in Spain, we could have gone to Italy, and there was a good and easy option in Poland. But this is Europe, and for these countries you had to get a Schengen visa in Bangkok. Coming from Thailand, with a company that had been closed yesterday, was sharply approaching the impossible.

In Ukraine, we would have solved this issue, but in Thailand, they simply don’t give you a Schengen visa without your own company. Only if you have an open company and go there for a week on a business visa or for a ski vacation. We closed our company. Without it, counting on a Schengen visa would have been the height of naivety.

Therefore, Natasha and I decided to choose simple Russian-speaking countries where you can stay for more than three months. Then the choice fell on Kazakhstan. We once held a master class there. We liked the country and we wanted to go back there, live and work. There were no crises then. People lived in luxury and felt confident and good. For example, tickets to my master class cost $600. Of course, that was then, and this is now. We were still interested in going back, living and working in Kazakhstan.

If it doesn't work out or we don't like it, then we'll go to Moldova and just relax and enjoy life there. We love to travel. We saw one country, flew to live in another! )
So I flew.

MOLDOVA

So, welcome to Moldova.
Moldova was the easiest and most relaxing option on our list. To have a rest in Moldova after 4 years of rest in Thailand. This is beyond the comprehension of most people's minds. But not for those who have lived and worked here on the island for a long time.
For the locals of Chisinau, this was doubly incomprehensible. When I named the real reason for settling in their country, they simply did not understand me. They asked again. Moldovans think that you need to go somewhere, that somewhere is good, but they have no... they have bad.

In fact, as it turned out, Moldova, or as it is correct Moldova, is simply a wonderful country for a quiet rest and measured life.
Natasha and Dania were still in Ukraine. And I came to reconnaissance. Now to Moldova. Let's see what's here.
I had never been to Moldova and did not know anyone. No friends or relatives.
I booked accommodation on AirBnB. And settled in the center of Chisinau.

Housing

I was lucky. In Chisinau, I met two good and important people for our story. Igor and Alex. Later, they helped me solve a huge number of issues. Moreover, no one demanded 30% from me.
While in Almaty, I booked housing in Chisinau on AirBnB. One of my requirements was the location in the city center. Another factor that influenced the decision was the description of the housing and the fact that the owner is a creative person.
I arrived. For 10 euros, he met me with a smile at the Chisinau airport and took me home with all my luggage.
Everything turned out to be as described on AirBnB. A house with a separate entrance and accommodation in the same house of the owner. Who is almost always at home. This suited me very, very well.
Of course, it was possible to rent a separate apartment. No problem.
But. Question.
How many people received the keys to this apartment before you? Who is responsible if you return home in the evening and do not find your things? No one. Except you.
Safety is far from the last factor in choosing short-term housing when moving to another country with all your belongings and a bunch of expensive photo equipment.

I planned to stay with him for a couple of days. During these days, rent an apartment in Chisinau for a month and during this time find a house for my family to live in for a long time. However, I spent three weeks in the rented house. We agreed on the price. In the morning, tea, coffee, and buns in the kitchen. Sometimes a cleaning lady came.

Everything was pleasant on a human level. Everything suited me. It was stupid to look for something better. It turned out that in the yard of the house there was a huge but kind dog that was let out into the yard when no one was home. I was calmer than ever about my equipment. In the yard over a cup of coffee with Igor, you could always just talk like humans about the local way of life, about traditions, or find out about the location of a bus station on a map, for example. And I always had a driver with a car at my disposal.

A dream…

Here is a house and me by the pool.

If you are going to Moldova and need somewhere to stay.
While lying on the beach of Samui, Natasha and I read that Moldova has good internet.

Even in villages there is normal 3G-4G. In the capital, some provider gives 1 gigabit with a cable. In Ukraine, I have never even heard of such a thing. In Thailand, on my island, even more so.
Therefore, we wanted to rent a house in some village not far from Chisinau. So that we could live in silence and relaxation in nature and at the same time enjoy all the benefits of capital life. But as usual, everything turned out to be not as simple as we assumed.

While in Chisinau, I studied the market first of the capital's real estate, and then of the rest of the country. After the Kazakh Soviet apartments for fabulous money, here the same Soviet apartments were offered 3-4 times cheaper. New buildings are also affordable and in terms of prices and were not much different from the old ones. However, I was interested in the most relaxing outskirts. A beautiful village or a cozy little town.

I monitored the Internet, walked around several Chisinau real estate agencies. Igor introduced me to his friend Alex, who had a project Hailatara.
This is something like AirBnB and a travel agency combined. You can choose authentic housing with or without owners throughout Moldova. Drink milk from a cow, go kayaking, etc.

So this is a real find for me! Alex knew all the houses throughout Moldova. In every village. He knew the location of these villages, rivers, transport interchanges, etc.
I traveled to some towns and villages around Chisinau on Alex's recommendations. No further than 80 km. I talked to people there, studied the infrastructure, looked for a house.

Having found out that the locals hang ads on poles and fences the old-fashioned way, I printed out my ad on Igor's printer and hung it in the towns that interested me. This is unusual, I tell you. I have already gotten out of the habit of this. Not an online option, but a real paper ad and glue. On a wall or a pole. :)

Alex calls. He found me a great option. A two-story house. A town by the river, quiet and beautiful. I went to look.

Not a bad option:

A nice two-story house. With three bedrooms, a large balcony, a garage and a billiard room on the second floor.
Of course it's cluttered, but knowing Natasha, I knew that in a week the house would have Japanese minimalism, sterile cleanliness and order like on the shelves of an Apple store.
And now the price.

Ready?

150 € per month + utilities.
Unfortunately, this option didn't work out. The owners of the house still gave the house to their grandchildren for the summer. No problem, we'll keep looking.

Got a call from an ad from paper ads on fences. House 100 euros! Hmm... I don't even know how to react. I need to go see it.
Went to see it. House in the town of Orhei. In the center of the town. The provider's ad said something about crazy Internet speeds. That made me happy.

Met with the owner. He “justified” himself by saying that yes, the price was high, but you understand, it was a private house. :) We approached the house.

And this is the bathroom and the main staircase to the second floor.

The design solutions were amazing in their completeness of thought. It was immediately clear what he wanted to say. The second floor no longer interested me. :)
I realized that this house was a good example for an article, but not for my family's life.
I continue searching.

This is it!

And then, two days before Natasha and Dania arrived in Chisinau, I came across an ad on a local Internet portal.
An interesting offer. A nice house. I already like it.

I call, arrange a meeting. Igor and I jump in the car and quickly go to see the house.
Everything is great. An hour later, I signed the contract, providing my family with a paradise nest for a pleasant life.
Here are the photos I took for Natasha:

Price: 250 € per month + utilities. Utilities in winter were also 250 €.

The house has its own gas heating. And gas in Moldova costs just astronomical amounts. This is especially noticeable against the backdrop of their low salaries.

In total, the house cost us 500 €. In the summer, of course, it is cheaper.
The house was in the private sector. Nearby there is a forest for walking and cycling and ... bang-bang ... a lake! Finally, I will take up fishing again.

I have given myself a year for a quiet and pleasant vacation. Now I have time to do photography and Photoshop lessons for the site. I will rework and expand this topic. And I will also make two paid products that I have long been asked about.

The only drawback of this wonderful house was some oddities of the owners.
For example, they rented out a completely empty house. There were no utensils in it. Simple elementary things that are in any rented house or apartment.

Here, for example, is the bedroom. No pillows, no blankets, nothing. Same in the kitchen. No cups, no spoons, nothing. Nowhere. Nothing at all. Empty everywhere.

We had to buy every little thing. Everything down to the coat rack in the hallway. Of course, the price may be “reasonable” for such a house, because there is nothing there. But if they didn’t lock these things in their garage, as the owners of the house did, and rented the house for the same 50 euros more, then everyone would be fine. Why do I need all this stuff when I move out of this house. And we spent a pretty penny on everything in this house.

But that wasn’t even what was surprising. What was surprising was that the owners of the house said with aplomb that this is normal in Moldova, that’s what everyone does here. Which in turn outraged our acquaintances and friends whom we asked about this. We were also persistently pressured to mow and pull out the grass in the flowerbed.

When I asked why? Let the grass and flowers grow under the window. A pleasant view from the window. They answered me in all seriousness: “so that the snakes don’t hide and attack.” In Chisinau! In a residential building in a residential area behind a two-meter fence!

Of course, I understand that there is a park nearby and all that. But what is going on in these people’s heads?
For me, having lived in Thailand for several years, this nonsense about snakes put a fat point in the diagnosis of these people.

Can you imagine a snake slithering through these houses and fences to settle down in my flowerbed as an enemy?

Family

A few days later Natasha and Dania arrived and we began to live peacefully in our new and beautiful home. It was a pleasant time for memories.

Dania saw a train for the first time in real life and rode a sled in the snow.
There was a story about the snow. Dania picked it up without gloves and complained that his "hands hurt". We laughed for a long time at the explanation of a child born in the tropics that something can be so cold that it hurts your hands. )

By the way, our friends had a similar story. They also had a child born in Thailand. They brought him to Russia in the winter. When he first left the house for the frosty street, he looked up at his mother at the threshold of the door and plaintively asked her to turn off the air conditioner. )

Here are some photos from our rides near Chisinau.

Kindergarten in Chisinau

Danya was sent to a “semi-commercial” kindergarten for Russian speakers, not far from home.
In Chisinau, everything that is for Russian speakers is more expensive by default. It is believed that Russian speakers have more money. Maybe this is true, I will not argue the opposite.

I would even probably agree. The kindergarten cost $30 per month. This includes food, but we also paid for soap and bubble bath accessories. Well, let's say $35 per month. After the Samui Russian-language kindergarten for $450, this kindergarten option seemed free to us.

True, after a few months we transferred Danya to another kindergarten, which I don’t even know what to compare it to.
It was space. With all my meticulousness and stupid perfectionism, this kindergarten was cooler than I could have imagined in my best fantasies. Everything was right and smart in it.

Everything for the convenience of parents and the development of their children. From a normal website to a perfectly timed shuttle service for children with a nanny on her minibus. Perfect! On time! This does not happen! Only I arrive to the shooting on time, no one else! And here is some kind of kindergarten "Magic Bus". :)

A good location in the city center, cozy inside, good toys, normal nannies and educators "working" and developing your child with love for their work, and not depressively staring at their nails, as we saw in the previous kindergarten. Daily reports on your beloved child. etc.
If you suddenly need a kindergarten in Chisinau and you are ready to pay $ 270 per month, then I highly recommend it.

For me, it will always remain an example of how it should be. And it seems to me that all subsequent kindergartens will be its modest shadow. At least in the attitude of the educators to the children.
I recommend. Educational center of preschool development Znayka.

A chance meeting

We accidentally found our photo from photo banks in a store in Chisinau. Natasha was happy, she said, look, I remember this photo from 7500 on Shutterstock. I put this rainbow on it from another photo.

It's nice to just come to different countries and cities and find your photos in action there. This is far from the first time. And we haven't been doing stocks for five years now.
And I also remember writing that the New York Institute of Photography advertised with this same photo. Only without the rainbow. )

Taxi

Taxi in Chisinau is an unrealistic golden dream of everyone living on Samui. Here everyone has either a car or a bike. However, when for various reasons you need a taxi, you have to pay from $10 to $50.
In Chisinau, any trip within the city will cost you $1.5 - $2.5. To the very outskirts it is $1 more. Besides, sometimes you can bargain. They drive normally, they don't play chanson. It's impossible to order for the next morning.

Medicine

Medicine in Moldova has two poles.

The first pole.
The country has an insurance system. $100 (I paid a long time ago, I don’t remember if it was for one or two).
You are tied to one clinic and to a strange, very strange system of doctors’ work. You most likely won’t like it there. Evil doctors of the Soviet era. Thinking of themselves as the gods of your life. No less. You owe them from the doorway.
The ambulance arrives, but does not help in any way.

Giving them pills or giving injections is prohibited by law. Criminal offense. No matter how lousy you feel. Only diagnostics.
The ambulance doctor complained to me that her colleague was sent to prison for providing medical assistance in an emergency. And that person still kicked the bucket.

She had no right to do anything, even if death was knocking on the patient’s door after the doctors entered.
In short, all the Ambulance does is come, look, give a referral to your doctor, yes, that same God-doctor! Or just take the corpse away. As luck would have it. )

All this from the horse's mouth.
In real life, this issue is quietly resolved and "gratitude" is accepted without any excuses. Ambulance doctors also want to eat.
We had free time. A lot of free time. Accordingly, Natasha and I decided to "improve our health".
The second pole.

If you earn more than 200 euros a month, then you can afford paid medicine. But the professionalism of paid medicine in Moldova amazed me in its best sense. I did not expect such a high level of professionalism.

The problem that bothered me for twenty years. Which I could not solve either in the expensive Ukrainian clinic "Boris", or in the vaunted "Bangkok Hospital Samui", or in other tricky places, was solved here in an hour. First one doctor, and then another, related doctor made the same diagnosis. Moreover, as easily as two or three. And as time has shown, they were 100% right.

Excellent diagnostics. Which is generally the first priority in any treatment and which is usually a problem for other doctors. And they also have reasonable and conscious treatment. Without bending in one direction or another. Like, for example, in Thailand, where for any disease you will be prescribed antibiotics first. Well, just in case. And suddenly they will help. Even if your finger hurts or you are sunburned. And this is not a joke.

As one of their doctors explained to me, in Moldova there are remnants of the Leningrad Medical School. During the war, many high-level professionals were transferred from Leningrad to Chisinau. And they in turn trained the new generation. At that time in medicine there were no bribes and such nepotism.

Now this generation, although not young, all the time, even at their own expense, travels abroad to study modern technologies and practices there. To be in trend of world tendencies and technologies in medicine. I recommend the medical center Galaxia. We "tested" several clinics and settled on this one.

While we were in Moldova, the Turks invited me to Turkey to conduct a master class for their photographers.
I have been to Turkey several times. But each time it was the south of the country. This time the gathering place was a city in the north of Turkey with an almost Korean name, Samsun. Without the letter G.

Parenting

I always conducted my master classes with Natasha. My best support. She solved organizational issues, and also those who for some reason were “afraid” to ask me questions usually came to Natasha during breaks. For various reasons. Some did not want to ask in front of everyone, some were embarrassed. And Natasha participated in all our shoots and knew all the intricacies. In short, without Natasha, a no-no to a master class. Only two of us. But there were already three of us.
We took a risk and flew together.

For Daniil Eduardovich, this was already the fourth country on his travel list. Looking ahead, I will say that from the entire trip I was 80% tired of Dani's action and 20% of the master class itself. After which it was decided to hold off on trips to master classes or filming in distant countries with my son. Until he grows up and we can agree with him about responsibility for his actions.

A normal boy is growing up, lively and active. He creates too much chaos, which is unacceptable at such important events. Natasha was the most upset. With all her love for traveling, she found herself a hostage of motherhood.

Master class

While we were in Moldova, the planned wedding date of a beautiful couple that I photographed a year before on Samui arrived. They liked everything and agreed with me to photograph their honeymoon in the Maldives.

The last time I flew to the Maldives, I was with Natasha. She was my assistant.
If you haven't seen them, I recommend looking at the photo reports from that trip to the Maldives. The articles are of course old and the photos are from an iPhone of that time, but you will be able to immerse yourself in the carefree Maldives 100%:

This time I flew alone. And Natasha stayed with the child.
I had to negotiate with a local worker on the island about assistance.

Here you can see the entire wedding photoshoot I took in the Maldives during this trip.
Petras and Anastasia were again good models and a beautiful couple.

My way back from Male went through Istanbul. I was already well-versed in the issues of where to spend money on clothes in Istanbul. Back in the Maldives, I opened my website with an article about shopping in Istanbul and screenshotted all the information. And in Istanbul, I simply followed my own website instructions.

Photoshoot for friends:

Finally, I did a photo shoot for Alex and his wife Katya, and for the future son. )
We all went to Old Orhei together, had dinner in an authentic restaurant, and took some photos there.

Finances

In Thailand, on the island of Koh Samui, we spent an average of $5,500 a month on living. This is an average figure broken down over the entire time by the number of months. The minimum for which we managed to live in Thailand was $2,500, we could not do less. And the maximum for which we managed to have fun was $11,000 a month. On average, as I wrote, $5,500 a month.
According to our remote calculations, while still lying on the beach of Koh Samui, if we fly to Moldova, we should have spent $1,700 - $2,000 a month.

In reality it turned out like this:
In Moldova we tried to see what would happen if we fit into $1000. It turned out to be very difficult, but possible. With unrealistic stress and strict restrictions that we didn’t really need.

$1700 — turned out to be an acceptable amount for living in Chisinau. Without luxury, but also without any strict restrictions. Simple, ordinary, normal family life.

$2500 — became the amount per month that we spent with expenses for a good kindergarten, visits to doctors, etc.
Compared to Thailand, life in Moldova with the same standard of living is approximately 2 times cheaper.

GENERAL IMPRESSION

We spent most of this year in Moldova.
A pleasant country with very friendly people. I recommend it for a vacation and a quiet life. A country from which I will always have only the most pleasant memories.

It's time to say goodbye to Moldova. The time spent here passed quickly and with pleasure.
We had a great time. It's time to go back.

On March 10, 2016, we returned to "our" island of Koh Samui, which is located in the glorious kingdom of Thailand. Everyone is happy and satisfied. And Dania even returned to his homeland, where he was actually born.
Our trip to Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, Maldives, Thailand.

+49 159 04837874 - phone, WhatsApp

morefoto@gmail.com

Sincerely, Eduard Stelmakh.

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