Never heard much good about Moldova. Back in the Pick Up days it was painted as some sort of shangrilla, but every report i read said it was an absolute dump, and aside from the alleged superficial attractiveness of the women, i never heard of many people staying there anything like long term. The main city is supposed to be very ugly, the worst kind of Communist built city. The place was rinsed absolutely by Oligarchs in the 90s. You won't get anywhere without speaking Russian for sure.
I have been to Moldova twice and this is quite accurate. Though I only stayed in the capital, as I didn't and still don't know enough Russian to be happy to wonder about elsewhere. I wrote a little on it
here.
I don't know the best words to describe it, but you can feel the undercurrent of a low-trust, rootless, post-traditional society. In most places you will see people who look quite weather-beaten, wearing sports clothes and looking physically tough despite not being beefcakes. There is a meldding of the soul-crushing spirit of Russian communism with the more Southern Euopean nature of the careless Romanian. If there was one country in Europe I could pick not to have a fight with someone from - it would be Moldova.
It is certainly not a friendly place and you can see many people have tough lives. There are more women of the praying mantis type. There is a high veneration for wealth, which is displayed gaudishly a la "Meanwhile in Russia" style.
I was there about a year ago. It was masks indoors and a lot of shops had guys checking tempuratures for entry, but other than that it didn't seem people cared.
Apparently 40% of Moldovans go to church, but it is hard to see it.
I got an update on Ukraine, which is that it seems to be the same as Russia - in shops, and on public transport you might see one person in a mask. People don't want to take the vaccine.
I will see if I can get one for Moldova.
I think the FSU (minus central Asia) is probably the second best bet after centralish-America.
I would much prefer to be in Republika Srpska (RS) in Bosnia. I have not been to Bosnia, but even smaller Serbian cities have a much more provincial and placid nature. I doubt it will be able to join The EU as RS is in the process of trying to break away and it seems NATO will ultimately allow it.
Another option is to look at
Pridnestrovie, a small break-away region between Ukraine and Moldova. I tried to go there last year, but it was closed. These was no information about entry online. It is much more like Russia and doesn't have the unwelcoming atmosphere of Moldova. It's very cheap. But Belarus is probably still better value for money. An good apartment in the centre of Minsk costs about $500. The same sort or thing in Moscow would be $2,000-3,000. A wonderland for those who like protein bars. You can get good ones for about $0.70.
I got nostalgic seeing that dog eating trash. Back in the 90s the dog itself was becoming a meal next, way too often.
